The expected “red wave” anticipated by many conservative pundits turned out to be nothing but a mirage.
So what the heck happened last night, and where does the country go from here?
I have three major observations that I hope will make some macro sense of the midterm elections:
- Many Americans no longer value freedom
This is going to be a hard pill to swallow for all of the flag waving “Top Gun Americans” out there, but it’s a reality that is now too obvious to ignore.
Benjamin Franklin famously once said: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Many Americans, if not most Americans, no longer don’t value the foundational principle of liberty.
If the last three years of Covid tyranny didn’t showcase this enough, the midterm elections proved beyond a doubt that a significant chunk of Americans prefer statist tyranny over individual sovereignty. Across the nation, voters gave their stamp of approval for the forces of the biomedical security state, re-electing a Safety Regime that promises to protect them from the sniffles in exchange for their fundamental liberties.
Virtually all of the worst tyrants of Covid Mania were reelected with ease. Gavin Newsom won by 18 points. Gretchen Whitmer defeated a fantastic GOP candidate in Tudor Dixon by 10 points. Kathy Hochul handily defeated Lee Zeldin. J.B. Pritzker won by 11 points. And the list goes on.
- Balkanization is the future
The election results also show that there are indeed tens of millions of Americans who still value liberty, and they are consolidating into freedom blocs throughout the country.
In Florida, Ron DeSantis wiped the floor with Charlie Crist in historic fashion. Gun grabbing Beto O’Rourke was obliterated in Texas. Kristi Noem was reelected in South Dakota by a 62-35% margin. In Georgia, Brian Kemp made easy work of Stacey Abrams. In Iowa, Kim Reynolds won the state by 19 points.
On the Senate side, Rand Paul defeated his opponent by 21 points. And Eric Schmitt won his race in Missouri by over 13.
Americans who live in “free states” have a lot of reasons for optimism, especially given that we live in a country where a constitutional precedent reserves significant power for the states.
Now, more than ever, it’s time for a reprioritization. The federal regime in the D.C. Beltway and its bureaucratic institutions remain the greatest threat to our liberties. Forget about China and Russia for a moment. Americans are being harmed from within, by a federal behemoth that continues to run roughshod over our lives and liberties.
Instead of sending national candidates to D.C. to fix things, considering sending them to D.C. to break things.
A retooling of political priorities means bolstering sovereignty within your domain, and insulating your state from the federal government.
Localism and/or decentralization is the necessary objective. In my view, sending a “Great Man” to fix D.C. just isn’t in the cards anymore. D.C. is too big, too bloated, and too one-sided for an opposition leader to steer a permanent course change.
There is a clear path moving forward that involves harnessing local and state power structures to do everything possible to detach from the ruling empire. New economic (separating money from state), cultural, and political instruments will become the necessary tools to continue getting the federal government off of our backs.
