by Irene Daniel
What happened to Eric Cantor? Is it a sign of things to come? Or does it signal an unpredictable mid-term election?
I've been soaking up articles, op-eds and TV punditry for a couple of days -- which really is heaven for a political junkie and history buff -- and I tend towards unpredictability at this point. I think we are in for a number of bipartisan surprises, none so shocking as this one, but surprises nonetheless.
What I glean from this is that all of us don't know what we don't know about how pissed off working class Americans are. And, from what I can tell, this is a populist anger and it is aimed mostly at the 1%, who are perceived as the owners and operators of congress because they are.
I doubt that the Democrats can take over the house. Congressional districts are gerrymandered beyond repair, at least until the 2020 election; which will bring with it a demographic tsunami that will change everything. So, the GOP will have to surrender the House then, if they haven't already been swept out of office in 2016. So whatever happens in this election may very well be irrelevant in a couple of years.
But, at the moment, it appears to me that the GOP will maintain control of the House; and the Democrats will maintain control of the Senate. Where's the surprise, you ask? Many pundits don't think the Democrats will hold the Senate, but I don't see Republicans nominating candidates that will hold up well state-wide. This is just my prediction, based upon my research and intuition. I could be wrong.
This is a volatile time in American politics. So much is changing. And whether conservatives like it or not, social attitudes are trending away from the conservative ideology of racism, sexism, xenophobia and the hands-off, small government of noninterference necessary to support their American status quo. Politics is a pendulum that is constantly in motion, and while it is swinging in a progressive breeze right now, it will swing back one day. But not today.
Today, the franchise has been greatly expanded, much to conservative chagrin, to include many more voices previously silenced by the hypocritical morality of the so-called, Christian right. And while conservatives continue to try to disenfranchise progressive voters, slut-shame women and support the status quo of white male heterosexual supremacy, their efforts only make obvious their disdain for anyone unlike them, or unwilling to succumb to their shaming, or unwilling to be bought with their looted cash.
So, I don't know what's going to happen in 2014. It may be the last stand for white supremacy, as all those Cliven Bundy, Tea Party types cling desperately to their unjust enrichment and unearned privilege. Or it could be the opening act for 2016 and the enormous overhaul coming in 2020.
But one thing is for sure. The American Soul is in a state of flux. And with women, Latinos and millennials coming into power, going backwards is not an option.
Irene Daniel Copyright 2014 All rights reserved.
We just all have to pray that state-wide and nation-wide elections won't go the way of weird local congressional districts. They probably won't, but still, it's scary to see the House held hostage EVEN MORE by the tea party
ReplyDeleteAndee B
I think that state and national elections will become more and more out of reach for conservatives because of the demographic shift we are currently undergoing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the note. id