As I type this, I am watching presidential historian Jon Meacham on CNN. He is saying that the 2022 midterm elections are the most important elections since the 1850s. Why? Because the rule of law is on the ballot.
Michael Wear, the former Obama religion adviser and founder of the Center for Christianity and Public Life, seems to disagree. Here is a taste of his interview with Christianity Today’s Daniel Silliman, “This Is Not the Most Important Election of Our Lives“:
We’re in the final stretch to Election Day. What do you think the 2022 elections say about the state of American politics?
I struggle to find coherent, substantive conversation on anything in these midterms. There are individual races, of course, where there are issues that are getting substantive debate, but it seems clear to me our politics continues to devolve.
We now just get gestures towards issues. Candidates are not actually dealing with the substance, not actually showing an interest in offering a perspective or policy proposals—which means the winner of these midterms won’t really have a policy mandate.
What I do hear is a lot of talk about existential crisis. But the more we load onto our politics, and the higher the stakes, the harder it becomes to really have a democratic process. If an election is a binary choice about the most fundamental questions—which is what both sides are offering—that’s too removed from the critical day-to-day work of governing.
If the election is about whether we have or don’t have a democracy anymore, then how are the voters supposed to speak to what they want to see happen on immigration policy? Or taxes? I worry that what the voters are trying to communicate becomes almost incomprehensible, because there is so much noise.
Read the entire interview here.
No is the answer. After January 6th the answer should be Yes, but most just yawn and turn on Netflix. The fact that the Democrats have spent serious money to prop up far-right wing candidates in the Republican primaries tells me they do not see our democracy as being at stake. In Pennsylvania Mastriano received close to a million dollars in campaign help. In my home state Dan Cox received over a million big ones to bolster his primary campaign. Using these two as examples: Without the financial help from Democrats both candidates very well would have lost their elections. The Democrats have their wish of easier candidates to beat in the General Election, and they probably will – thankfully. But, those victories and the national attention they, and many others, are receiving, may just create new, more powerful candidates for their futures. If they were stuck in a state assembly position they have power and influence, but really not much – especially here in Maryland. Now they are possibly national influencers in the Republican party. I will not use the Hitler comparison, but if you could end the political career early, in a primary, you do it. If you truly want a healthy democracy you work for rational candidates to win their primaries – or at least do not work against them.
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/18/1123689607/democrats-are-boosting-far-right-opponents-they-think-will-be-easier-to-beat
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-backed-gop-candidate-dan-cox-primary-boost-from-democrats-2022-7
In this politicized age, we hear from both sides of the aisle that whatever the year, it is the most important election in modern times, etc. etc. etc. (I only can imagine what James Dobson or others in his corner are saying.)
Out here in California, Democrats are saying that unless we have a one-party state (which pretty much describes California), our democracy is lost. During the Trump years, I told a lot of my conservative friends that Trump’s “greatest economy ever” was the result of huge amounts of money pumping from the Fed, something that cannot be sustained very long. With Biden, we get more money pumping along with the ludicrous claim that all of a sudden corporations all in concert decided to raise prices in order to make “record profits,” and that money supply has nothing to do with inflatioh. (I wonder about which record they speak.) That would be an amazing feat, since if one or two companies did that and consumers continued to buy the products, then they would have less money to spend on the other companies. In other words, it would be mathematically impossible for the Biden-speak scenario to occur.
Not that it matters. The first casualty of politics always is the truth. I’m sorry to see that John and the others believe in a pure, political gospel like their allies at Sojourners.
Every election is important. I have never been a big fan of playing the “this is the most important election in our lifetime” game. This was why I did the post. Meacham says “yes.” Wear says “no.”