Monday Miscellany, 11/10/25

New York City, the financial capital of the world and the largest Jewish community outside of Israel, elected a socialist pro-Palestinian Muslim to be their mayor.

Virginia, once a purple state that often voted Republican, as they did with their last governor, this time elected a trans-supporting woman as governor.  They also voted in an attorney general who tweeted fantasies about killing his opponents and their children.  Such was the Democratic wave in this bastion of the south that the House of Delegates went from 51 Democrats and 48 Republicans to 61 Democrats and 31 Republicans.  Now color Virginia bright blue.

California voted to gerrymander their congressional districts to create more Democratic seats, thus countering what Texas Republicans did and setting the stage to retake the House in next year’s midterm election.

Democrats also easily won what was supposed to have been a competitive governor’s race in New Jersey.

None of these elections were close.  The polls projected that they would be, but this time the polls overcounted Republicans,

Republicans have been touting Democratic divisions, but Democrats seem to have become unified:  around their leftwing.  Meanwhile, Republicans are the ones who have lost their unity, fighting a faction that is defending Nazi supporters, of all things!

Republicans need to face up to the fact that President Trump, with a disapproval rating of 63%,  is not broadly popular except among his base, and even his base is faltering.  In this election, his base didn’t turn out much for other candidates when he himself is not on the ballot.  In fact, reportedly, in this election quite a few Trump voters switched to the Democrats.  And there seems little effort to expand the president’s appeal beyond his loyal band of true believers.

In his previous term, President had a booming economy going for him, which he achieved by cutting taxes and getting out of its way.  Now he is interfering constantly but erratically, and his favorite tactic of tariffs is contributing to inflation.  His aggressive immigration crackdown is alienating Hispanics, whom he had previously won over.  His military attacks and threats overseas have rattled his supporters who trusted in his promise to stop being the world’s policeman.

The conservatives’ hope is that the Democrats’ lurch to the left will work to the Republicans’ favor in the rest of the country.  The danger is that an anti-Trump, anti-Republican reaction will set in that will drive more Americans to the hard left.

Trump’s political strength is that he has won over much of the working class, but the working class has traditionally favored the Democrats. And the growing socialist movement is bringing back the old Marxist rhetoric, calling for the workers of the world to unite to cast down capitalism.

Another conservative hope is that the newly elected progressives will bungle their offices so badly that they will discredit their ideology with the voters.

The best line  about the election is from the editors at National Review channeling a former New York City major:   “As Ed Koch once put it, the voters have spoken . . . and now they must be punished.”

Only a Minority of Americans Have a Positive View of Capitalism

The majority of Americans no longer have a positive view of capitalism.  But they don’t have a positive view of socialism either.

An NBC News Poll found that 44% of registered voters have a positive view of capitalism, with 28% saying they view it negatively.

Among Democrats, only 25% have a positive view capitalism, with 45% viewing it negatively.

Republicans still like capitalism overall, with over two-thirds (67%) thinking of it positively and only 12% thinking of it negatively.

The numbers for Independents are the same as for the nation as a whole, 44% to 28% .

And yet the numbers for socialism are even worse. Only 18% of voters over all have a positive view of socialism, with 49% having a negative view.  Among Democrats, 35% have a positive view, with 20% having a negative view.  Among Republicans, a mere 3% are positive, with 81% being negative.  Among Independents, 14% are positive and 49% are negative.

Notably, none of these categories add up anywhere near to 100%, showing that large numbers of Americans don’t know, don’t have an opinion, or have more nuanced views.

What we can learn from this study is that Americans in general don’t know all that much about economics.  Perhaps this signals an openness to the hybrid economic models of the Western European welfare states or communist China.  Americans want, no doubt, whatever economic program would benefit them, no matter the ideology behind it.  That mindset is fertile grounds for demagogues.

The Finnish Lutherans Are Put On Trial AGAIN

As we reported, the Finnish Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Dr. Päivi Räsänen and Bishop Juhana Pohjola who had charged with hate crimes for articulating the traditional Christian teachings regarding homosexuality.

Dr. Räsänen, a member of parliament, tweeted a Bible verse objecting to the state church’s sponsorship of a Pride Parade and wrote a pamphlet explaining what the Bible teaches on the subject.  Bishop Pohjola, head of a confessional Lutheran church body with which the LCMS is in fellowship, was indicted for publishing the pamphlet.

The two were acquitted twice–by a district court and by a court of appeals–but in a practice expressly forbidden by the American Constitution but allowable in Finland, prosecutors can appeal verdicts that do not go their way.  The prosecutors appealed the exoneration of these two faithful Lutheran Christians all the way to the Supreme Court, putting them in triple jeopardy in a case that has dragged on for six years, in effect punishing them by subjecting them to court proceedings.

The Supreme Court has heard their case.  We await the verdict.