Who’d a thunk it? This midterm election is being advertised in the most apocalyptic terms imaginable, i.e., “the most important election of our lifetime.” For any such election, the party in power expects losses; their position is like a man holding onto a street lamp during a hurricane. The party out of power, likewise, expects to gain seats in both chambers. This year, this seems that Democrats—though not those here in Roslyn—feel that if they lose both houses, then President Trump is a shoo-in for re-election.
That may be the case, but midterm elections generally have zero effect on the presidential election two years later. In recent decades, Ronald Reagan in 1982, Bill Clinton in 1994 and Barack Obama in 2010, all saw their parties take a hit in the midterms. Two years later, all three had no difficulty in getting re-elected. In 1978 and 1990 respectively, both Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush saw their parties sustain minimal losses in the midterms. Both also were defeated for re-election by significant margins.
Enough beating around the bush. The nation is as divided now as in any time that people can remember. Our maverick view is that Supreme Court decisions over the years on school busing, abortion and the definition of marriage haven’t resolved anything. They still eat away at a large portion of the electorate. Time to reinsert the 10th amendment into the Constitution. Similarly, the demographic changes that have occurred over the past half century have caused great anxiety and dread over the future. Such Americans are being told not to fret over such changes. But they do.
