284 Comments

I agree. I think teaching economics to kids is essential (and it might not be a bad idea for adults and seniors as well). We would all do well to understand economics, and basic needs, and have a working vocabulary for the various "ists" and "isms" that are bandied about. The level of encouraging greed and adulation of wealth and celebrity is discouraging. I believe we can and just might do better eventually. Not holding my breath but I remain hopeful

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I was relieved by the results in PA, my home state until January, 2021. Both the Governor's mansion and a Senate seat were won by Democrats. In both campaigns, the ugliness of anti- semitism surfaced as well as discrimination against people with disabilities. PA voters rose above to elect the better candidates.

I guess the political map is demonstrating that more liberal or centrist Democrats live in coastal cities or generally in large cities whereas the more conservative Republicans reside in more rural or suburban areas. The presidential race will continue to be restricted by the electoral college and gerrymanding.

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I see a lot of rural urban divide in so many contests.

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I think we need to remember that Democrat is not the opposite of Republican. We need to stop partisan bickering and focus on just doing a clean job of running the country. Statesmanship, statesmanship rather than politics.

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Nov 30, 2022·edited Nov 30, 2022

I wonder if in this race The Silent Generation born from 1928-1945 and The Baby Boomer Generation born from 1946-1964 fueled most of the republican votes. I believe these two generational cohorts alone would have led to a much more widespread Republican victory in these midterm races.. I am not sure how much Generation X born from 1965-1980 had on this midterm election. I think the Millenial Generation that was born from 1981-1996 voted more for progressive democrats than maybe the three generations that preceded them. Generation Z born from 1997-2012 is has its oldest members voting for the first time. Basically the millenials and Generation Z generations together appear most likely to vote for progressive Democrats than the generations prior to them. I did not mention the Greatest Generation which was born from 1901-1927 because most of that generation has basically died off rendering it with little noticeable influence. The Silent Generation is probably starting to die off now noticeably because that generation spans people born from 1928 to 1945. The youngest Silent Generation members are turning 77 years old and the oldest Silent Generation members are turning 94 years old this year. Their political influence should wane considerably in the next 10 years as this generational cohort dies off. Remember the Silent Generations, The Baby Boomers and The Generation X members grew up before Ronald Reagan took office and started cutting a lot of the federal spending that used to help a lot of average people. The Millenials and Generation Z members grew up with the consequences of Ronald Reagan and his successors cutting social spending that a lot of average people benefitted from. I believe the elites from The Silent, Baby Boomer, Generation X crowd were largely responsible for continuing Ronald Reagans policies and expanding on them. In conclusion, I suspect people are voting largely on generational lines. Here is the link that shows where I got the named generations from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Generation

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Sadly the DNC did not support Tim Ryan at all, may have been a different outcome if they had.

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We can learn that Women do have a united voice about some things!

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In this 🌽 State Democrats last won the governorship was 1983-1987. Bob Kerry went onto Senate from 1989-2001. In 2022 three corporate executives ran for Governor. 2 were candidates & 1 bank rolled one of the candidates. All Republican. The Democratic candidate grass root candidacy never made election competitive. This 🌽 State has three districts. Two are metropolitan & third is rural. The third district makes up 93% of the 🌽 State. Guess who wins ? Republicans. In January the Republicans will try to get tax money used for public education moved through “scholarships “ to Charter& religious schools. A no permit concealed carry gun law. Once again take private farm ground for corporate benefits. The Democrats did get enough Senators elected to stop the Republicans. This🌽 State has one legislative house. The Uni Cameral. Oh, the current Governor Ricketts buys legislation if the legislature kills his bills. Gets his stuff put on ballot like a Constitutional Amendment that now requires all🌽 citizens to get a photo ID in order to Vote. The Uni Cameral hasn’t decided what kind of photo will be acceptable.2024 could get worse or better depending on citizens voting. 🌽

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I see your essay as correct. The Republican and Democratic parties is a work-life balance. Red vs Blue with no regard for how much of that money is wasted to prove that one side is predicted to be a disaster if their favorite candidate is elected. The mid-term elections are not complicated, the results show an early favorite party candidate. American voters did learn from past elections. They learned you cast your ballots by mail in mass before election day. In a google search President Biden received more than 81 million votes the most of any president. If I get this right former president Roosevelt (Democratic party) won 523 electoral votes and President Biden (Democratic party) won 306 electoral votes. I believe that 87 years of voter knowledge.

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I will tell you what I learned, a tight race between Waonock and Walker is possible! I can't believe the people of Georgia, what are they thinking. Walker is not fit for office. I live in Kentucky and believe me; we have had our share of screw ups, but McConnell and Paul just keep happening.

I can't do this. Kanye and Fuentes have me more worried than anything...

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Volatile and nuanced, yes a perfect phrase for an activity at the heart of our citizenship and one that is never totally predictable.

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"[Sandy Chung, executive director for ACLU of Oregon] said that it is likely that there was confusion amongst many voters about the measure."

> Source : https://kobi5.com/news/measure-112-passing-despite-state-sheriffs-association-opposition-198994/

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"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." - Mark Twain (or Benjamin Disraeli, or anonymous, depending on your source).

Change "statistics" to "polls" and it's equally true.

Therefore, I think a major lesson we must learn from the 2022 mid-terms is simply this: do not trust polling. Not only is it an inexact "science," it tends to reveal not voters' thoughts and intentions, but rather the wishes of pollsters.

I've long thought political polls should be illegal within a week before a national election. Now I'm thinking they should be abandoned across the board.

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Fear, superstition, greed, vanity.

Seems to me we are at a time when the evolution of thought has reached what the great evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould described as “punctuated equilibrium”. Long, slow, imperceptible changes with intermittent rapid changes. Paradigm shifts in this case. People fear those changes. They fear that something which is rightfully theirs will be taken and given to someone less deserving, who didn’t earn it. Hate is just fear, after all.

Not long ago one would NEVER admit they were gay. We now have openly gay public servants, voted by a majority into office. A black President?! Only in the movies! What’s next? An atheist President? God forbid! (See what I did there? Lol).

Bottom line, the greedy exploit the fearful, get greedier, cheat to retain power. Greed, hate, vanity.

So we continue the good fight. Continue to promote love and equality for all. “Tolerance” for the “other” will become EMBRACE the other.

Vote, stay active, be bold and love. Future generations will appreciate that!

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We did get a kind of mini red wave in NY and CA. Do this year’s results indicate a trend to moderation across the board? ...?

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In this recent essay, you did not mention the voter suppression that has been done by the Republican Party. Part of it is, of course, gerrymandering, but there are multiple ways that voting can be limited, as it was in Jim Crow South after the Civil War: intimidation, rules about how and where people can vote as well as other means that have been discussed by Robert Hubble and others.

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