By Paul Waldman
Columnist |
October 4, 2022 at 2:36 p.m. EDT
In our endless quest to simplify and synthesize, journalists have arrived at a summary explanation of the midterm elections: Republicans want voters to focus on inflation and crime, while Democrats want them to focus on abortion and threats to democracy.
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This is often framed as a choice between the concrete, immediate and practical on one hand and the hypothetical and abstract on the other. Inflation and crime are supposedly “kitchen table issues” that affect people’s lives and communities every day. But that abortion and democracy stuff? Maybe some people care about those things, but they are not what hard-nosed, pragmatic candidates spend their time on.
This is exactly backward. In fact, it’s voting on the basis of inflation or crime that is impractical, even naive.
It’s true inflation and crime are serious problems that touch people’s lives. The trouble is that the person you elect to Congress will be able to do almost nothing about them.
By contrast, the people you vote for in this election and the ones in the near future will absolutely help determine whether abortion rights and democracy survive.
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The impotence of members of Congress on those “kitchen table issues” is something we rarely talk about, in part because doing so honestly would make voters look more than a little foolish. How many reports quote regular people saying they’re really concerned about gas and grocery prices, and so that’s what they want candidates to address? We take those priorities as almost sacred, and say, “Woe to the candidate who does not show voters they hear their concerns!”
What no one will say is this: If you think this election will determine whether inflation goes down next year, you have no idea how the world works.
What’s going to determine whether inflation comes down? The actions of the Federal Reserve, and the strength of supply chains, and whether the global economy plunges into recession. If a candidate says, “Inflation is bad, so vote for me!” it should be regarded an implicit acknowledgment that they don’t have any actual ideas to do anything about it, because it’s not a problem Congress can fix in the short term.
ADVERTISING
And to be clear, this overpromising applies to both parties. The Inflation Reduction Act is a very good law that will do many worthwhile things, but it’s not going to bring down inflation.
Or take crime. Republicans would have you believe that the spike in certain kinds of crime (particularly homicide) that accompanied the pandemic in 2020 was the result of rampaging liberalism. After all, some activists proposed defunding the police (even though it didn’t actually happen almost anywhere) and a few progressive prosecutors were elected.
The trouble is that the increase in crime happened everywhere, in places run by Republicans as well as by Democrats. There was even a rural crime wave that coincided with the pandemic, and you sure can’t blame Democrats for that.
All of which is to say that crime is complex and fed by national forces. It’s not that policy doesn’t matter over the long term, or that there aren’t things local officials in particular can do to make a difference. But the ubiquitous GOP claim that electing an appropriately “tough” congressman will reduce crime in your community is absurd.
Now, let’s turn to the supposedly airy ideas Democrats are campaigning on. Will your vote make a difference to the future of reproductive rights in America? Heck yes it will. Unlike some other issues, this is one where the parties couldn’t be more different, and they will have the ability to directly and rapidly put their ideas into action. Just ask women in Texas and Arizona or any of the other states where abortion has been banned.
Many political factors will determine whether the Republican Party follows through on its oft-stated desire to ban all abortions the next time there is a Republican president with a GOP Congress. But abortion is an issue where your vote makes a real difference, and the effects on the lives of women and their families will be profound.
Likewise, on the question of whether we ought to have a democracy in which there are fair elections and the losing side accepts defeat, the parties have very different positions that make a concrete difference in people’s lives. In many states, the choice for offices, including governor and secretary of state, is between one sane person and one election saboteur who pledges to be all but committed to stealing future elections. If you value democracy, this election could determine whether we continue to have one.
It might be counterintuitive to say that the supposed “kitchen table issues” are the ones on which voters are being overly credulous and impractical, allowing candidates to fool them into thinking something will happen when it never will. But it’s the truth.
Columnist |
October 4, 2022 at 2:36 p.m. EDT
In our endless quest to simplify and synthesize, journalists have arrived at a summary explanation of the midterm elections: Republicans want voters to focus on inflation and crime, while Democrats want them to focus on abortion and threats to democracy.
Sign up for a weekly roundup of thought-provoking ideas and debates
This is often framed as a choice between the concrete, immediate and practical on one hand and the hypothetical and abstract on the other. Inflation and crime are supposedly “kitchen table issues” that affect people’s lives and communities every day. But that abortion and democracy stuff? Maybe some people care about those things, but they are not what hard-nosed, pragmatic candidates spend their time on.
This is exactly backward. In fact, it’s voting on the basis of inflation or crime that is impractical, even naive.
It’s true inflation and crime are serious problems that touch people’s lives. The trouble is that the person you elect to Congress will be able to do almost nothing about them.
By contrast, the people you vote for in this election and the ones in the near future will absolutely help determine whether abortion rights and democracy survive.
Follow Paul Waldman's opinionsFollow
The impotence of members of Congress on those “kitchen table issues” is something we rarely talk about, in part because doing so honestly would make voters look more than a little foolish. How many reports quote regular people saying they’re really concerned about gas and grocery prices, and so that’s what they want candidates to address? We take those priorities as almost sacred, and say, “Woe to the candidate who does not show voters they hear their concerns!”
What no one will say is this: If you think this election will determine whether inflation goes down next year, you have no idea how the world works.
What’s going to determine whether inflation comes down? The actions of the Federal Reserve, and the strength of supply chains, and whether the global economy plunges into recession. If a candidate says, “Inflation is bad, so vote for me!” it should be regarded an implicit acknowledgment that they don’t have any actual ideas to do anything about it, because it’s not a problem Congress can fix in the short term.
ADVERTISING
And to be clear, this overpromising applies to both parties. The Inflation Reduction Act is a very good law that will do many worthwhile things, but it’s not going to bring down inflation.
Or take crime. Republicans would have you believe that the spike in certain kinds of crime (particularly homicide) that accompanied the pandemic in 2020 was the result of rampaging liberalism. After all, some activists proposed defunding the police (even though it didn’t actually happen almost anywhere) and a few progressive prosecutors were elected.
The trouble is that the increase in crime happened everywhere, in places run by Republicans as well as by Democrats. There was even a rural crime wave that coincided with the pandemic, and you sure can’t blame Democrats for that.
All of which is to say that crime is complex and fed by national forces. It’s not that policy doesn’t matter over the long term, or that there aren’t things local officials in particular can do to make a difference. But the ubiquitous GOP claim that electing an appropriately “tough” congressman will reduce crime in your community is absurd.
Now, let’s turn to the supposedly airy ideas Democrats are campaigning on. Will your vote make a difference to the future of reproductive rights in America? Heck yes it will. Unlike some other issues, this is one where the parties couldn’t be more different, and they will have the ability to directly and rapidly put their ideas into action. Just ask women in Texas and Arizona or any of the other states where abortion has been banned.
Many political factors will determine whether the Republican Party follows through on its oft-stated desire to ban all abortions the next time there is a Republican president with a GOP Congress. But abortion is an issue where your vote makes a real difference, and the effects on the lives of women and their families will be profound.
Likewise, on the question of whether we ought to have a democracy in which there are fair elections and the losing side accepts defeat, the parties have very different positions that make a concrete difference in people’s lives. In many states, the choice for offices, including governor and secretary of state, is between one sane person and one election saboteur who pledges to be all but committed to stealing future elections. If you value democracy, this election could determine whether we continue to have one.
It might be counterintuitive to say that the supposed “kitchen table issues” are the ones on which voters are being overly credulous and impractical, allowing candidates to fool them into thinking something will happen when it never will. But it’s the truth.
