The Outstater
Politics: The Big Shift
“There is life and then there is life in the newspapers.” Alfred Wainwright (1907-1991), British author
THE MORNING AFTER THE ELECTION I awoke to the news and immediately and for the next few hours experienced what was for me an unusual sense of well-being. I write on politics, after all, and my normal state of mind, whatever the news, ranges from angst to trepidation.
No, I didn’t think the new president would fix everything or indeed much at all. Our society is too divided and disturbed to depend on a single official. My sense of well-being, then, if you can understand the mind of an aged journalist, was troubling.
Later that week, attending my weekly card game, a collection of grizzled pessimists, killjoys and cheats, I was further surprised that the players at the table were experiencing the same warm feelings about the fate of the nation. This was a real mystery.
But political science came to the rescue. The term, “preference cascade,” was suggested to explain our feelings of promise.
Before we get into that, it is arguable that never in the history of democratic elections have fewer kind words been said of the winning candidate and more vitriol scattered and lies planted. It served as a grand experiment in whether human nature, specifically the American spirit, could be crushed by a ruling elite.
The law of the preference cascade, happily, says that the public will, the zeitgeist, can be dammed temporarily but eventually spills over and flows on. I lean on Chatgpt for the full clinical explanation:
The term refers to a sudden shift in public opinion, often triggered by a tipping point where individuals who previously were thought to hold a minority or unpopular view are given the opportunity (an election, say) to openly express their true preferences. “As more people start to express the same view, others who might have been hesitant to speak out or act also join in, leading to a cascade effect where the new preference spreads rapidly.”
The Left works constantly and mightily to convince us we are on “the wrong side of history.” But once they get into power their policies defy human nature. Eventually, to get history right, they must try to change it and us — by force, sooner or later.
That feeling, dear friends, that we were in the minority and the “changing” had began has been heavy on our hearts for a long time. What a relief to have it lifted, even for the moment. The election numbers made clear that many more shared our concern over a powerful woke regime.
That is no small thing after decades of institutional propaganda, the cancelling and censorship, the weaponization of the Justice Department and FBI, the ideological capture of the universities, the racial taunts, the envy-driven hatred and the concerted attempts to destroy our society generally.
So hooray for now, let the preferences cascade!— tcl
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