What Will the Democratic Party Destroy First: Themselves or the United States? (Part 2)
In my last post, I discussed how Democratic Party policies were destroying the United States. In this post, I want to concentrate on how these polices are alienating the American electorate and presage the destruction of the Democratic Party. (Of course, since the Democratic Party is not an organic being, it can always rise from the dead at a future date.)
The theme images above of a confused President Biden are emblematic of a confused Democratic Party. They do not accept or are ignorant of the classical laws of economics. Since their instinct is to increase government control over the economy, they are constantly led to attempt the violation of those laws. They do not understand how the chaotic nature of social reality makes the centralized solution by government of most social and economic problems impossible.
The more government controls society, the more it makes most problems worse. The natural and ultimately inescapable consequence will be the alienation of most of the electorate from progressive Democrats.
The Loss of Personal Freedoms
Nothing will alienate the American people from the ruling party faster than the perceived destruction of their basic personal freedoms by that party. The Democratic Party has attempted just that on numerous occasions. The leftist elites controlling the party have attempted the “canceling” of dissenting opinions on the Right. So much so that Hillary Clinton has suggested the “formal deprogramming” of Trump supporters. Does this mean future reeducation camps for a near-majority of the American people? It would be easy to think this is just Hillary being crazy, and that other Democrats do not share her insanity. However, progressive Democrats have tried to censor the views of those who do not agree with them. They have also attempted to ruin the lives of opponents using “cancel culture.”
There are many other examples. One of the most egregious was the formation of the short-lived Disinformation Governance Board under the Department of Homeland Security. According to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the Board’s ostensible purpose was to counter misinformation and disinformation in the public square. Of course, the Board would have to arrogate to itself the power to determine what assertions are true and which false. Given all the crises Biden’s administration has spawned, the capability of progressive Democrats to understand social, economic, and physical reality is clearly severely limited. Á la George Orwell’s 1984, the Disinformation Board then becomes 1984’s Ministry of Truth. Its mere existence was a violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
It should be obvious that freedom of speech implies freedom of thought. What Joe Biden’s government wanted to do was to decree to the people what they were supposed to think and believe. Yet, most people I know would ferociously defend their constitutionally immutable right to think and believe what they think right.
Luckily, the backlash against the formation of the Disinformation Governance Board was severe enough that it was terminated. On May 16, 2022 after a month’s existence, the government decided to “pause” the board. It has not been revived.
How Alienated Is the Electorate?
None of the above has endeared progressive Democrats to most of the American people. In addition to the government’s attempts to remove some of our treasured personal freedoms, the Biden Administration’s on-going destruction of the American economy antagonizes the public. In particular, the inflation created by their huge increase in government spending together with their war on economic production has made life for the middle and lower classes extremely difficult. The Biden Administration keeps telling us how great things are, but most people can see the tremendous mismatch between Biden’s words and their own experiences. The result has been Biden’s falling approval rating shown in the NBC poll results plotted below. The graph shows results from the beginning of the Biden Administration to the present time.
According to the NBC poll, Biden’s approval has reached an abysmal 40% . This result was confirmed by a Gallup poll, whose time evolution is shown below.
The Gallup poll showed Biden’s overall approval to be 37% in October 2023. Even more disconcerting for Democratic politicians is his fall in approval among registered Democrats. Between September and October, Biden’s approval in his own party fell 11 points from 86% to 75%. This is largely being attributed to Democratic Party disunity created by Hamas’ war against Israel and by Israel’s ferocious response.
The Democratic Party Is Splintering
War between Israel and Hamas is one of at least three major issues causing division within the Democratic Party. These divisions appear to have originated mostly from American academics. The ideas that drive progressive Democrats were created by the academic elites of American universities. Over time, the American professoriate has become dominated by the political Left. As one might have expected, leftist professors have indoctrinated their students in the prejudices of the Left. These students then graduate to become the future American elites. In particular, leftist graduates are the future leaders of academia, news media, and political parties.
Among these prejudices is a hatred for the state of Israel. This has arisen as a particular instance of the Left’s hatred for Western civilization in general. In fact, they appear to be at war with every idea that came out of the Age of Enlightenment, to include the Western civilization that arose from it. Since liberalism was created by the Age of Enlightenment, I have argued elsewhere that progressives have lost all rights to call themselves “liberals.”
Among the Left, Israel has come to be viewed as an artifact of Western colonialism. It is considered a colonial power oppressing the indigenous Arabic peoples there. It is no accident that the most blatant pro-Hamas demonstrations in the U.S. are those of students at elite universities.
Yet, there is also a large part of the Democratic Party that favors supporting Israel in its fight for existence. This includes both the politicians and the electorate. The conflict between both these sides of the Democratic Party is beginning to tear it apart.
The second major divisive issue splintering the party is Joe Biden himself. Although, as of early December 2023, a majority (61%) of Democrats still want Biden to run, a growing fraction (39%) would rather have a different candidate. This is according to a CBS News poll taken between December 6-8. A recent NBC News poll had even worse results for Biden. It showed 70% of all voters and 51% of Democrats do not want Biden to run again.
A common reason given for this aversion to a second Biden administration is his age and growing mental impairment. However, it is beginning to dawn on many Democrats that Biden is becoming unelectable. Due to all the disasters for the nation created by the Biden administration (see part 1 of this essay), even Donald Trump appears capable of defeating Biden.
Biden also seems to be driving away the youth vote. Because of leftist indoctrination of young people in the high schools and universities, and because of their natural idealism unfettered by reason and empirical data, young people have been major supporters of the Democratic Party. Let us arbitrarily define the youth vote as those registered voters between the ages of 18 and 34. An NBC News poll taken between November 10th and the 14th revealed 46% of the youth vote would go for Trump while 42% would be garnered by Biden. If Biden cannot even capture the youth vote, how many of their more experienced elders can he get?
The third major cause of Democratic Party disunity is the catastrophe of its open border policies. Back during the Trump administration, the Democratic Party’s proposed immigration policies held a public opinion lead over Trump’s policies that fluctuated between 4 and 6 percentage points. The GOP now holds an 18 point lead. The severity of the crisis is shown in the video below.
The Washington Post has provided a bar chart, using data from the U.S Customs and Border Protection Agency, showing how the problem has greatly increased under Biden.
Clearly, Trump’s administration did a much better job at holding back the flood than Biden’s has.
The reaction of some Democratic politicians at the state and local levels to the border crisis reveals a lot. The politicians at those levels are bearing the brunt of the immigrant invasion. Politicians such as New York Democratic Mayor Eric Adams and Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker have demanded financial relief from the Federal government. Failing that, they would like the Federal government to shut down the flow. Mayor Adams has said, “There is no more room in New York.” Pritzker wrote a scathing letter to Biden in which he stated, “The federal government’s lack of intervention and coordination at the border has created an untenable situation for Illinois.”
Further pressure on Biden to change his border policies has been applied by Republicans. As part of a deal to continue military aid to Ukraine, the White House, Democratic Senators, and House Representatives have been negotiating over increased border restrictions. The White House seems tempted to accept Republican demands for immediate expulsions, detention for migrants, and deportations for those not seeking asylum. (See here also.) While such a deal would calm state and local Democrats damaged by illegal immigration, it might well set off a Democratic Party civil war with dissenting Democrats. No matter what side Biden takes in the end, it will not end well for the Democrats.
The Democratic Party’s ship of state has sprung so many leaks, it is hard to see how it can’t sink. Not only have Democratic policies alienated Republicans and independents, but the contradictions with Reality within those policies is splintering the Democratic Party itself.
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