Midterm Elections Countdown

It is now late October, and the ‘’countdown’’ is taking place, as the journalists are counting the days to the 2022 ‘’midterm elections’’, of November 8.

These elections are referred to as ‘’midterm’’, because they take place in the middle of the four year term of the presidency. The last presidential election was in 2020, and the next one is scheduled for 2024. 

There are only two mainstream political parties in the country, Republican and Democratic. The Republican Party is frequently referred to as the ‘’GOP’’, or Grand Old Party.

As well, Trump coined the slogan of Make America Great Again, or MAGA. He has a considerable following, to this day.

The Democratic Party won the presidency in 2020, so that Biden is now president. 

The country also has a Congress, in the form of the House of Representatives, and a Senate. The House has 435 members, and each Member serves a two year term, so that all House Members are up for election. The Senate has 100 Members, and each Senator serves a six year term. One third of the Senators run for election, every two years. This year, thirty five Senate seats are being contested.

As a result of the 2020 election, the Democratic Party was able to secure a ‘’razor thin’’ majority, in both ‘’Houses of Congress’’. In the House of Representatives, the Democrats have ten more Members than the Republicans, while in the Senate, it is evenly split, 48-50, with two ‘’Independent Senators’’, who generally vote with the Democrats. Yet as the Vice President is the President of the Senate, and also a Democrat, she is able to cast the ‘’tie breaking vote’’.

The ‘’political pundits’’, or ‘’election watchers’’, are deeply concerned with the possible outcome of the forth coming midterm election. They take great delight in stating that during the midterm elections, the ‘’Party in power’’ generally loses some seats in Congress. If that happens this election, then the ‘’Republicans will seize control of both Houses of Congress’’. 

They further predict that, if that happens, the government will be effectively ‘’deadlocked’’.
Certain of the journalists are starting to sound more like ‘’doomsday prophets’’, rather than journalists. In referring to the GOP candidates who embrace MAGA, they are using such expressions as ‘’a five alarm fire for democracy’’, that their anticipated election will be the ‘’beginning of the end of American democracy’’. They are also afraid that the ‘’midterms could slip into chaos’’!

Their reference to ‘’slipping into chaos’’ reveals the real reason for their concern.  They are afraid that the ‘’midterms’’ could lead to full scale civil war! The Second American Revolution!

Incidentally, I tend to pay attention to the facts that the more progressive journalists state, rather than their opinions. They are generally able to accurately gauge the degree of discontent of the public.

The more progressive journalists are concerned that, across the country, there are 300 GOP candidates, who ‘’think that the 20-20 presidential election was stolen.’’ This is to say that they are supporters of Trump, ‘MAGA people’’, those who think that Trump is the true president! The fear is that if enough of them are elected to political office, there is ‘’no telling what could happen’’! Their fears are well grounded!

It is likely that the journalists are including the candidates for governors of various states, within that 300 number. 

In particular, the journalists are focused on the gubernatorial election in the state of Arizona. The ‘’GOP’’ candidate is a lady by the name of Kari Lake. In all fairness, she is young and attractive, or ‘’easy on the eyes’’, to put it in popular terms. The journalists describe her in somewhat different terms.

As far as they are concerned, she is ‘’Donald Trump in Heels’’, the ‘’most dangerous candidate in America’’, a ‘’threat to our democracy’’, a possible 2024 ‘’running mate to Trump’’. It is safe to say that the journalists are not a ‘’member of her fan club!’’

They go on to say that she is ‘’smart and savvy’’, a ‘’performer’’, ‘’uniquely dangerous’’, has ‘’charisma’’, has adopted a ‘’cynical but successful strategy’’. Allegedly a former democrat, and supporter of Obama, they maintain that she ‘’switched sides, when it was convenient to do so’’.

They point out the fact that Kari Lake was formerly a ‘’tv anchor’’, so that she is comfortable in front of a camera. Her harshest critics also maintain that she is able to ‘’read the room’’, able to ‘’take the temperature’’ and gauge the ‘’anti media sentiment’’. Clearly, the journalists are accusing her of being not only beautiful, but also brilliant! Beauty and brains, a rare combination!

In her own words, ‘’People do not trust elections since 2000.’’ She is right about that! She is also aware that people ‘’do not trust the media’’! That too is true! For that reason, she has turned against the media! Even though she was recently part of that media! She has turned against her own people!

Such people are referred to as ‘’opportunists’’, which is to say that they are completely devoid of principle. They are strictly ‘’one way’’, their way, out for themselves. They have no sense of loyalty, prepared to do ‘’whatever it takes’’ to ‘’get to the top’’. No wonder the journalists are so afraid of her!

There is a fine chance that Kari Lake will soon be elected governor of the state of Arizona. When asked if she is prepared to accept the result of the election, she allegedly stated that she is fully prepared to accept the election results, ‘’as long as I win’’. Spoken like a true follower of Trump!

Yet the journalists are also concerned with the fact that, in two other states, there are also ‘’MAGA’’ candidates for the office of governor. No doubt they are concerned that this may constitute a trend.

The journalists are accusing those MAGA candidates of being fascists! That is a strong accusation! The journalists are afraid that if enough of them are elected to office, it will mean the ‘’end of democracy’’!

For the sake of all those who have just recently become politically active, I will mention that fascism is defined as a ‘’Far right, authoritarian, ultra nationalistic political ideology and movement’’.

Bear in mind that the opinions of the journalists, are just that, personal opinions, and are not based on any scientific belief. It is important to place the current political situation in correct scientific context, rather than in the opinions of various people.

