In a recent opinion piece, Cal Thomas expressed a desire to educate ill-informed voters. He seems to define these voters as those who vote Democrat. He asks why people who are struggling financially should vote Democrat.
A nonpartisan think tank, the Economic Policy Institute, recently released a report comparing the economy under Democratic and Republican presidents. Of course, the causes and effects of the economy are complicated. Presidents often claim more credit for a good economy than they deserve and get more blame for a bad economy than they deserve. But the EPI’s figures go back to 1949 (75 years) and include the terms of seven Democrats and seven Republicans.
Real net domestic product per capita (including all goods and services produced and sold) rose an average of 2.60% under Democratic presidents and 1.28% under Republican presidents. Real wages rose an average of 1.08% under Democratic presidents and 0.88% under Republican presidents. Annual inflation (which is a hot topic among Republicans this year) was 2.91% under Democratic presidents and 3.29% under Republican ones. The report compares several other factors and also showed better results under Democrats in the White House.
President Joe Biden came into office at a difficult time due to the pandemic. Contrary to what people like Thomas tell us, the Biden administration has done a great job of getting the country back on track and has outperformed the rest of the world. Yes, some people are struggling financially for some reason, but I’m sure they struggled just as much when Trump was president.
Thomas suggests that some voters simply hate Donald Trump. Maybe they just don’t like an egomaniacal, pathological liar who uses insults we wouldn’t allow our children to use. Maybe they believe that inciting a violent attack on the U.S. Congress to prevent the certification of an election, praising the rioters and calling it a “beautiful day” should disqualify someone from public office. Maybe they’re concerned that the former president praises every dictator and authoritarian in the world and claims to be friends with them.
I fully support Thomas’ desire to inform ill-informed voters. The next project could be to inform ill-informed opinion makers.
Charles Linderman lives in Carrington, ND
