Economic Right and Social Left Big Losers in Latest Batch of State Elections
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Voters, left and right, have rejected Martin Luther King, affirmative action and sanctuary cities along with market liberal economics.
The Republican party ran TPUSA-style campaigns framing their opponents as abortionists and “socialists” in Virginia and the Kentucky governor’s race, the latter which was only competitive thanks to Donald Trump’s last minute intervention. The GOP strategy to steer the party away from immigration, populism and protectionism back to Reaganism has been a disastrous electoral failure.
What we can deduce is that American voters, when given the chance to vote, are not fond of the Democratic party’s cultural views or the Republican party’s economic platform.
Washington: Affirmative Action Ban Upheld
In Washington State, where a number of Democrat and Marxist city council members were up for re-election, Referendum 88 was shot down 51% to 48%.
The law, if approved, would’ve lifted the state ban on European and Asian racial quotas (affirmative action) in hiring, education and other fields.
This is a remarkable result when put into context. Washington is effectively a one-party Democratic stronghold, with Donald Trump winning only 38% of the vote in the 2016 General Election (Trump got 37% in New York, for comparison).
Many white and Asian voters rejected the ballot measure, which would’ve codified institutional racism against them. Cultural leftists will have to resort to judicial tyranny if they wish to implement this policy.
Kansas: Martin Luther King Boulevard Renamed
Establishment Democrats and Republicans both fight for the legacy of integrationist martyr, Martin Luther King, who has his own federal holiday. But with the people, the jury on King is still out.
In Kansas, a 10-mile long boulevard that was renamed after King by the government was recalled via democratic mandate after a group opposing it, “Save the Paseo,” was able to collect enough signatures to force a referendum under local law.
While local activists sought to shut down opponents of MLK Boulevard by calling them racist, when voters got the chance to express themselves privately at the ballot box they made a powerful statement: 70% of Kansas voters elected to take King’s name off the street.
Arizona: Democrat Voters Reject Sanctuary Cities
71% of Tucson voters – overwhelmingly democrats – said “No” to Proposition 205, which would’ve turned their city into a “sanctuary” for illegal aliens.
The ballot sought specifically to counteract SB1070, an Arizona state measure that enforces existing American immigration law.
While Democratic presidential contenders have big business friendly views on immigration, on the local level many Democratic politicians are retreating from “sanctuary city” policies. In Maryland, Democrat Marc Elrich announced that he was reversing his decree preventing local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE after public outcry.
Trump has disappointed many of his white working class supporters on immigration. In the 2018 midterms, some Democrats were able to attract many voters with left-wing economic views but who opposed immigration. The exact motivation of these voters isn’t clear, since the Democrats are bad on immigration as well. It may be that they have accepted that neither party will protect American demographics or the border and they have decided that there’s at least a chance Democrats will fight back against corporate tax-cuts and social spending cuts that have been the GOP’s legislative priority since Trump took office.
Republicans Collapse in Virginia
Delegate Lee Carter, a communist endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, shocked the nation when he defeated well-funded Republican incumbent Jackson Miller in a 2017 Virginia General Assembly race.
A well-funded campaign by Ian Lovejoy and the GOP to unseat Carter decided to fixate on petty personal gossip, like whether Carter has been paying enough child support, as well as his views on health care for all and worker’s rights, rather than Carter’s unpopular cultural-left views on race, sexuality and immigration.
Carter was re-elected with a comfortable margin, 53% to 46%.
When it came to House races, the focus was entirely on labeling Democrats “socialists.” Voters punished the GOP in a state it recently held comfortably.
Kentucky: GOP Incumbent Governor’s Humiliating Defeat
Big business Republican governor Mark Bevin in Kentucky – a state Donald Trump won by 30 points – centered his campaign around calling his opponent Andy Beshear a socialist.
Despite an 11th hour rally in the state by Trump to save Bevin, he has been narrowly defeated. Governor Bevin is not taking the loss well, and has been complaining of unspecified “irregularities,” but just last July, polls showed Bevin was the least popular governor in America.
This is a bigger blow to Trump, who won in 2016 in part due to the understanding that he would fight against establishment Republicans like Bevin rather than campaign for them. Bevin’s defeat is being interpreted by some as more of a rejection of another Wall Street Republican, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, rather than Trump.
McConnell, who clearly does not want to implement Trump’s 2016 campaign promises, has been tepid in combating the Democrats’ frivolous impeachment inquiry against Trump. Bevin’s defeat reveals that he may be in trouble when he is up for re-election in 2020.
Trump can and should support a primary challenger to unseat McConnell and do away with his noxious influence in Congress, but the president will more likely put his credibility on the line again (after the embarrassing defeats of Luther Strange, Roy Moore and now Bevin) to host another pep rally when McConnell’s being voted on.
While demographics play a role in these results, including wealthy white liberals moving to red state suburbs, this is only being compounded by the Republican party’s flagrant dismissal of its voter’s demands in favor of its donors.
What people want is absolutely clear: left-wing economics, right-wing cultural policies and an isolationist foreign policy. Democrats and Republicans have agreed to disregard what voters want.
While we can label liberal economics and liberal social policies “right-wing” and “left-wing,” the fact in the data is that the average American is against the whole neo-liberal consensus that combines both.