Independents Shall Reign!

It's Election Day, America!  It is in Virginia, at least, and in Minneapolis, and Milwaukee, and dozens of other state and local spots all across the Fruited Plain.  And I mention this because our friends at ABC and NBC and CBS forgot to mention that fact last night!   Not a word!  NBC mentioned how desperately some in Minneapolis are to abolish their police force.  CBS talked a bit about "climate change" and how O'Biden is going to fix it.  And ABC gave a food truck in Austin a full two minutes, but couldn't find time to mention that there's an Election in Virginia today and a certain Democrat gubernatorial candidate is poised to go down in flames.  It's like if they ignore it, it'll go away.  

It's not going away.

And there's another thing I'd like to pass along to my Faithful Readers.  It used to be, and I mean for several decades now, that America's two major political parties could claim just about the same percentage of the electorate as its own.  And those percentages would routinely vary up and down a bit.  The Republicans have most recently claimed about 39%, the Democrats, 41%, and the Independents, those apparently too (willfully) ignorant on the issues, or scared to pick a side, about 20%.

It's been that way forever.  Even the two memorable Independent Party nominees over the past several decades each attracted only about 20% of the popular vote.  So, live with it, right?  Evenly divided electorate, with a smattering of Independents that go back and forth with the wind to clot up the process, and just might elect one candidate or the other.

NO, NO, NO!!!

According to a recent Pew Poll, reality has been turned on its head.  The Pew guys, no right-wing zealots, just told us that we now have 29% Republican, 30% Democrat and...wait for it...

41% Independent!  

All of a sudden, over night, as if by magic, a yuuuuge number of members of each political party have bolted, and the number of Independents has doubled.   Can you say "portent of things to come?"  I can...

The Independents used to sway elections.  They could swing an election either way depending upon the issues or their preferences.  And that was THEN.  Now?  Hoooo boy!  "You betta' fasten your seatbelt, it's gonna' be a bumpy ride."  

Or, if you don't prefer that ancient black and white movie quote, try this one: The Democrats lost 63 seats in the House in the 2010 election,  the first one following his Party's excesses with the Stimulus Plan, and 3 in the Senate.  And that's when they had a 41 member majority.  Their majority now?  

5...

So, the trends are favorable; If we can just gird our loins and prepare for a long onslaught of socialism-light, go forth knowing that the future seems bright.  I'd predict the next Election will send them all packing.  Skulking back to their lairs, banished for a long, long time...

The sane among us can only hope...