It's the Policies, Stupid! Why Kamala Lost and Why Libraries May Have a Future After All
A guest post by Mark Y. Herring, retired academic librarian
For those over the age of forty, the phrase above will remind them of the famous and infamous political strategist, James Carville. For those who need reminding, Carville was Clinton’s 1992 juggernaut bulldog in the Democrat’s “War Room” where he strategized how to beat George H. W. Bush. And he did so despite Clinton’s political drawbacks, often with the iconic “It’s the economy, stupid.”
As Democrats suffer through their anomy over their colossal election loss—and it was monumental: Electoral College landslide, popular vote, Senate and House majorities—it might help them to repeat this new twist on the Carville mantra: It’s the policies, stupid. And while it is the policies that proved problematic, it is also their repudiation in this election that may offer a glimmer of hope for libraries.
Kamala, and Biden before her, had one serious policy: do exactly the opposite of Trump. Yes, there were also liberal social policies, and we will turn momentarily to those. But the overriding cause of their current evanescence (as obvious as snow in a hot sun) is the chief policy of doing the opposite of Trump. Other, fully embraced policies proved the l’assommoir, the blow that did them in. Let’s take a moment to review.
A border policy allowed millions of unvetted illegals into the country, thousands of whom were gang members, drug dealers, or other criminals. American citizens, notably Laken Riley, were murdered, while fentanyl and other drugs swept the country.
It’s the policies, stupid.
Inflation plagued the country for more than three years, driving up grocery prices, gas prices, clothing, housing, and essentials. We were told it simply wasn’t that bad, and in some cases, it really wasn’t. But for many middle-class Americans, that part of the argument rang hollow to judge from the election outcome.
It’s the policies, stupid.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (aka DEI) plagued colleges and universities until both they and corporate America (including most sports entities) embraced it to the point of cancel culture. No one could say much because nearly everything was potentially a “trigger.” Soon, conversation, movies, television, newspapers, radio, and any other form of communication had to prove its ‘wokeness’ before it could be approved out loud. This led to colleges and universities abandoning neutrality.
It’s the policies, stupid.
Once universities and colleges turned the neutrality corner, libraries, formerly a bastion of neutrality and free speech, became the vanguard of the one-only-view. Books no longer cover both sides of an argument, only the ones approved by those collecting. Collection and acquisition of materials followed, in inimical lockstep, with the progressive philosophy that bore it. Thus, Pride Week, transgender books for minors, and more overrode anything to the contrary. This approach became so pervasive and insidious that even buildings across the Atlantic were considered too racist to be approved.
It’s the policies, stupid.
Antisemitism ran rampant across U.S. colleges and universities while remaining silent about protecting Jewish students in residence. The only country in the Middle East that supports the U.S. unequivocally was excoriated routinely. The murderous Hamas regime, however, was praised on those same American campuses for its egalitarianism and victim status.
It’s the policies, stupid.
The Afghanistan withdrawal painted the U.S. as cowards. If that wasn’t enough, it culminated in the Abbey Gate terrorist attack that killed 13 U.S. servicemembers, stranding thousands who chased U.S. planes down the runway as America left with its tail between its legs.
It’s the policies, stupid.
Violent crime skyrocketed around the country with terrorists and other criminals, taking over neighborhoods or simply running about the country in a killing, robbing, destructive spree.
It’s the policies, stupid.
For three and a half years, Harris and the entire DNC lied about Biden’s declining mental health. When Biden’s debate with now-President-Elect Trump proved his Waterloo, they staged a coup and removed him without a primary although he remains as president until January 20, 2025.
It’s the policies, stupid.
On day one, the Biden-Harris team declared war not on our enemies but on our energy. Gas prices soared in every state, and electric cars were forced on Americans although there was (and remains) no infrastructure to maintain them. Recent hurricane floodings proved the cars useless without this strategic piece.
It’s the policies, stupid.
The Biden-Harris administration supported the transgender movement for both minors and jailed criminals even though it is now unequivocally clear that such surgeries are not only dangerous but very likely to shorten longevity while making its victims sterile. One doctor, Johanna Olson-Kennedy, told the New York Times that she withheld the results of a $10 million taxpayer-funded study that proved the danger of puberty blockers and would be “weaponized” against their use.
It’s the policies, stupid.
Harris showcased just about any millionaire celebrity who could be paid to show up (and most many did), yet argued she was for the common man. Her dubious economic plan for capital gains would have sent even her star-studded friends into Chapter 11.
It’s the policies, stupid.
Harris ran a campaign that reaped the harvest of progressive liberal ideas that the overwhelming majority of the country rejected out of hand. It is not hyperbole to state that the country has rejected these policies unswervingly when the Electoral College landslide, the Senate and House majorities, and even the popular vote have just said no.
So, what can we learn from this for libraries? The left-leaning American Library Association adopted many of these same policies and thrust them upon its members. But ten or more states have severed ties with ALA. The recent elections, however, offers a glimmer of hope for ending the social and cultural “woke” debate in general and in libraries in specifically. With this victory for common sense, those of us fighting against the liberal zeitgeist of the American Library Association and local libraries which have adopted those policies can now point to the majority view and begin the serious process of returning libraries to their original neutrality intent.
It really is the policies, but perhaps now, libraries will be free to return to common sense collection building and thus avoid the rampant debates afflicting many libraries today.
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I'm no fan of Biden or Harris, and I don't disagree with your assessment of some of these policy decisions, but too much of this post relates to politics writ large rather than libraries and librarianship. I agree that there are definitely lessons our ideologically-captured library associations should be taking from the extent to which the U.S. electorate appears to have rejected wokeness, but what those lessons might be could have been elaborated upon more, rather than focusing on (for example) the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan or energy policy.
I think this article overinterprets the results. Looking at the exit polls, it seems like the big issues were economy/inflation and immigration. It therefore *is* hyperbole to state that "the country has rejected these policies unswervingly". Maybe, but it is too early to say.
I do hope that we can return to the normal business of collection building but certain elements, such as those bringing criminal obscenity charges against individual library workers, are no doubt emboldened by a national GOP trifecta. My assessment is that we are far from ending the "woke" debate in libraries; much work of persuasion and compromise remains.