In parallel universe, Republicans would complain about economic whiplash | Opinion
There is quite a bit of time and effort in science fiction spent on parallel universes and the multiverse. We can debate whether they exist. However, as someone interested in politics, I wondered what might be happening in some of these other parallel universes.
Somewhere in a parallel universe Joe Biden won the presidential election in 2024.
In this parallel universe, Joe Biden increased tariffs on every single nation on the planet, including a group of islands uninhabited by anything other than penguins and elephant seals. Upon this information, the stock market plummeted, and several trillion dollars of wealth were wiped out in three trading days. The bond market was close to crashing. Then President Biden announces he is removing all tariffs. Word then goes out that every country will have a 10% tariff. Except for the ones that don’t. Oh, and China will have a 145% tariff levied on it.
In this parallel universe Republicans would be running around with their hair on fire. They would be screaming that Joe Biden doesn’t know what he’s doing, he’s senile, that he’s going to end civilization as we know it and demanding his resignation. If he refused to resign, they would begin impeachment proceedings. And rightfully so.
In a parallel universe where Joe Biden is president, sadly four United States service members die in Lithuania. The Lithuanian people, including their president and two thousand of its citizens, send off the remains of these service members to the United States. In this parallel universe Joe Biden not only does not show up to Andrews Air Force Base to receive and recognize these service members, but he instead attends a sporting event put on by the Saudi government.
The Republicans scream at the top of their lungs, that Joe Biden doesn’t care about our service members. That he’s weak on defense. That he has shamed America. And of course, the requisite impeachment articles. And rightfully so.
In a parallel universe where Joe Biden is president, his Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and entire national security team were all discussing sensitive information on a commercially available app. Someone on this chat included a journalist.
Fox News talked about it so much that we even saw it in this parallel universe. They were apoplectic. Republicans demanded that all of them resign or be fired. They demanded the attorney general do something about it and put them all in jail. And rightfully so.
Hopefully, you see where I’m going with all this. For God’s sake all this stuff has happened in the last two weeks. One might say I could write two of these columns a month.
In this parallel universe, Democrats would be downplaying their concerns about these concerns, and the MSNBCs of the world would cover other items with more fervor.
The point is that, for so many people in America, this is a game. It’s their side versus the other side, and they just want to win or own the other side. Policy results be dammed.
This isn’t a game.
How about believing in a set of policies, espousing those, and supporting them, regardless of party?
Instead of dictating to everyone through Executive Orders (as I wrote about previously), how about convincing America of the brilliance of your ideas and why most everyone’s life would be better because of it? Say what you will about President Goerge W. Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security in his second term, but he went on the road and pitched it to the people and tried to win them over. It did not succeed, but he went about it the right way.
We need elected officials who will do things the right way. I’ve served in the State House with many colleagues of both parties that do things the right way. Most elected officials fall into that category, but not enough. At least in this universe.
Adam Koenig spent 16 years as a Republican Kentucky State Representative. He owns a consulting company, Koenig Public Policy and Political Consulting. He can be reached at adam@kpppc.us.