By MARC BOND
The dust is settling on the 2024 election cycle in the United States. There will be many interpretations of the outcome, and a lot of shuffling in the world of statistics.
Before I dive into my thoughts, let me concede that imposing a mindset on 140 million voters is a fool’s errand. People vote the way they vote for many reasons. Some have one dominant and excusive issue; abortion for instance. Despite the secrecy of the voting booth, others feel pressure from family, friends, or co-workers. Some vote for a candidate, and others vote against a candidate. For most people, there is a combination of factors which include issues, personalities, and personal experience.
When I comment on the meaning of the 2024 election, I am looking at macro trends which become apparent (at least to me) from the way large numbers of people voted.
Many are calling this a “Red Wave” election. It is important to define that term before discussing it. A Red Wave or a Blue Wave means an election which because of the size and depth of a shift from one party to the other is a real inflection point. The outcome doesn’t mean merely that one of the major parties has been installed in power in a convincing way. The election outcome is a portent of future elections for, say, the next decade. It is a shift in attitudes that goes beyond the current candidates and current issues.
I don’t think the 2024 election was a Red Wave in the sense that the Republicans have cemented tenure of the White House and a majority in Congress for the next decade. The Trump personality phenomenon will pass in a little over four years, and, at 78 years old, Trump himself will pass through the veil in the not-too-distant future. Other Republicans will follow Trump, and their success will depend upon their personalities, the issues then current, and what the Democrats have to offer at the time.
If 2024 constitutes a Red Wave, I think it is as a revolt against the wonky ideas that pass for currency among the political elite, such as:
We can be nice to terrorist countries and they will be nice to us; We can spend the federal fisc like drunken sailors and it will result in general affluence, the federal debt will not be a problem, and any inflation will be “transitory;” we can transition the entire world economy from petroleum-based energy to wind and solar-based energy in 10 years with no depletion of essential resources and without any impact on the standard of living; your daughter can become boy and enjoy a sterile life without any ongoing medical, emotional, or psychological problems; your son can become a girl and play in girls’ sports with no effect on the fairness and safety of the game; we can admit men to women’s bathrooms and locker rooms without any increase in sexual assault; we can let tens of millions of illegal immigrants into our country and it will have no impact on our safety, security, and economy; we can threaten the SCOTUS with court packing and investigations, and it will result in beneficial court rulings; we can enjoy all manner of drugs recreationally without any influence on depression, suicides, and personal productivity; we can impeach, sue, and try our political opponents and deny we are acting like a banana republic; and we can discriminate based on race and pretend it will heal our country.
When one examines many of the issues listed above, one realizes that they do not draw lines on sex, racial, ethnic, or nationality bases. They cut across those lines. It turns out no man or woman wants a boy in the locker room of their daughter’s athletic team.
Amazing though it may sound, legal immigrants from Latin America do not want illegal immigration from Latin America. Blacks and whites alike want economic opportunity in obtaining employment and operating small businesses.
Although befuddling, people generally like to awaken in a heated or cooled homes, take hot showers, eat foods that have been gathered from around the world, put on petroleum-based clothing, drive cars that don’t cost an arm and a leg, and enjoy the company of family and friends. Hispanic, Native, Black or White, people see the inherent unfairness in lawfare as a weapon of political influence and determination.
Almost all people realize at bottom that the way to stop discrimination based on race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race. It is our elites who are out of step.
How else can you account for Trump’s amazing increase in voting share in Blacks, Hispanics and Asians? These folks are people first, sentient people with hearts and brains that can think for themselves. They can see the impact of a lousy economy in their lives. They know that humans come in two forms, male and female. They understand human nature and incentives and disincentives. They put the information available in this election in their calculator and concluded that more of the same from the Democrats was not going to help them and their families.
The ”Wave” … the movement of perception and perspective … is fragile at this point. The worst thing that could happen is for the Republicans to fail to understand what got them back in power. At that point, the newly interested voters would conclude that their 2024 vote was wasted.
There are two things that need to happen quickly to reinforce our constitutional system and general civility. First, the president and the Republican Congress need to deliver on the economy, crime, immigration, DEI, and transgenderism. They need to do so expeditiously but in a magnanimous, honest, open and constitutionally correct manner, with full transparency. They need to drastically cut the size and omnipresence of government in the lives of Americans.
