A Nation & State in Check Politically Explains Why Voters are Angry and 2020 Advantages are Fleeting September 24, 2019 Vol. XII, No. 8 8:13 am Absolutely No Political Leader Has a Guaranteed 2020 Advantage We are a nation and state in which partisan leaders of every government branch are in political check. It’s why
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A Nation & State in Check Politically Explains Why Voters are Angry and 2020 Advantages are Fleeting
September 24, 2019 Vol. XII, No. 8 8:13 am
Absolutely No Political Leader Has a Guaranteed 2020 Advantage
We are a nation and state in which partisan leaders of every government branch are in political check. It’s why federal leaders in Washington are gridlocked on issues important to voters like immigration, gun violence and health care. It’s why state leaders in Raleigh can’t pass a budget.
A gridlocked nation and state in check at every turn is why voters are furious. It is why absolutely no partisan leader, from the White House and the US Congress to the Governor’s Mansion and the General Assembly, has a guaranteed 2020 political advantage.
President Trump has been checked from day one by disloyal federal bureaucrats, who can’t be fired, undermining his every move. Checked by angry, indictment-hungry US House Democrats using congressional oversight power to orchestrate justification for Articles of Impeachment.
Ironically, the Democratic House caucus is itself checked by feuding factions over impeachment; a divided caucus led by aging, out-of-touch leaders from by-gone eras checked by disrespectful squads of youthful, more liberal insurgents.
We are a nation in political check at every turn. Left and right. Rich and poor. Men and women of all races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, religions and political persuasions. The wealthy checked by the wealthy. Generations by generations. Liberal federal judges checked by conservative judges.
Highly Qualified But Partisan Federal Judges
President Trump has also been checked time-and-time-again by President Barack Obama’s 327 confirmed liberal federal judges and two liberal US Supreme Court Justices, Sonya Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. But, turnabout in ideological court packing is fair play.
Today, liberal members of the federal judiciary find themselves checked by President Trump’s 152 confirmed conservatives on the federal bench, including two US Supreme Court Justices, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, confirmations that shifted the nation’s highest court to 5-4 conservative.
According to this morning’s News & Observer, US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in her speech in Raleigh last night to Meredith College students and faculty that the politization of the Supreme Court needs to stop. “I hope I live to see the day when we go back to the way it was, and the way it should be.” said Ginsburg.
Meanwhile, we have conservative judges and justices checking their liberal associates.
As Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement celebrating President Trump’s 150th federal judge earlier this month, “I will continue to push through highly qualified, conservative judges at all levels of the federal courts.”
NC Capital Press Corp and White House Press Checked by Social Media
Time was, the Capital Press corps in Raleigh and the White House press corps in DC had the dominant influence on public perceptions of what was politically newsworthy; perceptions of who was the saint and who the sinner in the epic battles over government’s moral obligations.
Not anymore. The moment the 487,000 print and 3 million digital editions of the New York Times are delivered with negative stories about President Trump, he can refute the allegations in a matter of seconds with Tweets to his 64.5 million Twitter followers.
Today, the political influence of traditional state and national political news sources is checked by Internet-based social media giants like Facebook (1.6 billion daily users), YouTube (149 million daily users), WhatsApp (1 billion daily users), Instagram (600 million daily users) and Twitter (134 million daily users). The once mighty Capital Press corps and the White House press corps checked.
Unfortunately, social media has now become the #1 source for political bias and misinformation. The #1 source for ruthless character assassination of political leaders with whom we disagree.
There is nowhere to turn for reliable news anymore, and so we turn to those we trust: our tribe.
The highest gap ever measured by Gallup between the parties on the matter of presidential job approval (86-points) was reported on September 19, 2019, with 91% of Republicans approving of the job President Trump is doing as compared to only 5% job approval among Democrats.
We are a nation of political factions gridlocked and estranged. Huddled at a suspicious distance from each other, smugly dismissive of anyone who dares to disagree; anyone who questions our moral superiority. Compromise be damned. You don’t negotiate with terrorists.
A gridlocked nation and state in check at every turn is why voters are furious. It’s why no leader in Washington or Raleigh has a guaranteed political advantage going into 2020.
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John N. Davis
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