How Democrats' inaction could bite them on the hand this midterm election | Opinion
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Americans feel left behind by the party who made empty promises to help those struggling from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the end of 2020, businesses across the U.S. began to reopen and flourish as mandates eased and life returned to normal. The country was seemingly on the road to recovery until the Democratic sweep or the White House and Congress was sworn into office in January 2021.
From day one, President Biden worked with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer to disincentivize workforce participation and inflate the U.S. economy by handing out arbitrary stimulus checks and bring back unnecessary coronavirus mandates.
Since the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs, returning the issue of abortion back to the states, the talking heads and pundits have breathlessly dissected the impact it will have on the election. The decision and subsequent actions taken by states will certainly play a role in the midterms, but both parties are miscalculating the impact if they think the issue will be front and center in the majority of voters’ minds as they go to the polls in November.
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Democrats are not addressing the real issues
Midterms are notoriously difficult for whichever party holds the White House, but this year promises to be particularly bruising for President Biden and congressional Democrats. While pundits waste time talking about Dobbs and its impact, real Americans will punish the Democrats and Biden for failing to address the problems hitting their pocketbook.
Skyrocketing inflation, supply shortages, astronomical gas prices and workforce issues are very literally keeping Americans up at night−not social issues. It seems like Democrats cannot find the time to focus on these issues.
What little they have done has only made these problems worse. They’ve spent their remaining time on radical ideas the majority of voters do not support and certainly do not care about in great numbers: court-packing, impeaching Supreme Court justices and abolishing the filibuster, just to name a few.
These are radical ideas being pedaled to the fringe of the Democratic Party, not thoughtful policies to help their constituents pay for groceries. The recently passed “Inflation Reduction Act” will do nothing of the sort, and is, for the most part, a health care and climate change bill.
The likelihood of it reducing inflation is zero — that will certainly not change things for the better before the November elections.
Let’s look at another example: energy production and gas prices, which are inextricably linked. While the price of everything is rising with inflation, gas prices are soaring, disproportionately affecting the middle class, many of whom do not have the luxury of working from home all day.
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The White House has made the following suggestions:
The inflation is because of Putin’s war
A temporary suspension of gas taxes will bring prices down
Gas station owners− who are struggling small business owners− should "just lower their prices."
While all of these things are absurd on their face, the last one is egregiously out of touch. The profit margins on gas for station owners are notoriously thin.
These businesses typically stay afloat from what is sold in the convenience store, not gas. In short, these are unserious proposals by very unserious people.
At every turn, President Biden and his Democratic allies have either focused on the wrong things, done the wrong things or demonstrated how completely out of touch with flyover country they are. Voters don’t have to have a Ph.D. in economics to know that these policies are failing, and the Democratic Party will pay for it in November.
Gregory Gleaves is the founder and president of Direct Edge Campaigns, a national GOP consulting firm based in Nashville.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Democrats aren't focusing on the issues that truly matter to citizens
