Tag Archive: inflation

With midterm elections coming up fast, do Democrats finally have a theme?

“Freedom” is just potatoes to Republicans

The 2022 midterm elections are just 124 days away, and the results will likely make or break Joe Biden‘s presidency and the Democratic Party’s agenda. All seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as approximately one-third of U.S. Senate seats, are up for grabs. If the Republicans gain a majority in either house of Congress, at minimum, the Biden/Democratic agenda will be stymied as they won’t be able to pass any meaningful legislation. Additionally, either house under Republican control will bog the government down in senseless hearings involving laptops and other shiny object distractions, in order for the GOP to try to score political points. Moreover, many state and local offices are up for election, which could determine how crucial matters ranging from abortion to elections themselves are handled. Suffice it to say that, if any Democrats claim “this is one of the most important elections of your lifetime,” they are not exaggerating.

Republicans, predictably, are bashing President Biden and Democrats over inflation and gasoline prices as their 2022 election theme. Fair enough, as the party out of power generally attacks on any economic front that it can, even though in this case, Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine, as well as leftover COVID-based supply chain problems, both of which can be laid at the feet of Donald Trump, are largely to blame. Indeed, inflation is a problem worldwide, and the United States is on the lower side of gasoline prices around the world.

Therefore, it would be really helpful if the Democratic Party would express a unifying and galvanizing theme for the upcoming elections, to counter the Republicans and drive all-important voter turnout. This has worked in the past, e.g., House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi‘s healthcare message for the 2018 midterms, which led to a Democratic takeover of the U.S. House, catapulting Pelosi to House Speaker.

As it turns out, President Biden and Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California, among others, seem to be leading the way with a theme that can succeed for the Democrats in this year’s elections. That theme can be seen in recent tweets from Biden and Rep. Swalwell:

Republican Repetition and the “Fargo” TruCoat scene

Republicans sell politics like selling cars

In one of the early scenes in the Coen Brothers’ 1996 film Fargo,” car salesman (and central figure) Jerry Lundegaard has an exchange with an irate customer and his wife about the unwanted installation of TruCoat on the car they ordered. Here’s part of the exchange, the video for which is linked above:

CUSTOMER
We sat here right in this room and went over this and over this!

JERRY
Yah, but that TruCoat –

CUSTOMER
I sat right here and said I didn’t want no TruCoat!

JERRY
Yah, but I’m sayin’, that TruCoat, you don’t get it and you get oxidization problems. It’ll cost you a heck of lot more’n five hunnert –

CUSTOMER
You’re sittin’ here, you’re talkin’ in circles! You’re talkin’ like we didn’t go over this already!

JERRY
Yah, but this TruCoat –

Not surprisingly, as the scene ends, the salesman has worn down the customer by sticking to and repeating his agenda, and the customer grudgingly pays for something he did not want. This sales tactic is very similar to the Republican Party’s successful use of repetition in the political arena to get what they want, even when most of us do not agree with it.