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Welcome to this special pre-midterm election episode for 2022. Of course, we've all been filled with messages of logic, reason, and emotion. Today, we're just going to look at some of the many factors in this election as gleaned from advertisements, media reporting, and of course, social media. That's a great time. We're going to exercise our right to self-government, where incumbents proudly seek re-election based on their track record—not you, Michigan—and where we get the best and brightest to lead us and exercise this awesome power. I mean, I'm talking the best and the brightest and most polished state persons—not you, Georgia and Pennsylvania. But let's just jump right into this. So first of all, look, the elephant in the room during this election is that fascism is on the rise.
That's the most prevalent story that we hear and let me be really blunt; Donald Trump demonstrated he was unqualified to be president. His personal conduct, his narcissism, overshadowed what might be termed as policy achievements. His nomination was a big middle finger to the GOP establishment and they still haven't recovered. They don't know which way to turn. Trump's election was a big middle finger to the Democratic Party's establishment, which voters rejected. Now fascist is much more than the new racist label, that is there was, indiscriminately hurled until it meant nothing.
But don't forget that President Biden—President Unity—was elected as a rejection of Trump. And our president, in his recent remarks, just reprised his disastrous Philadelphia speech with a cry to preserve democracy by voting his party to 100% control and perhaps expanding the Supreme Court to get that branch of government out of the checks and balances games too. MAGA is such a threat to democracy that the Democratic National Committee pumped millions into the primary coffers of Trump's selected fringe candidates. Now, shouldn't the president be saying, look, we've done such a great job at creating a better future for America that the choice is easy; vote for us. Or better yet, and perhaps more accurately, Trump was a one man wrecking crew; he couldn't even get his own vice president or attorney general to support his stolen election nonsense. A true totalitarian leader would need to have a lot more leadership talent to put the country at risk. But the Democratic National Committee hasn't gotten the memo, that the electorate wants opportunity, freedom, equality and a chance for a better future. Now they like the Democrats' rhetoric, I grant that. But when you look at what people actually do, the proof statement—the mass exodus of people from California, New York and Illinois, to Texas, Idaho, Montana, and Florida—really speaks volumes. Thus, it's curious that the DNC pulls out a strategy that they've tried since at least the 1960s of smearing the entire Republican Party as fascists, which they can't even define. So the only way for the Democrats to show that they can win is to run against MAGA Republicans and fascism.
Indeed, now we're reaping the results of the Democrats funding MAGA candidates in the primaries and we're in this weird situation where some Republican candidates had to feign belief in Donald Trump's 2020 win. The Democrats are thus identifying these as "election deniers," people that need to be purged while simultaneously fueling the entire fire. Look, I fear total control by either of the two major parties and believe that if we don't do something, as a people, to break the tribalism and extreme polarization, we are doomed; I don't care what side you're on. So together we need to think about how we drive the political elite to the center. In recent weeks, we've had ideas, some that are controversial, some not so much, about election laws and processes.
But the election processes should provide comfort to voters of all persuasions. Isn't it odd that the voter suppression mantra isn't in the forefront that we heard so much about just two years ago? It's kind of like a pre-emptive "election denying." Remember when President Unity went into what he termed as the "belly of the beast" to decry—in advance—voter suppression, as he lied about the content of Georgia Bill 202. With record advance voting, there is nary a complaint in the air—except from Stacey Abrams—but that should be expected. President Biden [is] surprised, of course, that black Americans have government issued photo IDs. I mean, nobody briefed him, apparently. Who knows, maybe it's safe to play baseball in Georgia again. In any case, 2022 should be the most watched and monitored election in history. With the most options to vote, which should be great for democracy; we need everybody to get out and vote. Now on the issues, we've heard a lot about abortion. It's obviously a very important issue, and one that does have two extreme sides. The Supreme Court granted certain rights 50 years ago, the Supreme Court took them away a few months ago. Now here's what I find interesting in talking to people; that there is consensus that is far from both polar extremes. The advances in the last 50 years in medical treatment, such as morning after pills, imaging technology, neonatal care, along with the notable American compassion for troubled pregnancies, means the states will get answers that are far superior to the blathering and fear mongering put out during this campaign season.
Now, I expect some surprises on ballot initiatives, including some splits between referendum results, and partisan voting for office holders—always with the same caveat that political forecasting is generally wrong, including mine. In recent years, we had a pandemic and one would think that COVID would be top of mind and just a few weeks ago—after President Biden declared the pandemic over—that there would be some sober revisiting of policies and behavior during the pandemic, lest we be more prepared should we have another one. Things like: did masking work, were vaccine-or-be-fired mandates correct, were business shutdowns harmful, and where is the data that school closings help? These are legitimate questions because the power of the state and social media to shut down discussion about how the virus originated, the effectiveness of containment measures, and even how well China is faring with its zero COVID policy—not very well. We've even heard from Australia on this show, including first hand accounts of the military being engaged to keep people in quarantine and within the borders of their own state. Was that the right thing to do?
