I've been watching for signs of a political backlash against the aggressively "pushy" attempts by Democratic Party legislators to reshape their electoral districts, cities, states, and even the nation as a whole, in a progressive, far-left-wing, socialist image. A good example is Virginia, where despite massive protests and rejection from over 90% of the state's counties, the new Democratic majority government (elected by only a few counties around Washington D.C., with large numbers of people) passed new anti-gun legislation and imposed it on the rest of the population willy-nilly.
It looks like that's already having consequences at the polls.
Staunton, a usually reliable Democratic stronghold in the conservative Shenandoah Valley, went surprisingly Republican in Tuesday’s City Council elections.
The slate ... took the four seats up for grabs in the 2020 local election, giving the Queen City a conservative majority for the first time in recent memory.
. . .
How unlikely was this conservative sweep? Hillary Clinton won Staunton in the 2016 presidential election, Barack Obama had won the city in the previous two election cycles, and Democrat Jennifer Lewis pulled 56.5 percent of the vote in her 2018 Sixth District congressional race against Republican Ben Cline, who eventually swept to victory, winning 59.7 percent of the vote district-wide.
. . .
The result is a shocker, to say the least, and if people in Richmond are paying attention at all, this one should be a wakeup call times ten.
There's more at the link.
I'm hearing increasing rumors of a similar, but even stronger electoral backlash following the riots over the death of George Floyd. Many voters acknowledge the problems that exist in our society, and (like me) are more than willing to permit (even join in) peaceful protests to bring about change. However, when thugs and low-lifes take advantage of protests to start rioting and looting, their tolerance (and mine) is at an end. Matters should never have been permitted to get so far out of line. The sight of uniformed police officers "taking a knee" in solidarity with protesters is also a step too far. It's the job of police to maintain law and order - not to publicly adopt political positions or express political opinions. They're supposed to be neutral, "above the fray", impartial.
The result is increasing determination among some of the electorate to make their feelings known at the ballot box in November. I've heard many expressions of disgust, anger and resolve, and I know I'm far from alone in hearing them. Other bloggers with whom I'm in touch report the same things from their audience.
The response from the progressive left, of course, will be additional voter and electoral fraud, as we've posited in these pages in the past. They've become more and more blatant in their efforts to do that, including Congress' recent attempt to impose and fund "ballot harvesting", eliminate state and local electoral protections through national legislation, and other measures. Fortunately, it looks as though their "license to steal elections" won't go any further this year . . . but they'll try again. If they win control of the nation's government in November, look for that to become law next year, just as soon as they can ram it through.
As I've said many times before, I'm neither Democrat nor Republican - I vote for the individual, not the party. Nevertheless, I'm encouraged by the outcome of the Staunton, VA elections. If our politicians give us the metaphorical finger by forcing through legislation, we can return the favor at the polls. Let's hope more American voters do that in November.
Peter