Second, the Democrats need to forego the surface arguments like Biden would have been a better candidate, the minority voters were temporarily insane, the country is so misogynistic and racist that it can’t vote for a minority woman for president, etc. They desperately need to take a serious inward look about why the American people dumped them. In chief, they need to ignore the fringe elements that currently dictate the party agenda, and reconnect with the everyday folks they now only pretend to represent.
One more thing: America and Americans need to regain the moral basis for our constitutional republic.
We are currently driven by “expressive individualism,” a term coined by Robert Bellah. Expressive individualism holds that human beings are defined by their individual psychological core beliefs. Happiness and human flourishing are solely driven by each individual’s inner sense of psychological well-being or peace. Anything that challenges it is deemed oppressive. There is no such thing as a common human nature which ties us together and limits our activities to those which conform to and promote that human nature.
It turns out that this is a wholly dysfunctional basis for an operating society. People have obligations to each other in addition to the right to exercise freedoms. These obligations and rights come from something bigger than individuals or a collective. They come from a Creator, and they cannot be ignored with the hope that a free society can be maintained.
John Adams said, “We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition, Revenge or Gallantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
We have spent the last half century undercutting the moral basis of public life. The foundation is now a shell, and yet we think we can keep the building intact. Rebuilding that foundation is more important than any other work on the building.
Marc Bond is a retired Anchorage attorney.
A lack of brevity ( to be expected from an attorney :- ) but masterfully done. Hear hear. Thank you.
You’re right Dave, he waxes on with repetitive metaphors and platitudes. He is both right and wrong to say we are “driven by expressive individualism.” All of us are also in a fallen selfish state with basic needs we must satisfy. Our republic functions best when every citizen takes full responsibility for producing no less than he consumes (with the obvious exception of the infirm and disabled). Our constitution is the best document ever devised to enable those who hold faith in the Creator God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to coexist with those who do not share that faith. We must earnestly protect that constitution for our republic to survive.
Well said.
Marc, you have summed up, I believe, what most Americans feel but are not as able to express. The media, the government, and the Marxists/socialists have forced a dramatic revolutionary shift in our culture upon us. Hopefully, many more of us will stand up for what is right and moral. It is well past time to remain silent. Those of us who are called “garbage” and “deplorables” must answer this clarion call.
Very well put. It doesn’t mean that next election cycle, I won’t vote conservative again. All it meant this time was on this given day, and after this set of circumstances, Trump was not my man. I live by a set of beliefs and hope others around me do the same thing. The proof is in the pudding, and Trump has it in his ability to help this country, either through controlling the immigration status or lowering the national debt. He can prove us all wrong by putting his petty vocalizations aside, brush them off as just campaign rhetoric and do what’s best for America. We’ll just have to wait and see on that. I for one hope I was wrong about Trump.
Greg, you may or may not have observed that Trump did a pretty good job during his last term; especially regarding the economy and foreign affairs. Which is the lesser of two evils, the occasional “petty vocalizations” from Trump? Or the endless stream of condescending dirty lies from Democrats?
Yes, I noticed all that and I was proud of him. Remember, I voted for him twice? But yeah, I mean, he put his personal needs because of pride, or whatever his legacy over that of the country, it turned my stomach. Yes, he’s a fighter, no doubt about that, but yeah, sometimes a fighter. It was more effective, as a martyr.
Well said Marc
This is well written. Thank you for your insight. One thing I would like to add is that we can’t put it all on Trump. We need to support him. He had to battle against a tyrannical house for his previous 4 years. They were out to get him before he even took office. Americans need to tell the senators and legislators to stop being bullies and work for us again. We are in control, and they need to listen to us. If anything, they should look at this election and realize that they are out of touch with Americans.
Perfectly written. Thank you!
Well written. As our country begins to move the new direction we voted for let’s continue to Pray for our leaders and neighbors.
Good article, but the lying media deceived my friends on the left and should share more if the blame for the divisions in America along with the greed of politicians. This guy explains it well:
‘https://substack.com/@911revision/note/c-73758771?r=gguz6&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
All the nasty rhetoric and outright lies coming from the “FAKE NEWS” will forever portray a dark cloud over American’s who continue to listen to the lies being repeated over and over until they become “real”.
Its amazing how many pollsters there are now bought and paid for by the left who continually try to convince the herd their candidate is winning just to gain the votes from the people who want to choose winners just like gamblers betting on a horse race.
No one learned anything in 2016 from Hillary’s loss by a country mile who was ahead in ALL the polls.
