2022 Mid-Term Elections Have Already Begun

Member Group : Jerry Shenk

By Jerry Shenk

Weeks, perhaps months ago, left-wing political agents launched psychological operations to shape the 2022 midterm election battlespace.

Democrats currently hold an extraordinarily slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Senate is evenly-split, although the vice president, a Democrat, breaks tie Senate votes.

They know their party is in trouble, that their House majority, at least, will be lost, so, to minimize the political carnage, Democrat operatives are already trolling website message boards in early attempts to suppress conservative/moderate voter turnout in the 2022 mid-term election.

Trolls have posted many thousands of comments like these (cut and pasted from online message boards):

“Elections really don’t matter when there’s no difference between the Dems and GOPe.”

“Unless the Republicans run actual conservatives, there is little point in voting.”

“I’m a registered Republican [translation: I’m not], but the GOP is almost as useless as the D’s. So voting is basically a waste of time. I refuse to play this stupid game anymore.”

There are more “cerebral” contributions, too: “GOP legislature is going to change……..Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha…..pauses for breath……ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!”

Anonymous online blather should not discourage conservative Americans from working for qualified candidates or voting. The “Elections don’t matter” campaign is merely propaganda designed to demoralize Democrats’ competitors, keep them on the sidelines and at home on election day.

That’s precisely what happened in the 2021 Georgia runoff elections, enabling Democrats to reach fifty Senate seats.

Remember, there are two midterm elections: the spring primary when affiliated voters select their party’s nominees, and the ultimate throw down, the General Election, primarily between Republicans and Democrats.

Conservatives should address spring and fall elections differently. A single strategy (other than “get a majority of the votes,” of course) seldom makes sense for both.

In selecting a candidate to fill an open seat or contest a vulnerable incumbent Democrat, Republican candidates should be encouraged to duke it out in the primary election. But conservatives should carefully vet them, the people who fund them, their handlers and campaign consultants, then focus on the best people.

In Pennsylvania, registered special interest lobbyists are also allowed to manage campaigns. In 2016, Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1187 would have prohibited lobbyists from working in a paid capacity for any political campaign, but, because the bill never reached a floor vote, incestuous relationships remain common between/among lobbyists, their clients, and the elected officials whose campaigns lobbyists managed.

For example, among the most lucrative lobbying clients of one Pennsylvania Republican lobbyist and campaign consulting firm is the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the large teachers union that primarily funds Democrats – plus a few key Republicans.

Conservative voters should take time to sort out these improper relationships before supporting primary challengers or incumbents for state and/or federal office. However, there are some very good, principled, accomplished, qualified conservatives/moderates in business, in the state legislature, in county governments, and in municipal governments (generally excluding Philadelphia’s, Pittsburgh’s, Allentown’s, Harrisburg’s and officials in most other larger, Democrat-controlled Pennsylvania cities.)

In order to unseat a soft, unreliable Republican, conservatives should avoid loading primary ballots, settle early on one good candidate, encourage others to drop out, and work hard to win the primary. Too many challengers usually dilute the votes against a savvy incumbent who may already have recruited one or more spoilers to expand the field.

Above all, conservatives dispirited by the 2020 presidential election should not avoid involvement in local and other federal elections. Even those who remain convinced that the presidential election was stolen and that Washington Republicans let them down should remember that most unresolved, uninvestigated 2020 election irregularities appear to have occurred in a handful of Democrat-controlled cities large enough to throw entire states to one candidate.

Cheating is far more difficult in congressional, state and local office races where successful conservative and/or genuinely moderate candidates can help put the brakes on liberals in state and national government.

Ultimately, no one should allow themselves to be driven off by online trolls telling them “elections don’t matter.”

Elections will matter plenty in 2022 – and beyond.

In fact, Pennsylvania voters who want change can send an early message for 2022 by turning out for the May 18, 2021 primary and voting YES on the state constitutional questions.

https://www.pottsmerc.com/opinion/jerry-shenk-the-2022-midterm-election-has-already-begun/article_94f5823a-b1ba-11eb-a965-eb416359848c.html