As we all head to the polls over the coming days to cast our vote in the midterm elections, we would be better served to ignore the mainstream media’s dumbed-down headlines and oversimplified and lazy narrative. Collectively, Cable TV’s framing of issues and stale storyline are a broken record depicting the electorate essentially as two uncritical monoliths. This dominant refrain says if you care about women’s reproductive rights, our climate crisis, and defending democracy then you probably don’t care much about inflation, the economy, and crime and you will automatically vote for the Democratic candidates. Conversely, if your top concern is inflation and crime then you don’t really care about abortion rights, voting rights, etc and will vote for the GOP candidates. The false narrative continues, that concerns about the economy and crime intrinsically favor Republicans; that Joe Biden and Dems are to blame for inflation, which is absurd.
For the record, we just lived through and are living through the aftermath of a once-in-a-century pandemic that shut down supply chains, forced the layoff of tens of millions of Americans, and necessitated the institution of emergency economic relief measures that saved millions of families from falling into poverty, hunger, and homelessness. Let’s not forget the legislation passed by Donald Trump and cheered by the same Republicans blaming Biden and Dems now. In 2020, Congress passed and President Donald J. Trump signed the $2.2 trillion CARES Act and the $892 billion coronavirus aid package, both of which also sent stimulus checks to families. The Covid relief payments and PPP loans/grants to businesses were supported by most Americans and approved by large numbers of Republican lawmakers. Without those measures, most economists agree that we could have plunged into a massive economic depression, for which the fallout would have been catastrophic.
Naturally, this increase in the money supply in the economy has contributed some to the inflation we are seeing. The question is how much it is responsible for. Most economists assess that all the Covid relief efforts supported by both parties and spanning two administrations have contributed somewhere between 2 – 4 percentage points towards the current rate of inflation. The largest contributing factors to the rate of inflation have been supply chain issues related to the shutdowns and subsequent reopening of the economy. And secondly, the war in Ukraine and the resulting decrease in the supply of Russian oil and gas to world markets has driven the price of everything up further.
So remember as you get ready to vote, that the oversimplified narrative that Republicans have an advantage on the economy and inflation is not because they’ve done anything in the past or would do anything to make it better in the future. Their only policy proposal and past track record of action, tax cuts for the rich, certainly won’t do anything to make things better for most Americans. So they do what they usually do, blame Biden and the Democrats. They’re really good at the blame game and being very loud, but it’s mostly a bunch of BS.
Americans are not hearing the whole truth often enough, from media outlets who baselessly accept the GOP talking points. While everyone is pissed off about inflation and having to pay more for basically everything the reasons behind the inflation are much more complicated and varying. Republicans blaming Biden and Democrats solely is comical at best and closer to being downright misleading and deceitful.
And one could point out multiple other facts that dispel the myth that Republicans are somehow better stewards of the economy. Trump ran up the deficit every single year he was in office. I know that’s got to be really surprising to no one, considering that’s what he’s done his whole life….spend more money than he has. The King of Debt ran up our national debt by almost 8 trillion dollars. Well done Donald, well done. But he’s such a good businessman, I know. That’s what they say. Despite his poor record of fiscal responsibility most of the GOP would elect him again tomorrow and even cite the economy and businessman credentials as one of the main reasons. What?
Job growth was relatively anemic under Trump, compared to Obama’s record or even Clinton’s. Whichever measure you’d like to use, growth or GDP, Trump’s record on the economy was topped by his two Democratic predecessors and so far by Biden too. From 1933 to 2020, the economy grew at an average rate of 4.6% per year under Democratic presidents or nearly double the 2.4% under Republican presidents. So it’s a bit of a mystery why there is still this misconception floating around that having Republicans in power is better for the economy. Mostly it’s because they’re just better in the messaging department, better salesmen, snake oil salesmen that is.
And remind me again how supporting the Big Lie, a violent insurrection, and constantly undermining faith in government and institutions like the FBI and the Capitol Police and the San Francisco Police departments will help keep the economy strong and the crime rate down. Give me a break. A society on the brink of mass political violence due to a Republican leadership continuing to whip up the base with ridiculous but very dangerous lies and conspiracy theories is not a recipe for an economically stable environment.
There are dozens and dozens of national races this year chock-full of election-denying GOP candidates. Candidates who believe Jan. 6th was just a bunch of overly excited patriotic protesters peacefully touring the US Capitol. Numerous violent Jan 6th assailants have been convicted in US courts of law now, so there goes that theory, I guess. There are GOP Candidates who threaten journalists and their political opponents in disgusting TV ads and in rallies; GOP Candidates who make fun of a criminal and near deadly assault on Paul Pelosi, husband of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and 2nd in line to the Presidency. Absurd and baseless conspiracies are being spread and absorbed by the mainstream of the Party over the last couple of days. Kari Lake, Republican candidate for Arizona governor, speaking to supporters on Oct. 31, made a joke, laughed, and drew a big laugh response from the crowd. It’s reprehensible and telling of the line that we’ve crossed as a country. Cruelty is the point now in Trump’s GOP. And violence and crime are fine, so long as it is targeted at certain people. The real joke is the notion that a right-wing radical political party immersed in violent political culture and outwardly promoting instability is going to be a good steward of our public safety or the economy. So don’t buy the narrative, dig deeper and look at the track records.
Remember this too, that we can have healthy debates about tax policy, crime, educational curriculum, and environmental regulations. What we can’t do as a country, if we want to continue as an entity going forward, is have one of the major two political parties decide that if they win then the election was free and fair, but if they lose then it was stolen and corrupt. This is the dangerous territory that we are in. The majority of candidates and members of the Republican Party made a decision to buy into the lies of a soundly defeated sore loser and the leader of their party instead of moving on and rejecting him in the interest of country and constitution. That model, that has been echoed and emulated by hundreds of MAGA candidates this election season, has us at an inflection point in our nation’s experiment with Democracy. That is not sustainable, and regardless of what side the voters come down on this election, more and more Republicans will need to continue to abandon the Trump model or the Republic is doomed. Debating about abortion rights, inflation, and crime and picking the candidates we believe best reflect our positions on those issues is all pointless if one side decides that they won’t accept the outcome on election day.