Two Days and Counting
It’s almost over but this monthlong and longer voting procedure we’ve boxed ourselves into over the past decades must end; we need to return to a one-day or at the most two-day (weekend, public holiday?) voting schedule. What we are doing now – besides offering many opportunities to steal, cheat, and debase an election – is both idiotic and dangerous. Why give people with larceny in their hearts a full month or longer to skew the effort of a free and fair election?
I’d go for the purple-thumb approach (for those who don’t remember, the first Iraq election after the ouster of Saddam Hussein featured voters dunking their thumbs into a vat of purple dye after voting so that they couldn’t vote again).
The likelihood of throwing away one’s vote if one’s candidate drops out unexpectedly during a long voter period such as we have now is real, as happened when Rudy Giuliani abandoned the presidential race just five days before the California Primary, thereby negating all votes already cast for him. This happens often, as various office seekers run out of money or courage and drop out just days or weeks before the official Election Day.
When we had real elections (the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November), there would be the occasional death of a candidate but beyond that, one’s vote counted for the person one voted for.
Let’s get back to that.
For now though, as the end of this upcoming Tuesday’s mid-term election season draws near, let’s examine where we are.
First of all, I try – I really do – to listen to the other side. But, but, but, my brain can’t handle the assault to intelligence by everything the shrieking and weirdly inane talking heads on, for example, MSNBC, spew. Two minutes of such dribble is all I can take. You’d need an IQ in the 80s or less to be a regular MSNBC viewer, but compassion calls: stupid people need an outlet too.
CNN has – it really has – gotten better as the new regime cleans house, but it continues to hang on to too many of the losers it’s had for so many years. Curiously though, when CNN panelelists sit around to discuss why, say, “white suburban women” seemed to have gravitated towards the Republican Party, the subject of the educational dry well public-school students have fallen into, along with the sexualization of elementary schoolchildren, never seems to come up. Panelists usually cite “economics” as the driving force in that turnabout, but as I see it, education and indoctrination are equally important.
Fox Cable News has got it mostly right, though even on that channel way too much credence is given to inflation and not enough to the depredations of the education industry for what seems about to happen.
And what’s about to take place on Wednesday morning is that Republicans will end up holding as much as a 54-46 edge in the U.S. Senate. Here’s why: Mr. Laxalt will take out Ms. Cortez Masto in Nevada; Mr. Walker will oust Mr. Warnock in Georgia; Johnson will hold his seat in Wisconsin; Mr. Budd will eke out a victory in North Carolina; Dr. Oz will win over Mr. Fetterwoman; Masters will beat Kelly in Arizona, and JD Vance will prevail in Ohio.
I did predict that Democrat incumbent Ms. Hassan would squeak by Republican General Bolduc in New Hampshire, but now I’m not so sure she’ll prevail, as Bolduc looks like he’ll come out on top. I also wrote that Ms. Smiley had a “fighting chance to overtake” incumbent Patty (D) Murray in the State of Washington and that’s looking pretty good for Ms. Smiley too. Both Connecticut and Oregon could also surprise us come Wednesday morning.
If any semblance of this prediction holds, Republicans will come out of the 2022 election season with at least a 53/47 majority in the Senate and if the toss-up goes against Murray in Washington, a 54/46 split. If Bolduc wins in New Hampshire, a 55/45 split is a real possibility. If all the polls turn out wrong and things do go badly for Republicans, Democrats could hang on to a 50/50 Senate, and I’ll be putting on my bib for a meal of Crow stew.
But, as a betting man, I’m going with the momentum play, which favors Republicans.
Big time.
As a former president often remarks, we’ll see what happens.
I also predicted a 20- to 24-seat pickup in the House, but my guess is that the number of House seats that flip from Democrat to Republican could go as high as 35 to 40. Whatever happens in each individual race, Speaker-in-Waiting McCarthy will have a comfortable majority.
Oh, and don’t forget to vote for a Republican near you.
If you are inclined to vote Democrat and want this slow-moving national catastrophe to continue, please reconsider.
Or barring that, stay home, just this once.
Please.
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I sure hope you are right, Jim! You and I are in 'Violent Agreement' about the state of things -- as usual.