Balkanized future: midterms deliver victories for both Free State Americans and Security State Americans
The tyrants of Covid Mania won the day, but so did the freedom fighters.
The expected “red wave” anticipated by many conservative pundits turned out to be nothing but a mirage.
So what the heck happened last night, and where does the country go from here?
I have three major observations that I hope will make some macro sense of the midterm elections:
Many Americans no longer value freedom
This is going to be a hard pill to swallow for all of the flag waving “Top Gun Americans” out there, but it’s a reality that is now too obvious to ignore.
Benjamin Franklin famously once said: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Many Americans, if not most Americans, no longer value the foundational principle of liberty.
If the last three years of Covid tyranny didn’t showcase this enough, the midterm elections proved beyond a doubt that a significant chunk of Americans prefer statist tyranny over individual sovereignty. Across the nation, voters gave their stamp of approval for the forces of the biomedical security state, re-electing a Safety Regime that promises to protect them from the sniffles in exchange for their fundamental liberties.
Virtually all of the worst tyrants of Covid Mania were reelected with ease. Gavin Newsom won by 18 points. Gretchen Whitmer defeated a fantastic GOP candidate in Tudor Dixon by 10 points. Kathy Hochul handily defeated Lee Zeldin. J.B. Pritzker won by 11 points. And the list goes on.
Balkanization is the future
The election results also show that there are indeed tens of millions of Americans who still value liberty, and they are consolidating into freedom blocs throughout the country.
In Florida, Ron DeSantis wiped the floor with Charlie Crist in historic fashion. Gun grabbing Beto O’Rourke was obliterated in Texas. Kristi Noem was reelected in South Dakota by a 62-35% margin. In Georgia, Brian Kemp made easy work of Stacey Abrams. In Iowa, Kim Reynolds won the state by 19 points.
On the Senate side, Rand Paul defeated his opponent by 21 points. And Eric Schmitt won his race in Missouri by over 13.
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Americans who live in “free states” have a lot of reasons for optimism, especially given that we live in a country where a constitutional precedent reserves significant power for the states.
Now, more than ever, it’s time for a reprioritization. The federal regime in the D.C. Beltway and its bureaucratic institutions remain the greatest threat to our liberties. Forget about China and Russia for a moment. Americans are being harmed from within, by a federal behemoth that continues to run roughshod over our lives and liberties.
Instead of sending national candidates to D.C. to fix things, considering sending them to D.C. to break things.
A retooling of political priorities means bolstering sovereignty within your domain, and insulating your state from the federal government.
Localism and/or decentralization is the necessary objective. In my view, sending a “Great Man” to fix D.C. just isn't in the cards anymore. D.C. is too big, too bloated, and too one-sided for an opposition leader to steer a permanent course change.
There is a clear path moving forward that involves harnessing local and state power structures to do everything possible to detach from the ruling empire. New economic (separating money from state), cultural, and political instruments will become the necessary tools to continue getting the federal government off of our backs.
GOP is a soulless vessel for nothingness
Consider the possibility that Americans rightly blame both sides of the DC uniparty for our country’s current problems. Both parties’ institutional forces overwhelmingly supported the biomedical security state imposed upon us for 3 years. Both parties continue to prioritize overseas war adventures over the prosperity of Americans. Both parties debased the currency, contributed to soaring inflation, and greatly impoverished their own citizens. Both parties have contributed to the massive growth of government on all levels.
Sure, it’s easy to scapegoat Donald Trump for all of the bad showings. But who is actually excited to elevate Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy into positions of power? What exactly is the GOP agenda, other than to slow down the Biden Administration agenda?
The institutional statists continue their ideological capture of America because both the Democratic Party and the GOP continue to service its agenda. The ballot box is surely valuable in local and state elections. Yet on the national level, Americans understandably can’t get too fired up about voting between two sides of the same coin.
What’s next?
On the GOP side, Ron DeSantis is the big winner of yesterday’s election, having defeated lofty expectations and positioned himself as the only serious GOP nominee other than President Trump.
I think it's inevitable that DeSantis carries this momentum into a run for the nation’s highest office. Though, as explained above, I think his leadership would be better served in Florida as someone who can lead the state through our coming balkanized, decentralized future.
Still, all signs are pointing to Governor DeSantis throwing his hat in the ring for 2024. I get it. It’s hard to blame him. I wish him luck in that undertaking.
On the other side of the fence, the forces for Covid tyranny received a ringing endorsement to continue imposing draconian carnage upon the masses. When the next manufactured emergency comes, these forces won’t hesitate to pursue an authoritarian agenda. They now know that they can manipulate the people and bring them to their knees in exchange for the illusion of security.
The midterm elections provided incredible clarity about the current state of affairs in the United States. Free State America and Security State America are divided now more than ever. The Security State Americans have usurped complete control of our federal institutions, and they have no real opposition in Washington. For freedom-loving Americans, the answers are not to be found in D.C., but much closer to home.
The institutional Republican leadership is lazy, rudderless, and lacking a coherent strategy. Absent a wholesale change of the statist status quo brigade, they will quietly and compliantly flush our prospects down the toilet. I marveled this entire election cycle at the lackluster performance of the RNC. State party leaders need to initiate a tsunami that results in sea change for the party.
I agree that if anything will save this country, it is Federalism. The Federal government and the military-industrial complex have, as Eisenhower wanted, achieved a center of gravity that must be dismantled before we have any hope of reclaiming sovereignty at that level of government. So, political leadership must strive to return the power to the states, and hobble the Federal government as much as possible.
Great article and perspective, Jordan, and I thank you for both!
Justin Hart had a nice analysis this morning where he pointed out that the Blue states that held onto their power did so by extending the COVID voting rules of mail-in balloting, which favors the Dems big time. The red states like Florida made sure that those adaptations were removed, and we see the results.