Epic Fails

 

In Canadian federal politics, unfortunately, often the Conservative leaders also lack records of accomplishment.

As the situation in the US gets worse, I ponder: is it just me, or why isn’t it obvious to everyone that left-wing policies make things generally worse, seem even deliberately destructive, while right-wing policies seem to turn out better for nearly everyone?

I think of Margaret Thatcher turning the UK around after years under Labour governments. I think of Regan turning things around after Carter and winning the Cold War. I think of Rudy Giuliani turning NYC around after decades of the entire city being thought of as a no-go zone—and how quickly things are going back to rack under a Democratic administration. I think of how much better things seemed to be in Canada under Harper than under Justin Trudeau, or how quickly things went sour in Ontario when Bob Rae’s NDP got in, after decades of solid government under the PCs.

And now we see things sliding quickly under Biden, after general good times under Trump. Can’t others see this?

It seems to me as well that Republican candidates for office generally have solid records of accomplishment when they run. Democratic candidates have in comparison relatively scanty resumes. Bill Clinton was governor of the relatively small state of Arkansas, and had lost his first bid for re-election. Barack Obama was a first-term senator. Pete Buttigieg won the Iowa primary and briefly looked like the best bet to be the Democratic presidential nominee after only being mayor of South Bend, Indiana—population 100,000. And with no striking accomplishments in that office. Justin Trudeau was a high school drama teacher.

By comparison, Trump, although without political experience, had built a business empire. Mitt Romney had rescued the Salt Lake City Olympics, and managed to get elected governor as a Republican in the nation’s bluest state. Boris Johnson had been a popular mayor of London, famously a leftist electorate. John McCain had been a senator for 22 years, and was a war hero.

The Democrats seem to have a chronic problem here. Each primary season, they seem to lack candidates with actual records of accomplishment. 

This may be explained by the simple fact that leftist policies do not work. They go for the fresh face at least in part because any familiar faces are probably discredited by a record of failure.

Why do people persist in voting for parties and policies that do not work?

You can fool some of the people all of the time. Not infrequently, it is enough of them to form an electoral plurality. 

The Democrats and the left elsewhere concentrate on looking good, not on doing good. They promise people free stuff.