Dear Friends and Patriots,

I usually don't address politics in a direct way, but will do so today. If you read on, you'll understand. My overall intention is stated near the end. Most of the middle is just facts I understand about voting in general.

We are living in odd times; times where the more strange your outlook on life seems to be, the more mainstream some groups try to make you. Years back the difference between Democrats and Republicans was mostly a letter within parenthesis. There were Republicans as liberal as any Democrat, who were often called Rockefeller Republicans. There were Democrats as conservative as any Republican, usually called Dixiecrats. The admixture of social philosophies tended to make for a government that was notable for its amity. THAT IS GONE! DEAD! FORGOTTEN!

Today the Democrats are most noteworthy for adopting every stray cat and dog oddball ideology and making it part of their "big tent." They have rejected the people referred to as "normies," implying that the majority is NOT normal. The Democrats are now taking their political guidance from the Democratic Socialist of America, which is a group working to demolish the free enterprise system in America and replace it with a socialist system that drains assets from those who work and re-distribute it according to their notion of equity.

We have seen some really odd people succeed in this new political paradigm. There's "The Squad," which is about as anti-Constitution as any bunch can get. We've seen the rise of Muslim socialists, which is an oddity in itself when you think hard about it. We've seen that loony-toons Texan named James Talarico, whose ideology is about as deviant as any I've ever heard. We see any number of oddball candidates who we shouldn't want to invite into our homes, much less allow them to make our laws.

We have long heard one complaint about partisan politics – that we usually end up voting for the lesser of evils. There is some truth to that notion. It's saying no matter who you vote for, you're voting for evil. That being true, more and more people tend to sit out elections, thinking things like, "Lesser evil is still evil and I can't vote for ANY evil, so I'll just stay home." I encourage you all to rethink that idea.

For the first time in my life I intend to vote a straight Republican ticket. Why would I do that when there ARE Republicans on the ballot in November that I didn't vote for in the primary? That answer is very, very simple.

We are faced with elections that are deciding the central question of the survival of the nation. The Democrats are now supporting DSA-member candidates who openly state they want to demolish much of the structure of our government. That means they want to shred the Constitution in literal ways. They have stated their goals as doing away with border enforcement and eliminating the Senate and Supreme Court entirely. Even they understand those last two items cannot be done without constitutional amendments, but ... that's what they say their goals are.

It seems to me that if this nation can't walk away from the brink of lunacy, which is where we find ourselves today, we will eventually watch as our society degenerates into generalized chaos. The "normies" can't and won't tolerate the lunacy and stupidity forever. I say we can do better, but we have to raise our voices and make our beliefs known.

The numbers are important here. Let's pretend every competent adult American citizen is eligible to vote.

Of that "everyone" about 73% are actually registered. Think of that ... 27% don't care enough to even sign up.

20-23% of the country's voters are die-hard Democrats. They are unthinking partisan zealots who will go along with whatever the Democratic Party asks of them. They will buy off on any crazy ideology and proclaim it "their truth." As we've seen, when they adopt something as "their truth" it automatically becomes "their reality." But, their reality is not actual reality.

Somewhere around 30% of the country identifies as Republicans of one kind or another. They'll come out and vote, even if they don't particularly like their own candidates. They're people who can't stomach the alternative.

Who are the rest ... the almost 50% who aren't party stalwarts. They're made up of 15% who say they "lean" Democrat. They most likely will vote for Democrats, even if they don't really know who they're voting for. They are ideologues who vote for Democrats because it makes them feel good. They don't understand the issues, they don't study the issues or the candidates. They are reflexive voters, who think about politics three or four times a year, because they think they should. They pretend to be "Independents," which is how they justify being essentially uncommitted. That keeps them off a lot of mailing lists or being included in donation solicitations.

Then there's the 15% who "lean" Republican. They aren't very different from those who "lean" Democrat in their motivations and political habits. They just usually bat for the "right" team. They also pretend to be uncommitted "independents," for almost identical reasons.

What's that leave us? About 25% – most of whom never vote, and may never vote.

Of the people who do vote, far too many only vote once every 4 years. They'll come out every four years and feel great about "helping." That describes the majority of both the Democrat and Republican leaners, though it's true that more Democrat leaners vote than Republicans.

Even then, many of those pseudo-independents will conveniently forget to vote on Election Day or they use handy excuses, like "My job," "my kid," "I was too sick," or "my dog needed to go to the vet that day." Despite their left or right lean, many independents are not motivated by candidates or issues, except on rare occasions.

For the past several election cycles the battle has been over the votes of the so-called "undecideds." That's 5-6% of the registered voters who WILL come out, but won't ever say who they vote for. Because the numbers have been so consistent over the past 20 years it's now possible to know with certainty that major elections will be pretty even. The race for President and most Senators are usually pretty close horse races. As you move down the ballot the differences in candidates isn't greater, but understanding the voting potential is. It's far easier to predict the winner of a county Sheriff's race than it is the US President's. That's about demographics and prevailing values in the area.

Polling tells us a lot of interesting things, but NOT who is the most likely to win any election. These days the polls themselves are used to influence voters, not to reflect voter preferences in an unbiased way. Most of the people I know refuse to answer pollsters. I stopped that many years back, when it dawned on me that it means nothing and tells me nothing. It MEANS something to someone, but ... WHO? It tells someone SOMETHING, but WHAT? I can assure you that most poll results are skewed, for all kinds of reasons. Why bother?

In a perfect Republic everyone eligible would show up and vote – every time. But, that just doesn't happen. Mid-term elections are especially problematic as far as participation, and they aren't nearly as bad as primaries.

If everyone understood the best way to change that "evil" candidate paradigm is to vote in every primary, maybe we would do better. Thinking the primaries are somehow "lesser" elections is a HUGE mistake. When the turnout for primaries is routinely <15% overall in a state, that means only a small fraction of voters decide who'll be on the November ballot. Apathy chooses our "evil" candidates – by default.

I'm voting a straight ticket next month. Like I state above – it will be the very first time I've ever done so. It's the very first time I felt that to do otherwise would be to endanger my country. With every Democratic Party candidate out there solidly supporting the lunacy of their national platform I can do nothing else.

I encourage all to think about the state of things today. Are you happy with it? It seems that no one is, but for widely differing reasons. As the ideological divide widens it's wreaking havoc on our nation's society. We are at a crossroad. One side is pushing us away from any aspect of American tradition. The other side is doing an all-sides fight for survival. What do you want this country to be? I want it to live up to the American mythos I was taught when growing up. It was never actually true, but it WAS a vision for what we could be. I can say for certain that if we continue on our present course, that vision will be obliterated and the vision Mr. Khrushchev painted for us in 1957 will come true. If you don't understand that ... you need to get yourself up to speed.

In Liberty,

Steve