Something to respect about the midterm elections

As an independent voter with eclectic political views best described as libertarian/conservative centrist, I rarely root for either major party in elections. In that sense, Tuesday’s mixed outcome — an impressive Democratic victory in the House, some Republican gains in the Senate — is something to cheer for. In a polarized age when Red America has shackled itself to a xenophobia-peddling authoritarian wannabe while Blue America is increasingly wed to identity politics with equally real authoritarian leanings, divided government may be freedom’s best hope.

The election’s most important priority was to make the Constitution’s checks and balances work to constrain President Donald Trump. This has been accomplished. Granted, strengthened Republican control of the Senate means he won’t be constrained enough in some key areas, such as the appointment of the next attorney general. But judicial appointments are the least objectionable part of Trump’s record, and the Democrats’ behavior in the Brett Kavanaugh fiasco is a good reason not to reward them with veto power over nomination. There’s a dose of karma in the fact that several Democratic incumbents who lost Senate races were anti-Kavanaugh hardliners, notably Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri.

Also among the positives: with a few exceptions, notably Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York City, the hyper-progressive Democrats striving to take the party in a more socialist direction did not fare too well at the ballot box. Perhaps the Democrats will think twice about the hard left turn that many see as the road to success.

The gains made by women — who will hold nearly 23 percent of the seats in the next Congress, up from the current 20 percent — should be something to celebrate. But the gender politics of the “Year of the Woman” are worrisome. Not only has the gender gap at the voting booth been especially stark this year, but the partisan skew in the ranks of women in Congress is growing more dramatic. Of the 107 women in 115th Congress, 78 are Democrats and 29 are Republicans. Among this year’s female winners, 100 are Democrats and 17 are Republicans; the number of Republican women in the House will actually decline.

One can’t blame some women for deserting the party of Trump. But the unpleasant truth is that white males have good reasons to see the current Democratic Party as unfriendly to their kind. (Sen. McCaskill may have cause to regret the 2015 humorous video she made for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” telling men to “hush” because no one needs their opinions.)

One of the election’s most disappointing outcomes is the political survival of Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), the closest Congress has to an outspoken white nationalist. King, who has darkly warned that “we can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies” and made jokes equating immigrants with “dirt,” eked out a victory.

Yet bigotry in the House is not just a Republican problem. King was one of eight candidates identified by the Jewish magazine Tablet as “the anti-Semitic eight”; but three of the four winners are Democrats. Rep. Danny K. Lewis of Illinois and Rep. Andre Carson of Indiana have spoken favorably of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan (who recently compared Jews to termites). First-time winner Ilhan Omar of Minnesota has stood by a tweet accusing Israel of having “hypnotized the world” to conceal its “evil doings,” rhetoric that lapses into anti-Semitic tropes.

But most disappointing of all is the cynicism and bitterness that increasingly accompanies the political process. Are we getting to a point where elections become so exhausting and degrading that many would be glad to give them up?

Cathy Young is a contributing editor to Reason magazine.