Gag Reflex

Just when I think things can’t get any worse in America, they get worse. I have written many times about how primary elections have empowered radical elements within the traditional political parties. These radical elements are further to the left or right than the traditional political parties, which themselves are to the left or right of the majority of the American people who are basically somewhere in the center. The end result of these primary battles has been the capture of the Republican Party by Donald Trump and his MAGA Movement accompanied by the takeover of the Democratic Party by the Democratic Socialists of America. So it is MAGA versus DSA no matter what the rest of us want.

This radicalization process has not only left moderate Republicans and Democrats with few options to choose from, it has completely disenfranchised independents who have no say in determining which candidates run for public office leaving them with little choice but to vote for the candidate that is least likely to provoke a gag reflex.

But even this parlous state of affairs afflicting our country was deemed insufficient by the forces of division. President Trump demands absolute loyalty, not to America but to him and his “agenda,” endorsing loyal non-entities over incumbent Republicans whose loyalty was deemed deficient (Texas Senator John Cornyn bragged that he had supported President Trump 99% of the time. That 1% cost him the president’s endorsement and lost him the election). It would seem that the Democrats would be licking their chops to take on political neophytes whose primary attribute is loyalty to Donald Trump.

But no. The political test on the left has become a fervent endorsement of socialism combined with loyalty to the Palestinian cause that includes the destruction of Israel. Candidates supported by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America are wiping out incumbent Democrats in primary elections across the country – and not just in big Democratic run cities. It strikes me odd that so many of these socialists that want to radically change America are immigrants or first generation Americans. One would think that they or their parents came to America for some reason other than to overthrow what attracted them to America in the first place.

All this radicalization by MAGA nationalists and antisemitic socialists seems not only dysfunctional but also pathological. These handpicked candidates are appealing to an ever smaller more radicalized base. The turnouts in primary races is far less than general elections and these radicalized bases have little in common with ordinary Americans.

Many fear that this trend endangers our American democracy. President Trump is continually trying to increase the power of the Executive Branch at the cost of the other branches of government and also of many non-governmental institutions that are integral parts of our democracy. And we must remember that the word Democratic in the organization called the Democratic Socialists of America is only a word – just like the word in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (better known as North Korea). There is only one election under socialism. After that the fate of the people is sealed.

But I remain optimistic. People are easily fooled – at least at first. Athenian democracy was always at the mercy of populist demagogues. Many dictators were popularly elected, including Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and more recently Hugo Chavez and Vladimir Putin. One of the prescient innovations created by the Founders was not only the separation of powers, but the staggered terms of those separated powers – two years for representatives, six years for senators, four years for presidents and life for Supreme Court justices. These staggered terms have slowed down the process of democratic change, forcing citizens to reflect on the choices they make and giving time for policies to prove their worth, or the lack thereof. We need that time of reflection right now.

And that’s a good thing. Already the partisan divisiveness of the 2026 off-year elections is beginning to break up from its own excesses. Primary voters have ignored extreme views and churlish personal characteristics of candidates as long as they check the right (or should I say correct) boxes. On the right, loyalty to President Trump – nothing else matters. On the left, progressive policies take a back seat to socialism as well as the extermination of Israel. Reliable incumbents that didn’t check these boxes are falling by the wayside.

Here in conservative Texas, the corrupt Ken Paxton (impeached by his fellow Republicans and deserted by his staff for self-dealing), is running neck-and-neck with the progressive boy-wonder James Talarico. President Trump’s endorsement may have given him a loyal devotee, but it probably won’t give him a legislative majority. And our scandal-plagued leftist oysterman Graham Platner up in Maine has been hammered by another juicy scandal that may torpedo his candidacy as slightly more rational Democrats call for someone else to replace him on the ballot.

I had thought that the awful choices our traditional parties have given us in the past couldn’t get any worse – but I was wrong. Many of us will have to choose between someone who places loyalty to a Great Leader over our country, or someone who openly states how much she hates America. Who would have thought it would come to this. But it has.

So why am I optimistic? I am as optimistic about the American people as Winston Churchill who famously said, "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing—after they've tried everything else." Well, we have just about tried everything else so it is now time to do the right thing. And we know what the right thing is. It was made very clear in the Declaration of Independence. Even more, the Founders gave us the operator’s manual on how to achieve the goals of the Declaration – it’s called the Constitution of the United States. Keep that in mind next time you go to the polls.