The Evils of Two Lessers

The Democrats and Republicans have, together, decided to subject the American public to a rerun of the 2020 presidential election. This may be an exceedingly low turnout election, as most Americans, outside the bases of the two parties, have no desire to vote for either Joe Biden or Donald Trump. Some Americans, when forced to choose between the two, will just stay home.

Democrats will claim some level of moral superiority. After all, the party that started the Civil War is very high-minded these days about what they have labeled an insurrection. The reality of Jan. 6, 2021, is that it was a multi-hour temper tantrum conducted by the most well-armed group of American ever and they did not bother bringing their guns.

Republicans, of course, claim Democrats are the immoral party for supporting abortion rights and transgenderism. Republicans, Democrats tell us, support a serial adulterer conman who duped people into believing the 2020 election was stolen, festered an insurrection and even now is swindling people out of money to pay his lawyers.

Democrats, Republicans tell us, are led by a human Roomba who shuffles back and forth across stages, who lacks the capacity to make his own decisions and who presides over a family that got wealthy off Joe Biden's position in government. His party champions Black Lives Matter, which in turn has rioted across America, burned down small businesses and declared property damage is not actually violence because of insurance. Even now, many loud voices in the Democratic Party are championing antisemitic views and voices calling for the elimination of the Jewish state and its people.

The Democrats would tell you Republicans are authoritarian and a threat to democracy. Democrats just tried to take Donald Trump off the ballot in several states in defiance of democratic norms until blocked by a unanimous United States Supreme Court.

Republicans will tell you Democrats want to put boys in girls' locker rooms and advance transgender issues. Democrats will tell you Donald Trump has Caitlyn Jenner's support and has even wavered on pro-life positions.

The back and forth leads inevitably to one inescapable conclusion: Neither party really has any business making moral claims of righteousness in 2024. They are both parties of deviancy in varying degrees. The press corps, with its biases toward Democrats, are prone to really believe Jan. 6 was an insurrection and treat Democrats' moral attacks on Republicans with far more legitimacy than they ever would give moral truth claims of the GOP. But the reality is both parties are asking Americans to choose not the lesser of two evils, but the evils of two lessers. Either way, Americans are asked to pick the evil of their choice.

Republicans will assure everyone their side is not really evil; Democrats are evil. Democrats will assure everyone they are not really evil; Republicans are evil. Republicans will surround themselves with evangelical pastors to insist their flocks vote righteously. Democrats will surround themselves with secular saints doing the same. Everyone will quote Scripture and neither party has a real interest in loving their neighbor unless their neighbor agrees with them politically.

Most Americans are just going to get through this election year with the enthusiasm of someone headed to a colonoscopy. They will not be voting for the moral claims of either party because they see both parties complicit in $34 trillion in national debt and squandering America's leadership of the Western world. Both parties have made the nation vulnerable to our enemies. Both parties will assert that, actually, their party is the party of truth, justice and the American way. Neither really is.

For most Americans, they just want to be left alone. They want a sound economy. They want to feel safe in a chaotic world. They'll be badgered, bullied and hectored by both sides demanding Americans pick them. Many will stay home. Plenty will go vote, and they will vote for the party they think is in their family's best interest. Right now, judging by the best polling from the best pollsters, that benefits the GOP, which means the Democrats' moral preening is about to go off the charts.

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To find out more about Erick Erickson and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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