why their agenda is better than that of the Republicans ; and third , the corporate media refused to center people ’ s wellbeing in their framing of election-related issues .
Republicans have played the long game on suppressing democracy , redrawing district maps for years in order to favor their candidates and appointing conservative , partisan judges into federal courts to affirm those maps . They have done so in tandem with a slew of voter suppression laws in states they control — which is the majority . Analilia Mejia , co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy Action , says in an interview that such efforts are “ a strategy utilized to negate the power of a rising Black and Brown electorate .”
The GOP is also terrified ( or should be ) of young people voting . Recall in the 2016 presidential race when Hillary Clinton ’ s loss to Donald Trump was blamed , in part , on younger voters who weren ’ t motivated to show up to the polls . Two years later , that trend was reversed in the first midterms of Trump ’ s presidency . Now , four years after that , young voters have realized the dangers of apathy and showed up to the polls in force , casting a majority of their ballots for Democrats .
Mejia says “ the policies that really motivate people ” to vote are “ the policies that we know will essentially save humanity and the planet and stop climate change ; the policies that we know will ensure that our children , that our elders , that those most vulnerable in our communities have the resources that they need to not only survive but thrive — [ these ] are policies that are supported by the vast majority of people .”
This — including the overturning of abortion rights at the Supreme Court — was precisely what motivated so many young people and people of color to vote in the 2022 midterms . Varshini Prakash , executive director and cofounder of the Sunrise Movement , a youth climate justice organization , told Common Dreams , “ For us , it ’ s never been just about defeating Donald Trump … We turn out to fight for the issues our generation faces every day , like the impending climate crisis , protecting our reproductive freedoms , and ending gun violence in our schools .”
And yet , climate justice , economic justice , and racial justice were largely missing from the story that Democrats told in order to motivate people to go to the polls .
Rather than tout how his administration and his party would ensure a just transition to renewable fuels , President Joe Biden was fixated on gas prices and how to lower them . Instead of showcasing how the 2021 American Rescue Plan was a good example of federal government action on inequality , candidates running for office were on the defensive against Republicans ’ and the media ’ s hammering of inflation as a central election issue . In contrast to their 2020 promises to tackle racist police brutality and mass incarceration , Democrats decided to pass a bill to increase police funding and stave off GOP accusations of being “ soft on crime .”
Voters showed up in spite of this . But they may have shown up to elect Democrats in even higher numbers had climate , economic , and racial justice been front and center ahead of the midterms . “ These are popular ideas ,” says Mejia .
Not only did Democrats refuse to fully articulate these popular ideas , but the corporate media also shaped its coverage to suit the GOP ’ s agenda . Outlets aggressively played up the Republican Party ’ s line that inflation was the central issue of the election — one for which , they alleged , Democrats bore sole blame .
Take one New York Times article published on Election Day . “ Inflation is almost certainly the issue pushing the economy to its current prominence ,” wrote the Times ’ economic reporter Jeanna Smialek in a story headlined , “ Inflation Plagues Democrats in Polling . Will It Crush Them at the Ballot Box ?” Just hours after it was published , such a confident claim fell apart as the Democrats were most certainly not “ crushed ” at the ballot box .
Mainstream U . S . corporate news media outlets could have taken a page out of their British counterpart ’ s book , the Guardian , which publishes analyses like that of former U . S . labor secretary Robert Reich . “ Corporations are using rising costs as an excuse to increase their prices even higher , resulting in record profits ,” wrote Reich , offering an explanation for inflation largely missing from U . S . outlets .
One Wall Street Journal article went as far as explaining quite convincingly that rather than being sparked by Democrats ’ policies , inflation was triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic , and that the U . S . was in line with other nations and with historical trends . Yet the Journal couldn ’ t resist framing the piece with the misleading headline : “ Midterm Election Could Make Democrats Latest Governing Party to Pay Price for Inflation .”
Most U . S . newspapers have spent the past year banging the drum of inflation and exaggerating its impact . They have accepted the dogma that higher wages , lower unemployment , and government assistance are the source of rising prices rather than corporate greed .
Mejia is aghast at the consensus that is emerging to tackle inflation through increasing interest rates and slashing benefits . She finds it “ unbelievable that the way we dig ourselves … out of an economic crisis is by inflicting strategic targeted and sustained pain to those who are most vulnerable .”
She says that “ the only way out of here , out of this moment , is through investment in people , in civic participation , and increasing our political power and voice .”
Perhaps if the Democratic Party had centered its midterm platform on such an approach , and perhaps if the corporate media had not distorted the truth , victory would not have been defined by simply holding the line against a fascist GOP ; it would have been — and could have been — an outright defeat of authoritarianism and injustice . Too much is at stake , and our standards of success cannot be low .
68 x The Trial Lawyer