I remember as a teenager playing video games online. As a new phenomenon of playing video games with players across the world, I enjoyed interacting with groups of people I didn’t really know. It added a layer of competition you just didn’t get from playing against the computer, on whatever difficulty. There was something unexpected and exciting about not quite knowing how the game would play out. You could still practice against the NPC players (None player characters) but the predictability and repetitive nature of the strategies becomes boring very quickly. Unfortunately, this is something that seems to be coming to the “real world”, showing that there are so many people just walking through life on a script.
The votes seem to be coming in for the 2022 Midterms, and the “red wave” that was predicted is turning more into a slight red trickle. The House does look like it is moving to the GOP, the Senate maybe staying a 50/50 split, and the Governors’ races seem to be favoring incumbents. The only real big win was in Florida, with a huge almost 20-point gap showing Governor DeSantis as the big winner of the evening. The real story though is the victory of John Fetterman in Pennsylvania for Senator. This victory is showing us two things: First, people will vote for a candidate regardless of their abilities to perform the functions of the job. Second, the political parties are completely broken.
Going into the Midterms, there was a lot of hype from multiple polls (508, Real Clear Politics, Qunnipiac University) that had a “red wave” predicted, or at least large wins from the GOP. The GOP did it’s very best to put forward poor candidates either with questionable histories like Hershel Walker, or with an extremely liberal leaning (Dr. Oz). What this seems to have shown us is that the GOP is either unable or unwilling to try to forward their values. The GOP says they stand for “The Republican Party has always stood for freedom, prosperity, and opportunity” but do not put forward candidates with the leadership capacity to actually push forward those values. Not only that, they do not seem to have a unified message about their actual policies, goals for the country, or governing philosophy. The Democrat party states that they seek “…equality, justice, and opportunity for all.” Something that while not necessarily poignant, does seem to be a unified goal. Because of our two-party system, it does seem like these are our only choices currently for governance. This leaves us with two options: Pick a mismatched group unable to govern in a unified manner, or pick a group that hates America and knows exactly where they want the country to go (Hell). This has given rise to the most influential political group since the “Silent Majority”, The NPC voter.
Imagine an 18-year-old college student today. They were born in 2004, three years after 9/11. The President they know is a septuagenarian floating his way through speeches that make no sense and constantly lying to the cameras. When he was Vice President, and all the scandals and issues preceding that office, they were 12. When I was 12, I was more concerned with WWE and video games than watching politicos talk about “Our Country”. They were told from 2016 to today how evil the GOP was, how Trump caused an insurrection, and how this election was the “End of Democracy” if they didn’t elect the Democrats. Some probably found independent voices online, but the majority of those voices have been cut off by censorship or argued against by a twenty something year old man with lipstick on telling them to be tolerant “or else”. On the other side, they hear how evil Democrats are and how they are pushing against Judeo/Christian values, how they want to cut off your genitalia and teach you how to masturbate at the age of 2. They are left with two options, get involved and become an activist, or check out and become an NPC.
Even the millennial generation is falling into this trap. When I turned 18, I joined the military. I didn’t really vote much; I just didn’t care. I got married at 19 and my wife had our first kid when I was 20. In 2007, Barrack Obama brought politics directly into the cultural sphere, grabbing my wife and I’s attention for the first time. We didn’t become focused on the politics of it, we became focused on the culture. When Donald Trump came along 8 years later, the politics had become the culture, but not because of policy. This highlighted the NPC voter. Some people came out to vote because they didn’t like where the culture was going, some came out because the TV told them to, some came out just to be obstinate, but the majority came out because it had become the “thing to do”. Our ignorant and lazy populace decided to get involved, and it caused a major change.
Now, that same group, the people who are following the cultural wave, are still having a major impact on elections. Most of the country doesn’t like the direction we are going. Most of the people think the economy is not working. Most don’t think Biden can do the job he was elected for, and yet we are still electing his party to power. Why? People just don’t care. This election wasn’t about abortions, it wasn’t about the “right to vote”, COVID, or the economy. This election was about markets, leadership, and culture.
Our markets have all but collapsed across the country, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. COVID lockdowns crashed economic growth and prosperity and left a bleeding hole in its place that the people don’t know how to fix, and don’t seem to want to approach. We know the government won’t fix it, can’t fix it, and we just seem primed for more pain over the next few years. This election made it clear that our hopes, as a nation, have fallen completely away from the political. This may be a good thing if we are able to generate new markets to fill the gap. It could also be very bad if we are unable to, but America tends to get up no matter what we are hit with.
The leaders in our country have been wildly exposed as frauds and charlatans not only by the pandemic response but by the lack of cultural engagement. The one race that showed this the most was in Florida with Gov. DeSantis winning in a major way, and bringing republicans to Congress because of it. He did so by focusing on culture and not kowtowing to the mob. NPCs will vote by party lines, if there isn’t a leader on the ticket, to avoid the mob. Look at Fetterman v Oz; why on earth would anyone put their faith in Dr. Oz to be a strong conservative or liberal leader and to take the punches the mob wants to throw? They wouldn’t. He is neither and shouldn’t be trusted to help decide policy or to help protect the masses, which Pennsylvania seems to have agreed on. With a strong leader who cares about the people, the outcome may have been different, but the GOP leaders just don’t seem to care enough to try.
Finally, these elections were about culture. Our culture is on a precipice of change. We aren’t quite fully integrated to the internet but also are no longer help captive by cable news and legacy media. The culture has almost fully bifurcated which is shown by independent media and conservative media sites taking these results (a win for the GOP even if smaller than expected) as a loss while the legacy media seems to be excited the damage was less than they expected. The involvement of the NPCs into politics through culture is causing more and more of a split. “The Culture” is a misnomer in a sense, as there are tons of different cultures all operating in the US, but the unification under one “American” culture seems to be falling apart as time goes on. Our political class has decided to try to control the culture and is causing massive problems by limiting free speech. This election showed that there are not quite enough people paying attention to stop this from continuing.
To summarize, it seems like we need more players to get involved. It’s time to pick up the controller and start taking some actions. This doesn’t mean that we need a huge swath of new reporters, media sites, or politicos to take the reigns and tell us all about the policies specific to each candidate. This means we need people to start doing fun things and inviting their friends and family to join. When my church has a BBQ, my family and I go. We talk to people, discuss our opinions on things, and really get to know what our neighbors are worried about. When the school has an event, we show up early and help people get set up and stay late to break everything down. When our friends need a hand, we show up with two. It’s not that the NPCs are bad or are trying to break the country. It’s not that they don’t want to do what’s right. It’s not that they are lazy or stupid. It’s that they aren’t being spoken to directly. How long would you stay at a party where everyone is arguing about something you’ve never heard of There are cults and tribes running our country right now and we need to go back to “We the People” Talk to your neighbor, love your neighbor, and they won’t be NPCs; they will be your friends.