It is farcical to believe that ten percent or so of Virginians and other Blue State voters awoke on the morning of the second of November 2021 and decided they were no longer Democrats and would, instead, identify as Republicans.
The Blue State voters believed that they were being threatened. There was a great amount of fear and rage at the destructive educational systems, at the destructive Covid policies, and at the lunacy of defunding the police. When one slate says, shut up, fire cops, write us a check, and give us your child, an awful lot of people take offense to that. Coupled with staggering inflation, a crumbling economy, crime, and a huge dash of political hypocrisy and you have a great recipe for electoral fury.
And even then, the races were close.
Republicans are high-fiving it while Democrats are reeling and grabbing life vests to save themselves from the Great Red Tsunami; but all tsunamis crash on shore and suck back to sea. The odds of higher tides in next year’s elections are greater than 50-50—and probably enough for Republicans to regain legislative control in D.C.—but a year is forever in politics. Who would have thought on Christmas 2015 that by Christmas 2016 there would be a grand showman moving to the Big House in D.C.? (And who would have thought that by Christmas 2021 both gas and milk would cost over three bucks a gallon?)
If there is to be a great turning point in American history, the play cannot be to vote Republican, and all your worries will melt away. We still live in a Coke verses Pepsi world. Regardless of the taste of one or the other, there are people who will always drink Pepsi. They might drink a Coke if that’s all that’s available, but they will always return to Pepsi. Forcing Coke on Pepsi drinkers will have no takers. Pepsi is full of sugar, as is Coke, so positive change comes when realizing that drinking any soda every once-in-a-while is okay, but drinking mostly unsweet iced tea is healthier and better quenches thirst (and bonus, you lose some weight too!). Failing that, our teeth will rot, our guts will expand, and we’ll die of coronary disease.
Pass me the iced tea.