Scary times

Halloween is just around the corner, complete with all of its ghosts, goblins, monsters and mayhem.

Sounds suspiciously like the pending midterm elections, doesn't it? Hmm. Maybe there's more relevance here between the two events than meets the eye.

We've been dealing with the mayhem for quite a while now. The benchmark date, of course, is the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2020 as President Trump watched approvingly of the chaos on television. I will suggest the mayhem actually began on Trump's Inauguration day, launched by his "American carnage" speech when, in fact, there was nothing close to carnage in the country. Turns out, his speech was a portend of things to come throughout his administration:

• The mishandling of Covid, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
• The denial of the results of a free and fair election.
• Tax breaks for the rich.
• Separation of families of immigrants at the border.
• Dismantling of environmental controls.
• Disparaging NATO, which consequently opened the door for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has ultimately led – directly and indirectly – to global inflation.
• Limiting voter rights.
• Taking away a woman's right for autonomy over her own body.
• Carnage.
  

The mayhem continues right up to Friday's attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Some Republicans have taken light of the attack (see Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who heartlessly politicised the attack), which seems to be a standard reflection of Republicans' stance on political violence – unless it happens to them. It's repulsive to find humor in the physical attack of an 82-year-old man, resulting in a fractured skull, during a home invasion. Republican rhetoric on violence is incredibly transactional.

So now we're on the verge of the midterm elections. Republicans, eager to sow doubt of our democracy, are already claiming voter fraud in several states before ballots have even been counted. Here we go again.

Polling suggests races are neck-and-neck across the country, mostly due to what is perceived to be a poor economy, even though more jobs – 6.5 million – have been created than ever before. 

Under the current Democratic administration, legislative success in an evenly split Congress has been amazing: the Inflation Reduction Act alone puts a cap on prescription drugs at $2,000 a year; Medicare will pay $35 a month for insulin; and a minimum corporate tax rate to pay for it all (which is why the government needs 87,000 IRS workers to serve as accountants, not gun-bearing agents. Sheesh).

This administration has also improved health care for veterans; signed the CHIPS and Science Act to bring jobs back to the US; and action to address gun violence in this country.

So why would you vote against that? Wouldn't you be voting against your own best interests? Of course you would.

If the economy is your primary concern, keep in mind economies almost always eventually recover. Also keep in mind that the only useful tool in the box is to raise interest rates to control spending. There are no buttons a president can push to magically end inflation. The Great Depression of the 1930s eventually ended. So did the recession of the 1980s. 

But losing your democracy may be forever.

And that's pretty scary.