Can We Really Say What the People Said in This Election, Or Is It Too Horrible to Contemplate?

Arizona’s Maricopa County Starts Hand Count Audit as Numerous Ballots Remain Unprocessed — lection workers sort ballots at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix on Nov. 9, 2022. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Pundits galore have pronounced on what the “people” said in this election. Clearly, it’s sometimes hard to distill what the voting results actually mean from such a broad and disparate group of millions with innumerable and conflicting notions and motives dancing in their heads. The problem is compounded when you have a new and very different kind of electorate: one with 60-70% voting early and by mail. This time around, what came out the other end of the tabulation process is, to be quite frank, quite shocking.

Are the results proof of the greater prevalence of passions not tempered by reason, having less time to weigh the stakes, issues, and candidates with ballots going out a month before the election in many states but pressured to be in the “bank” weeks before the deadline? Could be, but something else might be at work. The outcome has the earmarks, as I have stated before, of the old political machines such as Tammany Hall or Kansas City’s Prendergast machine. Current circumstances and even active campaigning matter much less. You can do it from your basement and nearly avoid any face-to-face electioneering. The base is simply directed to vote up and down the ballot for the machine’s preferences without knowing who they are or the issues at stake. Political machine voting is like that, and so, I suspect, is voting early and by mail . . . which requires a well-oiled political machine.

It takes a political machine with heavy financial and technocratic resources to identify its base, make sure that they have a ballot, and round them up in a timely manner. And make adjustments if polling indicates that they need more, and all accomplished weeks before election day. Most people’s minds don’t even turn to politics till a week or two before the election. This apparatus short-circuits thoughtful reflection. As such, this kind of voting has more of an off-the-cuff flavor to it.

No red waves here.

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The results were a surprise to most political junkies. But is it an accurate reflection of public opinion, with two-thirds of the franchise encouraged to act in a preemptory fashion? Just recount the much-ballyhooed issues in this election.

Remember, the current state of the country matters a whole lot less in political-machine electioneering. Were the people actually content with the Democrats’ despoilation of the country? Their wreckage is strewn about for all to see. Did people actually vote for urban anarchy and their streets and parks becoming open sewers? Their schools as training centers of future statue-toppers? I don’t know about you, but I’m skeptical that the vote totals reflected a desire for barbarity. So, why vote for the clowns who brought it to you? Are you confused? I am.

What about other issues, like abortion? Pro-life measures were voted down in at least five instances, including in my home state of Montana. In our case, the voters of Montana couldn’t even bring themselves to protect the life of a baby who survived an abortion. Now, “my body, my choice” is a license to order the suffocation of a small, helpless person struggling to survive, whose DNA is different from the mother’s. This is Auschwitz stuff.

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faces3 — Ultrasound image of a baby at 27-34 weeks gestation

Do the people want to snuff out the future children who were developed enough to exit the birth canal? In these instances, the only difference between a fetus and a baby is one second. This time, in at least two states, maybe more, carte blanche abortion was planked into the state’s Constitution. But did the voters know of these measures’ contents, or was it simply a way to register disagreement with Dobbs and support for Roe v. Wade? High-profile hot buttons trump irritating details every time when you’re in a hurry and revved up.

What does the support for Roe v. Wade actually mean when few people know its contents, and don’t wait around to find out? Now there’s an indictment of our schools, media, and the broadcasting of ballots through the postal service a month before. Yet, even so, opinion polls have consistently shown broad bipartisan disgust for late-term abortion. But did the voter in the machine’s data base wait around to discover that Roe’s “health of the mother” standard and Casey’s “undue burden” paved a path to destroying a fully formed baby? Did they give themselves the chance to consider that their state’s measure actually codifies something that could be dispassionately viewed as infanticide? Once again, I’m skeptical. Broad ignorance surrounds the issue which is less likely to be corrected by political machine tactics. So much for the voice of the people.

Did the people actually vote for unaffordable fuel, 40-year record high inflation, further destruction of the work ethic, crippling national debt for their children, and the childish tax-the-rich antics? Surely not, but what then?

Did they vote for blackouts, forests of mammoth wind turbines and solar panels marring and blanketing the landscape, sky-high utility bills, and an end to Amazon Prime’s free delivery because diesel prices and shortages hit the fan? You vote for California-style politicians and you’ll get California-style chaos. How much did people know to establish a preference? Or is it the mesmerizing attraction of eco-utopian fairy tales and unicorns?

A Shell station displays gas prices of more than $7 per gallon on Sept. 29. — A Shell station on Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles displays gas prices of more than $7 per gallon on Sept. 29. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Have people thought through the madness? What will electrified transportation be like with an unstable grid? Wind and sun don’t produce at your whim. When our demagogues place blame on the “rapacious” energy companies, how much do the people know of the demagogues’ hostility to more refineries, drilling, pipelines, indeed anything that’ll increase supply? At Democrats’ insistence, we’re closing down refineries, pipelines, and drilling. Do people grasp the idea that the suppression of supply has an effect on prices? They’re all open questions not answerable by political machine voting.

Do people actually believe that a man can become a woman (and vice versa) given all the biology, DNA, and bio-chemistry from blastocyst to adult? On the mere claim that he/she is one? He/she might be made to look like one, but are they one? Did people vote as if they believe it? Or what about the sanctity of their daughters’ sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms? Did people vote for an invasion of these spaces? Beats me. All we know is that many people romped who brought it to you.

None of these considerations can be addressed by the mere counting of ballots. But they can, and did, result in bringing to power those who will do what the people don’t understand. Today’s voting doesn’t measure popular sentiment. It’s not meant to. Election season isn’t about informing the public or convincing anyone. It’s about votes to stay in power. Public events, speeches, debates, rigorous press exposure, and responding to your critics aren’t necessary. Biden (2020), John Fetterman, Katie Hobbs, and the rest of the donkey party lineup showed that you can do just fine not facing hostile questioning, not debating, staying cooped up in your safe space, and sitting back as your campaign operatives harvest the votes and reap hordes of techie bucks to swamp the airwaves. That’s how the mentally impaired and provably incompetent can become president, senator, congressman, governor, or what have you.

The numbers have been trickling in. Here’s a taste. According to Fox News, 42 million people voted early as of Sunday, Oct. 30. Over half arrived weeks before election day. 43% were from Democrats and 34% from Republicans. In selected battleground states like Pennsylvania, 70% of early votes were from Democrats. It’s the well-oiled political machine at work, and out goes reason and contemplation.

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The results should make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. This is much more than Trump’s repugnancy. Many people may not know it but they voted for barbarity. Now that’s something too horrible to imagine. Are we that far gone as a civilization?

RogerG

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