Democrats in array this time
When one thinks of a political party marching in lockstep, using the same campaign phrase, the Democratic Party usually does not come to mind. However, that’s just what’s happening as the 2022 midterm elections approach. As we indicated in July, the Democrats, starting with President Joe Biden, began saying that “Freedom is on the ballot” in the upcoming elections:
This fall, Roe is on the ballot. Personal freedoms are on the ballot.
Until then, we will do everything within our power to ensure that women have access to the medication they need and that they will have the freedom to travel to seek the care they need.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 5, 2022
In what could not be a coincidence, President Biden was joined at the same time with the same language by Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell:
Freedom is on the ballot this November.
Freedom from gun violence
Freedom of health care choices
Freedom to vote #ChooseFreedom
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) July 5, 2022
Those two concurrent tweets were enough to identify a theme here, but now President Biden and Rep. Swalwell have been joined by more Democrats expressing the “Freedom” message for the midterms:
For example, here is Democratic U.S. House special election winner Pat Ryan early last Wednesday morning:
Choice was on the ballot. Freedom was on the ballot, and tonight choice and freedom won. We voted like our democracy was on the line because it is. We upended everything we thought we knew about politics and did it together.#NY19, it will be my honor to serve you in Congress. pic.twitter.com/BsPKlLGqE0
— Pat Ryan 🇺🇸 (@PatRyanUC) August 24, 2022
Likewise, in the upcoming election for Florida Governor, U.S. Congressman and Democratic nominee Charlie Christ voiced the same themes after winning his Democratic gubernatorial primary last Tuesday night:
Our fundamental freedoms are literally on the ballot. … A woman’s right to choose, on the ballot. Democracy, on the ballot. Your rights as minorities are on this ballot.
Obviously, some of these key phrases are coming from the top, most likely the Biden White House. But the astonishing part is that, this time, many Democrats are repeating them. Usually, keeping Democrats in line is referred to as “herding cats.” Indeed, Will Rogers famously stated in the 1930s:
I am not a member of any organized political party … I am a Democrat.
The nice way to think about it is that Democrats are smart, free thinkers and like to express their values in their own way, rather than in a lockstep manner that is more associated with the authoritarian Republican Party. That is all well and good, but when it’s crunch time before the first midterm elections in a Democratic president’s term, a time that is typically marked by losses for the incumbent party, having a powerful theme like “Freedom” may be just what is needed for victory.
Photo by Amaury Laporte, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/4cEgr6
