A Double-Negative Election Produced Weak Candidates and Retributive Politics; Citizens Should Disengage from National Politics and Invest in Healthier Pursuits
Source: Chris Bray. "Dems Promise To Soothe Americans With Lawfare Jihad." November 5, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author says both parties ran nasty, negative campaigns, and now the winning Democrats are promising payback instead of solutions. He thinks this miserable politics drives away good candidates and fills Congress with weak ones. His advice is not to let Washington wreck your well-being: focus on family, faith, community, and local efforts, and wait for the cycle to change.
Conclusion
American national politics is in a dismal, decadent lull in which both parties offer only negation and retribution and attract poor candidates, so citizens should decline to stake their sanity on Washington and instead turn to family, faith, community, and local action while waiting for a chance to change the system.
Premises
- Washington's pre-election fights centered on trivial matters (Kennedy Center naming, a reflecting pool liner, trees on a golf course) that nobody outside the Beltway cared about, while Republican control of all branches produced no meaningful course correction on issues like the $40 trillion debt.
- Both parties ran purely negative 'contrast' campaigns (Republicans: 'don't vote for weird Democrats'; Democrats: 'don't vote for Trump Republicans'), offering little positive vision of who they are or what they hope to be.
- Immediately after winning, Democrats signaled that their main agenda is punishment and retribution against Republican officials (e.g., promises of subpoenas and investigations) rather than addressing the economic anxieties that helped them win.
- A miserable, negation-based politics deters sane, smart, decent people from running for office, so the candidate pool is dominated by poor, grating, or inarticulate figures, as shown by the author's examples of newly elected Democrats.
- Such lulls are cyclical and self-reinforcing (a 'whirlpool effect'), though occasional breakouts like 2016 show change is possible.
- Local and civic efforts, such as the Colorado ballot initiatives led by Erin Lee, show that meaningful, healthy action is available outside the national political system.
Assumptions
- Voters' and elites' priorities are meaningfully disconnected, and the Beltway's concerns are trivial compared with what ordinary Americans care about.
- Negative campaigning and retributive agendas are signs of political decline rather than normal features of competitive politics.
- The speaking ability, voice, and personal presentation of politicians are valid indicators of their competence and fitness for office.
- Early rhetoric from a few Democratic politicians (tweets) represents the party's entire governing agenda.
- Exit from or deprioritizing national politics is a reasonable and effective response, and individual disengagement will not worsen the problem.
- The causal story that an unpleasant politics deters good candidates explains the quality of the newly elected officials.
- Ballot-initiative wins are an example of healthy civic action and a model for others.