Unpleasant Choices

 

I think it is important for Republicans to win in the coming midterm elections – taking control of the federal house and senate, adding several Republican governors, and electing many more Republicans to state and local offices around the country. This is not because I think the Repubs are thoughtful, trustworthy, or fit to govern, but because the Democrats are too nearly under the control of their authoritarian leftists, and their actions and policies show it. Since the leftists have some very bad things planned for this country and have to be stopped, the Dems need to be routed in November. (One even can hope that a bad enough defeat, followed by another in 2024 might push the party back toward the so-called center for a while. That would be good for the country.)

Achieving that goal will require supporting and voting for some people one would rather not. These days the Democrats have been making it easy for even very repulsive Republicans to appear as the lesser evil. I live in Texas. Based on polls reported in the news, it is likely that the Republican nominee for attorney general will be Trumpist social conservative Ken Paxton. I voted against him in the primary, and I will vote against him in the runoff. But if he wins, I will have to vote for him in November. I do not like it, but I’ll do it. In a local race for the state legislature, the two candidates in the runoff are both highlighting how fond they are of Donald Trump. It is a sorry state of affairs.

Of course there is also a threat from the illiberal right. It is dangerous and probably growing. Illiberal right wing nationalists and traditionalists are easy to find. A piece today at The Federalist – which is not one of the wilder right wing sites -attacked leftists for their supposed belief in individual autonomy, in effect arguing that the problem with leftists is that they are too libertarian. The difference between the two threats is that the rightist authoritarians are much farther from having the power to achieve their illiberal goals and desires than are the leftists. That is why it makes sense to focus more now on opposing the left.