If they call you Hitler, explaining how you can make the trains run on time won’t win you the election. 

The 1990s Were 30 Years Ago

In 1992, Bill Clinton won the election with a single line: “It’s About the Economy, Stupid.” Back then, the American people didn’t care about Clinton’s affairs, alleged rapes, or sordid morality. They cared about the economy, and Bill Clinton promised a good economy. He won in 1992. Clinton wouldn’t win today.

People change. Culture changes. Even you change. The commercials that made us cry back in the day now make us cringe.

One shift among voters is they’ve become more morally motivated, which surprisingly has hurt Republicans. Culture’s ethical code has shifting away from traditional values.

Republicans celebrate that the American people think Biden is terrible with the economy. They revel in the failure of Bidenomics. They think voters will vote their pocketbooks. Don’t bet the future of the country on that.

Why?

Because most Americans stopped going to church.

And, since most Americans don’t go to church, they can’t draw a sense of moral superiority from feeling like they go to the right kind of church. There are few feelings in the world as intoxicating as moral superiority. So if they can’t find moral superiority from church, where will they get it? The ballot box.

In 1991, 44% of Americans went to church every Sunday. In 2023, that number dropped to 31%. That is around 35 million Americans who used to attend church and have since stopped. 35m extra voters is all you need to win an election.

The Democrats say if you vote for them, you will be a virtuous and inclusive person. And many voters, longing for moral validation, accept this line. Voters have traded the confession booth for the ballot box as the path to virtue. 

You are suspicious of this idea, and I understand. Let me flip things around to make my point.

Flip #1: Brexit

Voters in the UK wanted to live under their own laws. The media and their leaders (from all three parties!) told them it would be bad for their economy if they left the EU. Voting “leave” would mean Brits would lose jobs, and everyone would be poorer. The voters said, “We don’t care about the economy. Our sovereignty is more important than our economy. We want our country back.” This moral argument is the reason there is no push to rejoin the EU despite economic turbulence in the UK. 

Flip #2: Argentina

In 2023, Javier Milei won presidential election in Argentina as a libertarian. How? He was willing to call his socialist opponent evil, decadent, and stupid. Decadence is a powerful concept because it conveys a moral judgement on economic behavior. “Decadent democrats feasting while the people starve” is a more persuasive image than pointing out how Marxist economic theory is flawed.  

Pointing out how the opponent is stupid is not enough to win in 2024. Remember, people need a moral reason to vote. Milei’s moral arguments for his economic positions resulted in a landslide in a country historically run by socialists. Libertarians typically lose because they get lost in the numbers.

Why do people vote? I think for most people, they vote to feel good about themselves, to feel virtuous. In the ballot box for this kind of voter, moral arguments beat economic arguments.

Moral Victories in Elections

So, let’s take the last few presidential races and look at them through a moral lens.

2008 Election: Obama: Vote for me & prove you’re not racist.

The pitch for Obama was an invitation to prove to yourself and others that you were not racist. Oh, and the other guy is Hitler. Sure, John McCain and Mitt Romney were pretty milquetoast and not very Hitlerish, but according to the media, they were Hitler!

2016 Election Trump: Vote for me and drain the swamp. Also, I’m not a corrupt murderer. 

2016 was an interesting year. Trump would have lost the moral authority to just about anyone. Anyone, that is, except for Hillary Clinton. Hilary suiciding her close confidants is a meme that is hard to shake. Of the two, Trump looked like the more moral choice. Hillary failed to make voters feel virtuous voting for her. 

2020 Election Biden: Vote for me. I’m not Hitler.

In the 2020 election, the Democrats painted Trump as a science-denying, grandma-murdering Neo-Nazi. Biden was a kindly old grandpa who felt your pain. When given the choice between Hitler and Grandpa, the American people chose Grandpa. 

Making it Make Sense

Now that we understand this moral approach to politics, it explains a few things.

Why does The Left fear QAnon?

What motivated the incredible media backlash to the QAnon conspiracy? Seriously, why all the attention and censorship for a fringe theory most voters have never heard of? QAnon was an existential threat to Democrats because it threatened the left’s moral superiority. The QAnon conspiracy claims that Democrat elites were raping, murdering, child trafficking pedophiles. Voting for a murdering pedophile does not give voters a feeling of moral superiority. 

Why is Biden’s approval falling?

The economy has been bad for a while. But Biden’s popularity is not tracking with the economy. Biden’s numbers are the lowest they have ever been, even though the economy is better than last year.

So, what is hurting Biden’s numbers?

The bribery scandal and the Israel conflict. 

The more Biden looks like a liar, a rapist, and Hamas terrorist loving, crime lord, the more his support among Americans drops. For the Democrats to win, their candidate must be the virtuous choice. Especially with a bad economy. This is why the left fights so hard to define what virtue is. 

The Path to Electoral Victory is the Moral Path

Stop calling Biden an old man. That makes him look benign. Voters long for benign. And, Biden is not benign. Biden is a tyrant who takes bribes, perverts justice, and backstabs our allies. When Biden is lucid, he is dangerous. When he is not lucid, the people around him turn him into an evil puppet. 

If Republicans want to win in 2024, voters must see them as the more virtuous choice. Democrats must be shown for the corrupt, censoring tyrants that they are. Remember, when you give Democrats power, they use it to kill babies, castrate children, and take voters rights away. 

Make The Left Nazis Again

The Far Left has given Republicans a fantastic opportunity. When the Far Left calls for Jews to be purged “from the river to the sea,” they sound a lot like Nazis. Republicans can’t let them get away with this kind of rhetoric, not only for the sake of the Jews who need a homeland to be safe but for the sake of winning in November. 

The more Republicans call the Far Left “Antisemitic Nazis” the worse the Far Left will look. Plus, when the Far Left inevitably call the Republican nominee a Nazi (which they do every cycle), it will ring hollow. Eventually, voters will start enforcing Godwin’s law, but until they do, the other side must be Hitler. 

Make “Communist” a Meaningful Slur

Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill to turn November 7 into Victims of Communism Day. This is how you achieve moral victory. Few Americans know that communism killed more people in one century than all of the religious wars throughout all of history combined. Communism is not a harmless move toward fairness. It is death, destruction, and evil. Those who call for communism call for evil. Those who vote for communists do evil.  Good virtuous people don’t vote for communists. 

Stand Strong for Life

Moral victory on abortion is critical to long-term success. If Republicans want to win, start calling pro-abortion candidates baby killers. Stop equivocating. Our lack of moral conviction is killing our electability. If Republicans lose, pro-life candidates become rapists telling innocent women what they can do with their bodies. No one wants to vote for a rapist. If Republicans wimp out on abortion, they will sacrifice the moral high ground and any chance for victory long term. Democrats are either baby killers or Republicans are rapists.  There’s no middle ground.

You either win, or you lose. It’s time to start winning.