Is this the worst possible election result?

As I write this, it’s the morning after the US 2022 midterm elections. The results aren’t totally in yet, but it appears that the Republicans are going to have a slight majority in the House, while the Senate is poised on the edge of a knife and could go either way.

Republicans had convinced themselves that a massive “red wave” was coming, and the fact that it didn’t materialize has left many of them believing that the judgments of God hang over this country. Meanwhile, the Democrats had worked themselves into a frenzy over the abortion issue, and the fact that the Republicans gained ground is probably making many of them fear that a Handmaid’s Tale future is not far off for us.

Those who believe that the 2020 elections were rigged by the Democrats have ample reason to believe that the 2022 were rigged as well, with some very suspicious anomalies happening in key Democrat strongholds. Meanwhile, those who fear that “election deniers” are a threat to “our democracy” have ample ammunition to support their views too, as the final results weren’t that far off from the polls.

The divided government is likely to give us two long years of gridlock, which wouldn’t be a bad thing under normal circumstances, but with inflation being what it is, the (manufactured) energy crisis crushing us, and the war in Ukraine getting messier by the day, we’re likely to see all of those things get worse, not better. The stock market might see a slight reprive, but the real economy is going to be a slaughterhouse for the next two years—and each side will try to pin the blame on the other.

Meanwhile, I doubt there’s going to be any real accountability for the criminals who gave us the pandemic lockdowns and the jab mandates, at least in the next two years. And the Biden administration is likely to get even more aggressive with their weaponization of the DOJ and other government agencies, since they won’t be able to get their agenda through congress.

In short, this election provided zero clarity, no firm direction, and is bound to reinforce everyone’s pre-existing biases, making the partisan divide even wider and the crazies on both sides even crazier. If we were on the path to a civil war before these elections, we are even more locked into that path right now.

By Joe Vasicek

Joe Vasicek is the author of more than twenty science fiction books, including the Star Wanderers and Sons of the Starfarers series. As a young man, he studied Arabic and traveled across the Middle East and the Caucasus. He claims Utah as his home.

2 comments

  1. Actually, this election did provide some clarity. We learned that Democrats will vote for anything with a (D) beside their name, whether that person is competent or not, or has been actively working against the voters’ best interest.

    1. That is true, though I feel like we knew that in 2020. The big takeaway I’ve taken is that the GOP is the party of families, while the Democrats are the party of the hookup culture. Something like 68% of single females voted Democrat in these elections, and I’m sure many of them were mobilized by the abortion issue. Pornography and abortion are the blood and sins of this generation.

      As a side note, it would be interesting to see how that demographic broke down in Florida—which seems to be one of the few states that can actually count their votes competently. They really cleaned house after the 2000 election.

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