They were easily convinced this time around Kamala was “neck and neck” with the Donald.
Couldnt have been farther from the truth.
Pollsters are all Bulls**t propaganda.
So tell me folks, whatever happened to all your claims about this election being rigged? Everyone was preparing the ground to make these claims just a few days ago but now you’ve all gone quiet as church mice. Could it possibly be that there wasn’t any rigging and that your claims of rigging in the past were also bogus? Yep, that’s exactly what’s happened. All complete, total and unadulterated bullsh*t just as everyone has known since Trump put the idea out there. You have permanently debased the entire electoral mechanism of the country. But just remember; what goes around comes around, and what you use against others can eventually be used against you. Good luck to all.
Trump won.
Whidbey, do you mean like when Hillary Clinton said “There was a widespread understanding that this election [in 2016] was not on the level,” or when she said “There’s just a lot that I think will be revealed. History will discover,” she continued. “But you don’t win by 3 million votes and have all this other shenanigans and stuff going on and not come away with an idea like, ‘Whoa, something’s not right here.’ That was a deep sense of unease.” What about when she said “You can run the best campaign, you can even become the nominee, and you can have the election stolen from you,”
I guess it doesn’t matter when your candidate does it.
Could be that the increase scrutiny deterred the more outright s!only rigging like in 2020. Criminals don’t typically offend when uniformed officers are standing there watching them note that the number of votes that the democrats garnered was down about20 million in just 4 years. So they’d either stunk it up that badly, or the 20 million were all fraudulent nonexistent voters
Before I even dive into your article, I read this: “Despite the secrecy of the voting booth” Shoot, how secret was the voting? I heard about many instances where couples were going into booths together or sharing information while they were filling out their ballots. What kind of secrecy is that? Why did poll workers allow this to happen? I thought that we were supposed to fill out our ballots ourselves and keep it private? The state DOE has failed Alaska big time. Just think if Dahlstrom had won the US seat? She has gone full commie on us here in the election division – just think what she would have done as our rep. That is scary. Well, Alaska is turning blue.
An excellent summary of the motivation of many, if not most or all of Trump voters who voted in the so called’Red Wave’. And an even better use of
Adams’ quote. Yes the Founding Fathers recognized, whether the ‘elites’ of today like it or not that our Constitution was meant for a moral and religious people.
Bond’s paragraph of summary, what we as voters and residents of this great country believe and desire is also excellent. And he is also correct in stating how out of touch our elites are. Thus the question…How did they get to be the elites, and do we need a NEW set of elites??
Yesterday, you will remember that President Biden made a speech promising a peaceful transfer of power to the new Trump administration. This is his pledge, and it will most certainly happen, as emotionally difficult as it will be for him to do.
Now, we all remember the events of four years ago when Trump refused to concede the election, made patently false claims of election rigging, and incited a violent attack on the Capitol building.
Of course, Must Read Alaska is a partisan website. But the fact that MRAK has not and will never publish an article covering Biden’s speech is disgraceful. Its silence on this newsworthy event illustrates not only the degree of its bias but also how deeply ashamed the MAGA/Republican Party actually is for having carried out these malicious acts.
So much for the Party of Lincoln. Welcome to the Party of Putin.
Dog, no need to be bitter. I don’t think the party supports Putin. Ironically, it appears that Trump does, but I’m not sure he speaks for the entire party.
He might think he does though.
Well you are probably right. But the fact that Trump, the President-Elect, does makes the others’ opinions pretty much irrelevant.
That may get him into trouble. With his cognitive ability slipping, there is only so much the right leaning media can do to cover. He better play nice.
Dog, how it plays out is entirely on Trump. If he issues unlawful orders and tries to send active military against us citizens, might be an interesting chain of events. His former intelligence peeps are saying he is too close to Putin, saying that the Muslim might be blackmailing Trump. Hmmmm. What could Putin have on him? Could Hillary have been correct? Sometimes, you have to pause and say Hmmmm.
Pretty sure he does. It’s called Kompromat in Russian.
Dog, how it plays out is entirely on Trump. If he issues unlawful orders and tries to send active military against us citizens, might be an interesting chain of events. His former intelligence peeps are saying he is too close to Putin, saying that the Russian might be blackmailing Trump. Hmmmm. What could Putin have on him? Could Hillary have been correct? Sometimes, you have to pause and say Hmmmm.
Well said Marc. You voiced the opinion of millions of Americans women
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