Brace yourselves–the insults are coming.
A lot of people, who really care about politics and have taken the time to think through the issues, struggle with believing that well-meaning, smart people disagree with them. Consequently, many clever–yet insulting–theories get cooked up regarding why elections turn out the way they do.
Conservatives and liberals alike suffer from this condition. In 1994 when Republicans took over the House of Representatives after decades of Democratic rule, Republicans saw it as a rejection of Bill Clinton’s agenda. But for liberals, that made no sense, so the theory of the angry white male voter emerged. Conversely, when Barack Obama was elected in 2008 and his fellow Democrats increased their control over Congress, liberals saw it as the response of an enlightened voting public who were rejecting Republican policies. Republicans thought Americans were simply duped by the smooth-talking Obama.
The forecast for Election 2010 is that there will be significant gains for the Republican Party in Congress. Conservatives see this as the result of voter disgust with an overreaching, underwhelming Democratic policies. Liberals are already calling it simply a blind anti-incumbency that will only affect Democrats more because they are the majority party.
Maybe the public isn’t dumb. Maybe voters are not blindly and clumsily reacting to every hiccup in the economy. Maybe voters are willing to give each party a chance then when a crop of politicians become self-serving instead of public servants, the voters get rid of them.
Maybe. I hope so.
May God bless America.