From a scientific viewpoint, it is more accurate to describe these MAGA people as reactionaries. By definition, such a person, ‘’holds political views that favour a return to the status quo, the previous political state of society, which that person believes possessed positive characteristics absent from contemporary society.’’

With that in mind, we can state that early capitalism was competitive, and possessed certain progressive characteristics. That all changed dramatically, around the beginning of the twentieth century, when capitalism reached the stage of monopoly, referred to as ‘’imperialism’’.

It was Lenin who conducted a scientific investigation of imperialism. That investigation is included in his excellent article, Imperialism, the Highest State of Capitalism. HIs conclusions can be summarized as follows: ‘’Imperialism, which means the partition of the world and the exploitation of other countries besides China, which means high monopoly profits for a handful of very rich countries, creates the possibility of corrupting the upper stratum of the proletariat, and thereby fosters, gives form to, and strengthens opportunism.’’ He goes on to say that ‘’the political features of imperialism are reaction all along the line’’. (my italics)

Without doubt, the opportunists must be fought. That includes the leaders of the MAGA movement, those who are the strongest supporters of Trump. As well, the ‘’upper stratum of the proletariat’’, those who have been ‘’corrupted’’ by capitalism, which is to say those who have accepted the bribes of the capitalists, must be opposed. That does not include the vast majority of working people, many of whom have embraced the MAGA ideology.

We must be careful to distinguish between the MAGA leaders, as opposed to their followers, the broad mass of common people, the ‘’rank and file’’.

The revolutionary motion, which is currently sweeping the country, has succeeded in rousing a great many people to political activity. Those who were formerly apathetic, are now ‘’waking up’’, as they phrase it, and questioning everything they have been told, all their lives. Excellent!

True, many of these people are now being misled, so that they have embraced the lies of the MAGA people. These lies include the ‘’invasion of America at the southern border’’! As if immigrants are the problem! They most certainly are not! The capitalists are the problem! Now it is a matter of making working people aware of that!

With that in mind, may I suggest we face the fact that the MAGA people claim that the 20-20 presidential election was fraudulent. They insist that Trump really won the election, that he is the true president.

They have a point! The 20-20 presidential election was fraudulent, but not for the reasons that they state. It was fraudulent because it was Unconstitutional! As I have covered that in a previous article, I will not go into that here. 

The journalists are further convinced that the state of Nevada is ‘’Ground Zero’’ for this upcoming revolt. Strangely enough, they give no reason for this belief.

They maintain that there are ‘’forty four counties in fifteen states’’ which may well elect ‘’Election Deniers’’, those who are convinced that Trump is the true president. If elected, they could well ‘’replace local government leaders’’ and ‘’throw out the election results’’!

In other words, they could deny that Biden is president! They could further recognize Trump as president! In fifteen states, no less! That is the very definition of Revolution! 

The journalists consider this to be a ‘’threat to democracy’’! They are so right! It is a threat to the democracy of the capitalists! 

As we live under capitalism, it is the capitalists who rule! The monopoly capitalists! The imperialists! The billionaires! These are members of a class of people referred to as the bourgeoisie!

By contrast, we have a class of people who work for wages, working class people, referred to as proletarians. The democracy of the capitalists, referred to as ‘’bourgeois democracy’’, is nothing other than a dictatorship, over the proletariat.

It must be explained to working people that democracy is a method of class rule! It is not majority rule!

As we live under capitalism, it is the class of capitalists who are in charge! It is democracy for the billionaires, but a dictatorship over the working people, the proletariat!

As for those who are skeptical, may I suggest that you wake up! Watch the news! Almost everyone, even the government officials, admit that Trump is guilty of countless crimes. Yet there is no mention of charging him! Trump is a billionaire! Trump can do what he wants! And he does! They all do! Trump is not exceptional! Trump is typical! The laws do not apply to billionaires! 

Lenin covers this supremely well in his excellent article, State and Revolution. It is up to the working class, the Proletariat, to overthrow the capitalists, smash the existing state machine, that which has been set up to crush the working class people, and set up a new state apparatus, to crush the capitalists, under the Dictatorship of the Proletariat!

The capitalists have reason to be concerned. The official ‘’approval rating’’ for Biden is now at 44 percent. Inflation has ‘’sky rocketed’’, so that the cost of living has ‘’gone through the roof’’. Even the International Monetary Fund, the IMF, is warning that the ‘’worst is yet to come’’. They are predicting a ‘’global recession!’’. As yet, they dare not use the dreaded ‘’D word’’, that of Depression. 

Of even more concern to the capitalists, is the fact that ever more working people are becoming politically active. In various states, early voting is already taking place, and a ‘’record turnout’’ is being reported. This is an indication that working people are no longer apathetic.

The journalists are also reporting that ‘’the public no longer trusts any election results’’. Worse, ‘’the public no longer trusts the media’’! With good reason, I might add! The journalists are in the service of the capitalists! The capitalists have every reason to be worried!

It is not just in America that people are in revolutionary motion. In Britain, the latest Prime Minister was in power a mere six weeks, before being forced to step down. In Iran, there are massive protests. Most of the highly industrialized countries of Europe are in turmoil. The anti war movement is raging in Russia. Inflation is causing the standard of living, of all working people, to drop dramatically. The world wide ‘’recession’’, as predicted by the IMF, is about to intensify the suffering of all common people. 

This is another way of saying that the situation is revolutionary, especially in highly industrialized countries, around the world. Working people are simply not about to tolerate much more from capitalism. 

As soon as all, or even most, of the highly industrialized countries overthrow the capitalists, and establish socialism, in the form of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, then indeed that will give rise to that which Lenin predicted:

World Socialist Republic