Now we have this policy of vaccinating kids coming to the fore and one would think that a review of how we handled the last pandemic would make sense. We are expecting Dr. Jim Baker to come back to The Common Bridge to discuss these. But weirdly, it's: you know what, let's just not talk about this anymore. Now, I suppose if I was an elected person, or I worked for a state agency and ignored my own policies, or I can't find the science I kept referring to, then yeah, for sure I'd like this whole period to be memory holed. But it seems the operative question is where were you during the pandemic? Because how you responded to the crisis really speaks volumes. I think we turned out a president over his inability to behave in a leadership position during a pandemic. So we've heard a lot about crime and crime might be a problem it seems—or not.
Now, one side might argue that the policies of defunding the police, bail-free releases of violent people, no arrest for public defecation and shoplifting, or squatting in a place no one has a legal right to be, are great policies for a better, more just society; they just need more time to work, we need to do this more places for longer periods of time. That's one view. Others might argue that there is no way such policies can lead to a better society and want to increase what they term as public safety; with strong policing, prosecution and incarceration of those who are engaged in what used to be called criminal or or at least anti-social behavior. In any case, maybe some of the residents of Portland, Oregon could weigh in. Now, speaking of crime, a despicable attack on the elderly Paul Pelosi is sickening enough. Naturally, our political system made it so much worse. Fearing another Jussie Smollett ruse, right-wing Republicans invented a whole lot of bizarre theories about the incident, while left-wing Democrats demonstrated how MAGA rhetoric was able to turn a solid Canadian citizen into a violent, underwear clad assailant. And yes, the perpetrator was within the borders of the United States illegally.
Which brings us to the border situation. The situation at the southern border comes up often, particularly in congressional races in South Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. Now, according to certain political figures, there is no problem at the border or any problem with illegal entry so there's really nothing to talk about. And others, notably Republican governors, Ron DeSantis, and Greg Abbott, continue to insist it remains a problem and send many new arrivals to the northeastern United States where they are warmly welcomed, housed, fed and employed.
And of course, we have schools, schools and parents. If a parent is concerned about sexual content for their little kids, does that make them a book banning transphobe? It might. If a parent attends a school board meeting asking for accountability, is it time to sick law enforcement on them? I think you're going to find this to be a factor in elections.
Moving to the international front, at the Ukraine, we have on again/off again objections to growing US involvement. I think I speak for most people when I say that, with nuclear annihilation on the table, it's a great relief we don't have a loose cannon like Donald Trump in the White House. I give cheers to our president for using the term Armageddon. It is that serious and good for him for facing the problem. Now, when I think about how things are getting reported and how we get information, it's obvious that the entire situation could be so much easier and better if there was a working news reporting system. The polarization embraced by so many legacy outlets has destroyed their credibility. So I find it's always best to let stories rest a few days to see what might come out next.
Tech censorship is destroying the new public square. Maybe we need a new Twitter-like service and just call it the Echo Chamber, where algorithms can ensure [that] no countervailing facts or views ever enter one's mind. So this is again why I'm plugging for a new media model; please come to Substack and get the readings and now the podcasts and video—what's missing in this political time. What you're not hearing about guns—same two extremes—states doing crazy things like no permitting, no training; and still others saying we need to take away guns from law abiding people. Healthcare, not mentioned much, too tough to tackle.
All's quiet on the January 6 front for the moment, except for Liz Cheney, I suppose. We're not hearing about the 2020 Summer of Love. Speaking of which, what the hell happened to BLM? Surely the issues are not solved. Also missing in action: Russia colluding with Donald Trump, Trump's trade deals, and the whole Afghanistan mess—how we got in and how we got out. So as we head into this election next Tuesday, I hope everybody will go out and vote. I hope that we will have confidence in what the outcomes are and none of this stolen election, or voter suppression stuff, or we lose our democracy if my team doesn't win.
I've asked via Twitter and other forums, will you accept the results of the election? I've asked people from all across the spectrum and universally people agree, because all I get, no matter who I ask, is stony silence. That will hopefully give us more confidence in the results, and the legacy media can go about reporting on ice cream stories and the economy will blissfully support our country. People ask me how well do I think the polls are doing and how accurate are they? We don't know. There are so many moving parts. But I think one of the really key issues or key elements is going to be what young voters do. They're very difficult to poll because if you see a poll that says "likely voters," one of the first questions to determine if someone's a likely voter is did they vote in the last election? Obviously, if you were not of age at the 2020 election, you're going to fail on that test, so we shall see. In other words, let's all be calm, let's all exercise our constitutional right and responsibility and see if we can't make this a better place. Remember, it's up to us to demand responsiveness from those that we elect. It's up to us to demand good reporting from those that report to us and it's up to us to tell the government and big tech to quit censoring our ability to communicate. They're afraid of it, and there's a reason for it. With that, this is Richard Helppie, signing off on this editorial edition of The Common Bridge.
Thank Goodness! Campaign Season Ends