I saw the poll that Ed had commented on before (“Massive Majority in New Hampshire Support Authoritarian Government and Willing to Believe Anything Government/Press Tell Them“) and had basically thrown up my hands in horror.
Sure, the post title was a bit on the “high” side but really stated the truth: we want to be taken care of; the outsourcing of our own self-responsibility.
Why was I horrified? A theme that I’ve been pounding for a bit now: “Health & Safety” vs “Freedom.
It’s an issue that’s been going on for a while in Britain where the government incrementally puts leashes on its subjects in the name of Health & Safety by removing the Freedom to act in any way that might be considered dangerous. In short, what is the government willing to take from you under the guise of “in your best interest that you obey me”.
That leads to the question, “what are you willing to give up to believe you will be safe?”
The poll that Ed brought up showed that 89% of Granite Staters are willing to give up their liberty, the bedrock freedom purchased with patriot blood, simply for the illusion of being “safe.” And as Ed pointed out, just like the TSA airport security theater, there is no “safe” at this time. Mitigations, sure – to a point. But real safety? About as much as there is in real life. Which is to say, not much as life inherently is quite risky despite the best efforts to roll back the true meme that life IS dangerous.
But I digress.
I make sport of Journalism often, and deservedly so. That said, when a scribbler does a good thing, I need to give out an “attaboy” and this time it is for Kevin Landrigan in his latest State House Dome column. In fact, the title of this post is the sub-head of the section of his piece that caught my eye. It made the contrast between Democrats, Republicans, and Independence on the current state of affairs of the NH Lockdown and one particular stat he highlighted put a grin on my face – perhaps all is not lost at all! Reformatted, emphasis mine:
Conservatives get restless
The headlines on the latest Granite State Poll from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center couldn’t have been better for Sununu. In a month, approval for his handling of the COVID-19 crisis jumped 16%, to 89%, including a favorable review from 86% of Democrats.
I’m not surprised at that 86%. Democrats ARE the Party of Big Government (mostly because Big Govt is made up of a preponderance of Leftists – part of the “Long March.”
In the beginning, nobody knew what was going on so any life preserver thrown out was caught with a fervor only outdone by boys discovering that girls exist. But we now know a LOT more about this virus now – and we know even more about the politicians “in charge.” And, how they are trying to use it for advantage. It is that last part that now concerns us the most at GraniteGrok (and it should concern you all as well).
But here is where Landrigan deserves his kudos because he did his homework AND brought it out. This little nugget ought to be VERY concerning to both Sununu and his staff AND to NH GOP Chair Steve Stepanek and the NH GOP:
Deep within the poll, however, are signs New Hampshire conservatives could be becoming disenchanted.
Among this right-wing cohort, 57% think reopening the economy is more important than keeping the stay-at-home order in place (41%).
By contrast, among liberals, 7% say reopening is more important, and among moderates, 17% feel that way.
On whether beaches should be opened, 49% of Republicans said they should, compared to 14% of Democrats who want a wide open coastline.
The base is getting disgruntled, or as Conservative Treehouse said once “cold fury.”
Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds has called it a Preference Cascade. Either way, the translation is Not Good.
Four hundred people disobeyed Sununu’s emergency order to stay at home to rally for freedom at the ReOpen rally on the 18th. I bet a few more showed up in Manchester’s rally by another group this past Saturday (have heard no reports back).
Like I have said before, there were a LOT of unfamiliar faces there – and more than a fair share of discontent.
ReOpenNH’s petition, which Sununu has publicly dissed (as well as GraniteGrok for telling him he’s wrong) has 4,554 signatures. Sure – a very small percentage of the NH population but that they are willing to make themselves public (and again, remember “only 1% of a radio talk show audience ever calls in”) should say a lot.
THEY are the influencers to many folks back in their home towns and in their circles of families and friends. It will be interesting to see if they return this coming Saturday for the second ReOpenNH rally (and what law enforcement’s reaction will be which really means what they are being told by the higher up politicians).
Today, 57% of Sununu’s base is getting REAL tired of this security theater and basically saying “let US make our OWN decisions”.
Health is important – but physical health is only one aspect of life. True, too, is economic health because the lack thereof will lead to some really bad outcomes.
But what Sununu should be most concerned about right now is the lack of “Freedom Health” from his emergency orders issued to “keep us safe”. It seems that his base is, as I have postulated before, now saying “stop treating us like children.” They are seeing the Government making their “Freedom Health” worse, not better. He’d better start worrying about his “Election Health” real soon.
Sure, the overall poll number shows a spectacular result thus far – politicians would kill for a number like that (well, perhaps a few would, they can be a rather greedy bunch and a good subset feel that Power is the most important thing for them to own). However, when that number is from the other side of the aisle, you can be sure that when the rubber hits the road, Democrats aren’t going to be voting for him come November. And if he keeps ticking off his base, they won’t vote for a Democrat but they may well not check ANYONE in that race.
After all, it will only take a change of heart of about 0.1 to 0.5% of a district’s vote for a win or a loss. We’ve proven that over the years. And 57% is a LARGE number that is getting angry.
And if they aren’t willing to vote for the NH Top of Ticket, how will the rest of the Republican downticket fare? That’s what should be concerning Stepanek and the NH GOP. Especially in this time of basically no campaigning by regular means for any other elected positions either at the State or local levels. Sure, Sununu is getting LOTS of TV face time right now, but if I remember right, he had zero to “real short” coattails when it came to down ballot races.
Still, I’m glad to see that even if it is just half of one-third of the populace, people are starting to go “Freedom – it IS a thing TO ME.” Enough already.
