Covid Lockdowns as a 2022 Issue
by Renee Parsons
There is growing speculation that with two dozen Democratic Members of the House having already announced their ‘retirement’, that an undeniable opportunity exists for Republicans to seize control of both houses of Congress during the mid term 2022 elections. It can be assumed that those Democratic incumbents, after having defended an illegitimate President and his morally bankrupt policies, fear they will bear the blame for their party’s support of deplorable Covid lockdowns and their effort to destroy the American republic.
The painful truth is that the Democratic party controls almost every major social and cultural institution in the country; the mainstream and social media, every federal government agency of importance including intelligence, national security, health and the military apparatus; academic, religious and science foundations and the majority of opinion raconteurs. What they do not control is the majority of the American people.
If in fact the Dems are on the cusp of a major humongous loss of Congressional control even as they ‘own’ necessary electoral mechanics, why would they tolerate an election certain to strip Democratic incumbents from power? In at least the majority of blue states, a political coup has already destabilized a significant portion of the US as a constitutional republic.
As control of Congress has dominated public discussion, what has not yet gained any real attention is whether blue Governors will suffer election losses in retribution for their excessive Covid lockdowns as Republicans may be expected to mount rigorous re-election challenges. This scenario raises the question whether Republican candidates have the necessary mojo to square off against the Democrats, to call them out for their despotic policies and whether they are willing to challenge its own RINO incumbents.
Since Covid was identified, the level of lockdown depended on how blue was the blue state with the assumption that blue Governors were assured of re-election no matter how diligently lockdown requirements were applied. For example, will Democratic voters reward previously unelected and newly appointed NY Governor Kathy Hochul’s destructive Covid escalations just as California voters awarded Gov. Gavin Newsom for his extremism, despite his lack of following the rules?
If this is a sign that Democratic Governors who often introduced harsh requirements that shut businesses and schools, are electorally safe, the only conclusion is that Democratic voters are easily snookered to obey tyrannical authority, and that they more easily accept repressive dictates from the very Governor they elected to represent them.
As Covid took hold, it was the Constitutional purview of every State’s Governor to implement their own enforcement of Covid requirements and to issue an Emergency Executive Order to initiate their state’s response. At the time, the now discredited Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, coordinator of the Vice President’s Covid Task Force, provided strategic advice to each Governor that was in direct contradiction to President Trump’s message of ending the lockdowns and to focus on high-risk Americans.
On the other hand, many, but not all, Republican Governors remained more distrustful of government meddling in its private health decisions and dared to question CDC ‘science’ as Dr. Scott Atlas who served as advisor to the President described in A Plague on Our House. Hence, some of the most callous Democratic states are experiencing a population exodus with the ‘free’ states of Florida, South Dakota and Texas accepting the influx.
To date, thirty six Governors will be on the 2022 ballot with twenty Republican Governors and sixteen Democratic Governors up for grabs. While the final candidate alignment is still in formation, eight incumbents are bowing out with seven being term limited. The Hill has identified six incumbent Democrats and one Republican who are considered vulnerable: Kansas, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Wisconsin, New Mexico and Maine.
Across the map there are Republican primaries with multiple candidates vying in almost every race against a Democrat incumbent with the R’s eager to challenge their record on mandatory lockdown requirements.
Of special interest will be replacements for Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and Massachusetts Governor Charles Baker both elected as Republicans in a Democratic state who both followed the Democratic playbook on Covid. In addition, Democratic Governor of Colorado Jared Polis declared the Covid emergency over as at least three lockdown opponents filed as candidates in the Republican primary.
The question on election day will be whether those Democratic Governors will be held responsible for adopting more harsh measures on the population than necessary or whether those Democratic voters, many of whom are now better informed than they were, will take the opportunity to hold one of their own accountable.
If, in fact, the Dems are doomed to lose their collective shirts in 2022 by impressive margins, it is difficult to see how the party of Jefferson will not, based on their recent confrontational behavior, initiate some sort of full-blown crisis to deter the mid-term elections, to disrupt any attempt to restore the country to its previous constitutional foundation. Would it be outside the realm of possibility to expect Democrat/Marxists, having lost their once glowing halo with its bold attack to shanghai the country’s 2020 electoral process continue their radical divisive campaign to do whatever is necessary in the interests of self preservation of their power base.
Will any state (besides New York) dare to deny an unvaccinated citizen their constitutional right to vote?
Renee Parsons served on the ACLU’s Florida State Board of Directors and as president of the ACLU Treasure Coast Chapter. She has been an elected public official in Colorado, staff in the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender, an environmental lobbyist for Friends of the Earth and a staff member of the US House of Representatives in Washington DC. She can be found at reneedove3@yahoo.com.