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I have noticed in recent weeks that the Democrats' advantage over the GOP in polls about the 2018 House of Reps elections has been increasing. It's now about 9 percent.
My first reaction to reading these polls is "yippee" but the more I think about this issue the more I think that a possible Democratic victory is meaningless compared to the more important battle -- a battle that is being lost because it is not being fought.
The battle is about the future of American democracy. I just watched longtime Pulitzer Prize winning reporter David Cay Johnston speak about why our democracy is in danger and heard him make numerous articulate arguments about what we need to know and do. I have heard other commentators, particularly conservative intellectuals (not quite an oxymoron), make similar arguments.
So what are our politicians doing about this? As far as I can tell, only GOP Senator Jeff Flake is fighting The Evil Monster in regards to his obvious efforts to destroy our democracy, the populace's confidence in the justice system, the populace's confidence in elections, the populace's confidence in a free press, the populace's confidence in our institutions, the populace's confidence in the Constitution, and more just to save his own skin and enhance the chances that he will someday be the dictator he has wanted to be for at least 30 years.
Polls indicate that Americans' confidence in our democracy, justice system, etc. is crumbling. When that happens, it becomes way, way..................................way easier for a would-be dictator to successfully behave like a dictator. At the same time, international organizations that assess strengths of democracies have dropped the USA from the category of the most free and democratic nations. We are falling RAPIDLY.
John McCain and Bob Corker sometimes speak about these important issues, but NOT ONE DEMOCRAT is speaking about these issues on even a sometime basis.
If you're a Democratic Party nominee running for the House of Reps in Topeka, your campaign should rightly be focused on what you can do for the people of Topeka, particularly bread and butter issues.
If you're a "leader" though, you should be speaking out about the importance of preserving our democracy EVERY DAY -- because the American people NEED to hear eloquent defenses of our democracy EVERY DAY and because The Evil Monster is making the opposite argument EVERY DAY by words or deeds.
In short, Democrats should be fighting more for the USA and its 242-year-old democracy and less for their political jobs in the midterm elections.
Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and other old-timers are negligent in their duties as leaders and need to be replaced. Ex-leaders like ex-presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and George W. Bush should also be speaking out in favor of our democracy ever day, as should Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Al Gore, and others.
Perhaps, we need people like Johnston to run for office. Pelosi, Schumer and others are cowards. They don't talk about impeachment because it doesn't poll well. That's how Democrats behave. Republicans look at polls and try to change them by arguing vociferously for their side again and again and again. Democrats look at polls and do and say NOTHING about issues that aren't reflected in the polls like the future of our democracy. They lose the battle because they don't fight.
So what happens if Democrats win the midterm elections? As far as I can tell, a Dem win could prevent bad laws on everyday short-term issues but will do NOTHING for the long-term issue of the health of our democracy.
The long-term issue is way, way..........................way more important.
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