How the left burned down their own house

While they were inside

I'm fascinated by the sea change currently playing out in the news and on social media, involving the shifting of confidence among Americans toward Republicans to fix problems - due to the self-immolation of the American left. This began, in earnest, during the Obama years, but is now reaching new heights, zenith after zenith. The disconnect between the ideology of the progressive left and our current shared reality, is stunning.

The American left, at least the progressive element of it, seems absolutely hellbent on alienating the majority of voters that they need to maintain political relevance. If you ask Americans what things concern them the most, survey after survey reveals the same issues in roughly the same order. None of it aligns with progressive priorities.

Americans are mostly concerned with economic issues: inflation, supply chain issues and rising fuel costs. Right behind those concerns are crime, illegal immigration and leadership issues.

While neither the political left or right has a set of priorities that is in absolute alignment with this, the right is closer than the left. That explains why, for the first time in years, polls show that Americans trust Republicans more than Democrats to handle important problems.

If you can ignore the right's obsession with pro-life issues, religious issues and wingnut candidates, they are otherwise pretty good at aligning their interests with those of most Americans, simply by prioritizing the economy, national security, crime prevention and immigration.

The left, on the other hand, has chose to prioritize social justice, climate change and the defense of Roe v Wade at the same time that inflation is approaching 10%, a recession seems imminent, serious crime is increasing and supply chain issues are so bad that parents are unable to find formula for infants.

As I've said many times, I believe that the degree to which the Democratic Party is wildly out of touch with the concerns of most Americans will (and should) cost them dearly in the upcoming mid-terms.

I am one of the people that Colin Wright represents in his now famous (thanks to an Elon Musk tweet) cartoon of a stationary stick figure, slightly left of center in the political spectrum, watching the left move further and further away, until the stick figure is now right of center. If I ever meet Mr. Wright, the beer tab is on me. I'm really glad to find, through his cartoon and what has been written about it, that I'm not the only person who feels the shift.

The left, unsurprisingly, was not amused by this cartoon (the Washington Post, in particular, has several writers who seemed triggered by it). This response, by itself, is indicative of the problem that the left has with the rest of America. You're either all in with them, or you're all out. If you're out, it can't possibly be because you have a well-reasoned point of view that just happens to differ from theirs, or a sense of humor, or a different life experience. No, it's because you are a bigot, a racist, a fascist, a misogynist, a “phobe” of some type - or all of the above.

Days after the 2016 election, I ran into a former colleague, a very nice person, at a local coffee shop. I invited them to join our table for a bit of conversation. Seated at this table were a collection of professionals. When the inevitable question of “What do you think about Trump winning?” came up, this individual opined, without any concern of being challenged, that it meant that half of the voting population of the United States was composed of idiots. What this person did not know was that they were one of only two people sitting at that table who did not vote for Trump.

That, in a nutshell, is the problem with the progressive left. They have failed to grasp, time after time, warning after warning, that most of America is not with them. Right or wrong has got nothing to do with it. Intelligence or profession has got nothing to do with it. Hell, even race and ethnicity has increasingly got nothing to do with it. Disdain for the left and their priorities is simply so great, that many would rather vote for a candidate like Donald Trump than whoever the left advances.

When you are more disliked than Donald Trump, you clearly have a problem.

Most Americans are not particularly ideological. Most Americans have just enough spare time to concern themselves with kitchen table issues like the economy and public safety. As long as the economy is doing well, crime doesn't become a personal issue and they feel safe from terrorism, you can probably get away with pushing an ideological agenda in government. But not when the chips are down.