Although predicted by the polls, I’m still trying to understand how a Republican won Virginia last night, a state Biden carried by 10 points last year. I think part of the answer lies in hit pieces such as the Laura Murphy commercial. Watch it carefully if you haven’t seen it (I'll link to it in the comments). It’s not the whole story (this election exposed problems with the national climate, not a specific politician, as Jersey proves), but it’s a great glimpse into how Youngkin beat Terry among parents by 15 points, and what next year’s midterms will be about.
As many of you know, what this ad does not say is that the "explicit" book she's complaining about is the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Beloved" by Toni Morrison -- or more importantly, that her son read the book in a college-level A.P. English class his Senior Year (as did I). Instead, the ad pans over a photo of young children, implying he was forced to read naughty material as a kid. But at 17 or 18, this "kid" was old enough watch R-rated movies like Basic Instinct or Eyes Wide Shut or Boogie Nights or Clockwork Orange by himself, and of course I'm sure he had internet access to watch all the adult content he could handle. So, I'm guessing it's the fact that Beloved depicts the evils of slavery that bothered him and his mother, not the "sex". And, again, this was in a college-level AP course, not part of the high school curriculum anyway. Oh, and according to the school, students were even allowed to opt-out of reading the book! (Fun fact: this "troubled" son is 27 now, and serves as the Associate General Counsel for the National Republican Congressional Committee, after serving as a legal assistant in the Trump Administration.)
Last night was bad for Democrats. But the most infuriating part is that polls show the overwhelming majority of Americans, by 2-to-1 margins, prefer Democratic policy proposals to Republican ones. They support Biden's infrastructure bill 65%-28%, expanding Medicare 62%-32%, rejoining the Paris climate agreement 63%-30%, $15 minimum wage laws 61%-30%, COVID stimulus checks 78%-22%, a path for citizenship for undocumented immigrants 65%-30%, marriage equality 70%-27%, raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations 69%-26%, etc. Virtually everything Biden and Democrats have been running on has substantial majority support from voters.
The Republican Party understands that their core positions are in the minority. That’s why they don’t talk about real policy issues anymore. For the first time in history, the last Republican National Convention didn’t even publish a party platform! Without policies Americans actually support, they’ve turned to fake culture war issues instead. Conservative media and Facebook memes have convinced half the country that Democrats are actually for teaching porn in schools, eliminating police forces, paying "illegals" millions for crossing the border, canceling all free speech (especially for white people), and other wild claims that are objectively not true. Or, conservative pundits find an example of a far-left activist on Twitter saying something provocative (e.g. "let’s have taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgery for kids!") and pretend it's a mainstream Democratic policy objective. Most successfully, they continue to gin people up over non-issues like "critical race theory", which (1) is absolutely not what they claim it to be and (2) isn't even taught in any K-12 school in the country. It’s a game to them. And they’re winning.
Democrats nationwide have to find a way to improve their messaging. We can’t spend all our time playing defense over silly nonsense (except to knock it down). We must do a better job reminding people of all the ways the American people already agree with us. The recent strategy of trying to tie all Republican opponents to Trump is clearly not working, especially when Biden and Trump’s approval ratings are tied at 40% right now. Yes, it’s hard to believe, but each man is equally despised at the moment. Fine. But Trump’s supporters LOVE Trump way more than Biden’s supporters love Biden, which means you’re only hurting yourself in the enthusiasm gap by bringing up Trump. So STOP IT. Instead, bring up unpopular Republican POLICIES, not people. (And when you’re elected, find a way to actually deliver policy wins, too. That’d be helpful.)
I’ll admit, it was fun to be a Republican. I listened to Rush Limbaugh and called into Hannity’s radio show and watched Fox News and read every word Ann Coulter wrote and subscribed to Republican magazines. Hell, I even wrote a conservative blog for a while. There’s a certain sports fandom element to being a Republican, all the flag-waving and comradery and such. You always cheer for your side, and boo the refs (fact-checkers) regardless of whether they’re right. And even when you’re in power, you still feel like David in the Goliath story, banding together against the mainstream. But I left the Republican party 14 years ago because their ideas, the actual policies advocated, simply didn’t work. As Bill Maher once said, “If Republicans are going to keep calling states ‘laboratories of democracy,’ they have to look at the results from the lab.” And I couldn’t argue with the data. Democratic policies work better. So I woke up.
I want a country that improves itself every year, led by dedicated public servants willing to change and adopt strategies based on evidence, not emotion. Governing is serious work, and requires educated, committed leaders. I’m a Democrat now, and yeah, politics isn’t as much “fun” on this side. Democrats have way more griping and in-fighting. They’re fair-weather fans of their elected officials. And they can’t enjoy or be proud of their own successes, or marvel at how far the nation has come around on many key liberal ideals in the past twenty years. It’s a bit gloomy over here, in other words. But the people are smarter. The ideas are better. And the policies are on the right side of history. We just have to convince independents and open-minded Republicans to vote for their own best interests, on things they ALREADY AGREE ON. It’s the only way to be successful. How to do that in the age of Facebook algorithms, media silos, and endless polarization? I don’t know. And if last night’s any indication, party leaders don’t know either. They better find out, and fast.