Democrats could meet the same end as the Whigs if they do not support deregulation, according to “Real Time” presenter Bill Maher.
After an alarmingly low popularity rating for Democrats—27%—was revealed in an NBC survey, Maher raised the issue during Friday’s panel discussion.
“I’ve never seen one this bad,” Maher said.
Afterwards, Maher referenced the American Redistricting Project, which predicted that by 2030, Republicans will gain representation in Utah, Idaho, and Texas while Democrats would lose seats in California, New York, Illinois, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Oregon.
This appears to be the end of the road. According to Maher, who spoke with Ezra Klein, a writer for the New York Times and co-author of “Abundance,” about the reasons why people are exercising their right to vote with their feet, a great deal of your book deals with taxes and regulation. I’ve been yelling about it for what seems like an eternity. “How long will it take me to get my solar hooked up?” was a sign I had up here for three years. A span of three years. You would be completely unable to talk about it on television while in this condition!
Of all the states, we pay the highest amount in taxes. Citizens are fleeing these types of regimes in search of ones where they [are] not burdened by the heavy hand of government… The Democrats should know this, yet they refuse to. “They don’t seem to be able to handle it,” he went on to say.
According to Klein, who cited polls showing that people are leaving blue states due to “cost of living” as their reason, Republicans will be able to win the presidency without the blue wall states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan if the gains in red states continue until 2030.
“They are driving people out, working-class families, out of the states they govern because the cost of living is too high,” Klein said, establishing a connection between taxes and regulations. According to him, “But the big problem is they just don’t have enough of the things people need, not enough homes, not enough energy, not a government capable of delivering, and they’ve been treating that as not a real problem.”
As a result of their welcoming climate for residential and energy growth, the liberal journalist continued by praising Texas and its thriving cities, such as Austin and Houston. He pointed out the paradox that renewable energy is thriving in Texas due to deregulation, even if the GOP there is against it.
“We need an Elon Musk who would do to California what he’s doing to the government in a sane way,” added Maher. You need someone to step in here if you have 400,000 rules and regulations and can’t construct a high-speed train that began in 2008. Could you tell me who the left-hander is?”
Answering the question, “The left doesn’t want to deregulate,” Substack writer Andrew Sullivan said. “They just don’t have that instinct to deregulate.”
As a reaction, Maher said, “They’re gonna have to get over it, or they’re gonna be the Whigs,” alluding to the 1850s fall of the Whig Party.