Gov. Sam Brownback (R-KS) basically destroyed the Kansas economy with his supply-side trickle-down dead-Reagan policies. The result was that he became very unpopular with a broad spectrum of the population of the state and it looked like he would be given the bum’s rush when he was up for re-election in 2014. Yet he survived and continued on with his slash-and-burn and now has an 18% approval rating. Barack Obama is more popular in the Sunflower State.
So notes Josh Marshall, who adds “it tells you a lot about the polarization, governmental dysfunction and the breakdown of much of the political process in this country.”
It happened in Florida. Rick Scott was re-elected despite a dismal performance and wilting support even among Republicans, but he had the good fortune to run against Charlie Crist, who was running as a former Republican turned independent turned Democrat and perpetual opportunist. But in other states as well such as Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, and Maine where, despite garbage policies that damaged the state, the incumbent Republican was re-elected. Naturally they assumed that what they had wrought was both good and had the approval of the electorate. Carry on!
In most cases, however, it’s not that simple. They won re-election not because they had blanket approval for what they had done, but for what they held out as both a promise and a threat. It went something like this: “Yes, we’ve been through some tough times, but we’re not done yet; we’re this close to being done. If you stop me now, it will never get finished.” Anyone who’s had a kitchen make-over has heard that line from the slow-moving contractor who six weeks into the job has torn everything down to the foundation and you’re still eating Lean Cuisine out of the microwave on the back porch. So you sigh, write another check, and eat another helping of frozen ravioli.
The threat comes from the never-failing fear of the abstract unknown. Sure, they may have ruined the public schools by cutting taxes to nothing, but what about those gays getting married? Which is worse, shorter school years or Adam and Steve? This is Thomas Frank’s theory in What’s the Matter with Kansas? being proved not just in Kansas but everywhere else.
We are seeing it played out now in the candidacy of Donald Trump. His appeal to the base is visceral and founded on the natural human instinct that all dictators tap into: the fear of the unknown bolstered by undeserving exceptionalism. We’re a great country, you’re great people, but there are boogeymen and elites who are out to destroy you; and I’m here to save you. Trust me, I know all the answers, and even if I can’t articulate them, I still know how to scare the crap out of you. It rarely fails. History is littered with dictators who won election by overwhelming margins.
All true, but you forgot to mention the fact that the Democratic party has failed to get promising new leaders into the pipeline. A Kasich wins because he’s opposed by a nerd who was front page news when he was caught having sex with a woman not his wife in the back of his state-owned car. And Florida wouldn’t elect Crist again no matter what party he joined. Right-wingers were smarter than the DNC. They got people on to city councils, school boards, state house positions and from there the climb up the ladder was unstoppable.
It’s like baseball. You need a good farm system to have long-term success.