CommentsMARC’S ANGLE - After the loss of two US Senate seats in Georgia a year ago, flipping control of the upper house to Democrats, in addition to the loss of the presidency and the retention of the House, I said this was the best scenario for Republicans.
My expectations have been exceeded.
No other historical indicator has been as accurate predicting Democrat failure than actually putting Democrats in charge and letting them own leadership. After just one cycle, the last 3 previous Democratic presidents, Carter, Clinton and Obama ushered in Republican gains like nobody’s business. Specifically, Clinton and Obama brought unprecedented gains for the opposite party in the House.
But no one has ushered more buyer’s remorse than the current President Biden. With rock bottom approval ratings and a party focused on petty distractions over results, Afghanistan, the supply chain crisis, skyrocketing inflation and gas prices, and worsening race relations all remind us of the epic failure of the party in power.
But let’s count the ways.
At one point, Democrats pretended to care about the little guy. In the past, many states such as Minnesota’s Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) party had strong support from the farmers and blue collar unions creating an unshakable dominance. That is now cracking as Republicans made inroads in formerly deep blue Minnesota last few cycles.
More importantly, the Democrats’ strength with minorities has shown continued attrition, as recent special elections and overall trends in heavily Hispanic areas have shifted former blue wall regions right, such as rural West and South Texas along the Mexican border and urban Miami. Even in deep blue Los Angeles, heavily Hispanic and black areas moved right last presidential election, with many indicators showing trends continuing that direction.
The Democrats’ foreign policy has demonstrated a party with no strategy and disastrous results, from the hasty pullout in Afghanistan to the increased emboldening of Russia and China as they set their eyes towards Ukraine and Taiwan respectively.
COVID has not been contained despite lofty promises. Instead, strange draconian measures to control average daily movements have been met with Supreme Court striking down certain mandates to parental protests on a school board level, leading to the flipping of Virginia in the off-year elections.
Race relations are worse off today as minorities wake up and figure out that woke is not the answer. From the inconvenient realities of #StopAsianHate rooted in liberal and urban crime, not in white supremacy to the rising crime in cities to Critical Race Theory ramping up and exacerbating divisions in our children, I question where the unity Biden and the Democrats promised to bring is. Things are actually worse.
On a basic human level, Democrats induce continued hearings of cringe. Speaking esoterically in abstract terms and ignoring basic bread and butter, meat and potatoes discussions seems to be their default.
Demographics are changing. The racist bogeyman is having less effect on people like me who grew up in a pretty colorblind society. Lived experiences have shown the opposite of what’s being peddled: overcompensation about racism.
Also, race discussion is frankly insulting when kitchen table issues dominate such as higher gas prices, terrible inflation devaluing our savings and Christmas presents unable to arrive, stuck on ships in the Long Beach ports. But let’s talk about inequities in race?
When Biden and Jen Psaki came up to proclaim they exceeded expectations, I realized that it’s the same playbook: insult our intelligence, lie and blame Republicans, even when the other party has been shut out of governance for the last year. Seems disingenuous to me. I can't imagine I’m the only one who feels this way.
(Marc Ang ([email protected]) is a community organizer in Southern California and the founder of Asian Industry B2B. He focuses on the minority conservative experience. Marc’s book “Minority Retort” will be released in early 2022.)
