THE ADOLESCENT ELECTORATE

After the 2016 election, some commentators referred to its results as a temper tantrum. So, fair is fair & I would like to compare some of the results of this year’s midterm election to adolescence. Let me say up front that this is probably going to come across as snarky, but that is not my intention.

Adolescence is very much a creation of 20^th century American culture. It is the awkward time between childhood & adulthood. In the American context, the idea is that the teenager will by trial & error, based hopefully on the lessons learned during childhood, learn to make the right decisions.

In the process of learning, the adolescent will make a lot of mistakes & will eventually come to realize that the adults really did know what they were talking about. Hopefully those mistakes are expensive enough to motivate learning, but so expensive as to cause long-term damage.

When I refer to the adolescent electorate, I’m talking in terms of moral/social issues & economics that they have voted about.

The electorate in my home state of Michigan has decided that recreational marijuana is a good thing. A lot of adolescents have made the same short-sighted mistake. Apparently, if you can generate tax money from something that debilitates people in tasks that they should do unimpeded, it’s OK.

A local ballot initiative in Albuquerque overturning a 20-week limit on abortion also passed. Isn’t it nice to be given additional time to sweep “problems” under the rug, never to be bothered by them again? Ask women who spend decades regretting the exercise of their “right to choose” if it really stays invisible under the rug.

A number of victories by Democrat Socialists have been won. Let’s see if this generation of people who in many cases have no real-world experience understanding of how economics works are able to FINALLY get Utopia to somehow stick its head up over the distant horizon.

The so-called temper tantrum of 2016 (were those who came up with this looking in the mirror after the began protesting the election?) had what an unbiased observer would see as positive results in many categories. It remains to be seen if the adolescent electorate will learn anything from their short-sighted choices in this year’s midterm election.

Unfortunately, not every adult is willing to learn the lessons of adolescence. My generation is full of such people. May God be merciful to us as the results play out. Because whatever comes out of Pandora’s box will not be...