Adoption of radical leftist policies and endorsements from celebrities are “political poison.”
By S.T. Patrick
Extrapolating one country’s national election results into a global trend or a long-term lesson can be challenging, yet there must be something said for conservative Boris Johnson’s smashing defeat of Jeremy Corbyn’s left-wing Labour Party in the UK. In America, political analysts are wondering whether the UK results were a part two to America’s 2016 election, a precursor to election 2020, or a rigged election that will result in another scandal—always the preference of the losing party’s favored media.
Certain left-leaning celebrities in both countries have urged moderation from their more liberal parties. The UK’s Piers Morgan wrote, “Johnson’s triumph proves democracy-denying radical socialists backed by self-righteous celebrities on Twitter are electoral poison—and if Democrats fall for the same delusion, Trump will decimate them in 2020.”
American comedian and talk show host Bill Maher tweeted, “The apparent beating that Jeremy Corbyn led the Labour to in the UK election should serve as a cautionary tale for the Democrats as 2020 approaches.”
Maher has been more specific in the past, criticizing the Democratic Party’s frontrunners for trending too far to the left. “If you run on taking away people’s healthcare and taxing them too much and taking away all of their guns and trans women get abortion rights—I think that came up in the first debate—I don’t think you are going to win this election,” Maher told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program in September.
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (DNev.) has also predicted that a shift in platform priorities would be the only thing that could bring victory to the Democrats.
“There are so many more important things to do. Decriminalizing border crossings is not something that should be at the top of the list,” Reid said.
Maher has gone so far as to urge for a denunciation of the more extreme landmarks of the 2020 campaign, the race to the most extreme poles of the party. Since 1992 this has been called a “Sister Souljah moment,” which refers to candidate Bill Clinton distancing himself from DJ Sister Souljah’s racial comments in the midst of the 1992 campaign. Now the phrase indicates a movement away from extremist positions and supporters of those positions.
The bases of both parties lie in those who are the farthest right and left, respectively. But those bases are often ideologically opposed to the centrist national committees (DNC and RNC) that control the primaries. After Pat Buchanan’s conservative “Culture War” speech defined the 1992 Republican National Convention, GOP strategists pushed for a move to the middle. Over the next 20 years, Republican moderates were chosen by the RNC to prevail in the primaries: Bob Dole, George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney.
The Democratic Party is now going through a similar identity crisis. Joseph Biden and Pete Buttigieg are the party favorites, while Bernie Sanders is the outlier, despite his overwhelming popularity at live events.
Just as the GOP was stymied by Buchanan’s populist support in 1992 and 1996—which reemerged as Trump support in 2016—the DNC has no idea what to do with a populist candidate like Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii).
Though downplayed as a major factor by the British media, Brexit was a major winner in the UK election. The British people were asked to vote yea or nay on Brexit in June 2016, and they did just that. They voted to leave the European Union. Since 2016, they have withstood Labour Party leaders shouting for nullification of the people’s vote, compromises that would lead to permanent ties with the EU (thus indirectly nullifying the vote), and mockery by the British left. The mockery they have received in the UK (being called everything from “fascists” to “Nazi white supremacists”) was the equivalent of being told they were “deplorables” who “cling to their God and guns.”
The British media had also worked faulty polling to show that Brexit was no longer even a majority opinion—and by a wide margin. If the Johnson win didn’t show that the polling and media barrage was faulty, then the Labour leaders have learned nothing. The British withstood three years of being propagandized by a state-run media, and they won. Their 2016 vote stood.
The American people, especially those who live between the coasts, have been listening to three years of political statements supporting unchecked immigration, drivers licenses for illegal aliens, higher taxes, globalism, and an unconstitutional curbing of free speech. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) proved that, no, you couldn’t keep your healthcare if you liked it, not when companies abandoned healthcare altogether due to the rising costs of the ACA. There has also been a war fatigue that has started to take American hearts and minds slowly. Throughout both parties, the underdog Gabbard has been the only candidate to address the permanent war state. No matter which party won, no matter if either party moved left, right, or to the center, war has won. Beyond policy, however, the core issue may be one of respect.
Will Americans vote in droves for a left-leaning candidate who is out of touch with those who still pride themselves on being the majority of the Americans who are employed? Will they accept being told that everything will be “free to all” when they know that they will be working harder and making less to pay for it all? That America doesn’t always identify with either party, not in name. What they do understand is that there are two lines: givers and takers. The givers have spent their lives being givers for ethical, moral, and spiritual reasons. But the line of takers has gotten longer and more aggressively entitled. They will vote for the party (candidate) who outwardly respects them most. It’s that easy.
S.T. Patrick holds degrees in both journalism and social studies education. He spent 10 years as an educator and now hosts the “Midnight Writer News Show.” His email is [email protected]. He is also an occasional contributor to TBR history magazine and the current managing editor of Deep Truth Journal (DTJ), a new conspiracy-focused publication available from the AFP Online Store.
