As we approach the 2018 midterms, there is great anticipation as to whether we'll see the reported blue wave being touted by pollsters and media acolytes or Republicans will hold our ground in the House and Senate.

If fundamentals were even a modest indicator, we could feel confident that we would hold both houses.  The economy is humming, unemployment is at record levels, consumer and corporate confidence are at all-time highs, domestic safety (from terrorism) is much improved from a couple of years ago, and foreign affairs have taken a tack that portends to bode well for America generally and Americans specifically.  By almost all accounts, Americans are better off than they were two years ago.

But, like I said, if fundamentals were even a modest indicator.  They're not.

Force of narrative and emotion have taken over where facts and reason (and sanity) once stood.  There are five socio-political macro-hurdles that are working against our success in November, into 2020 and beyond.

1.  The Media Industrial Complex
2.  Technology and Social Media Platforms
3.  Election Integrity and Voter Manipulation/Intimidation
4.  Education
5.  Free Stuff

The advantage for the left is, as a collective, once their elites determine a path forward and marching orders disseminated to the mass of social justice warriors, media sycophants, tenured professors, unthinking drones, and election committees, they all work together to pull in exact same direction.  I've often said there is nothing (read: nothing) the left won't do to reclaim seats of power.  If we think leftists are insufferable now, wait until they reclaim said seats of power.

While Republican candidates and political consultants focus (almost) solely on their messaging and why they're better candidates than candidate B, leftists have (for decades) bored themselves into the myriad streams that feed the voter pool.  The left deposits its refuse, and we then try to find unadulterated voters from the contaminated pool.

Here's how the above listed streams are being infiltrated, and how if we don't counter them now, we are doomed.  

The Media Industrial Complex

The drumbeat of nonsense emanating from leftist media is nauseating, but sadly, for many, it is effective.  Yesterday, it was #BelieveHer.  When that petered out, it morphed into President Trump, through Jared Kushner, put a hit on a[n American] journalist to serve his business interests.  Now it is transitioning to the (bogus) humanitarian crisis at Mexico's southern border.  

Shouldn't CNN and MSNBC be required to register as political organizations if 99% of their pre-election advocacy benefits the DNC?

Technology and Social Media Platforms

Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, et al.  Each and every one of these platforms is working against our interests.  Facebook and Twitter are banning and shadow-banning conservatives.  Google has manipulated its algorithms to return leftist-favored search results.  How can a citizen be truly informed if there is obvious bias in the content being fed to them on a daily basis?

Election Integrity and Voter Manipulation and Intimidation

The legitimacy and integrity of our election systems are highly suspect.

California and Illinois have issued IDs that could theoretically allow illegal aliens to vote.  Texas Democrats have been caught red-handed (no disrespect to Elizabeth Warren) handing out registration forms with citizenship boxes pre-checked.

Voter integrity throughout the country has been suspect for generations.  A report issued last year showed that the "U.S. Has 3.5 Million More Registered Voters Than Live Adults – A Red Flag For Electoral Fraud."

As to voter intimidation, we all recall the Black Panthers blocking polling places in Philadelphia in 2008.  As we watch Barack Obama rally his constituents – Black Lives Matter and Antifa – by any means necessary, do not think for a minute that we won't see this type of effort again – if not in 2018, surely in 2020.  Count on it.

Education

Progressives ingeniously infiltrated our education system a century ago.  A 2016 study found that liberal professors outnumbered conservative professors 12:1.

Inculcation of liberal thought is now being pushed into K-12 classrooms, with "diversity" and LGBTQ lessons being hoisted upon students, often against parental wishes.

How can we overcome the barrage of "leftist thought" being forced down the throats of our most vulnerable?  As Vladimir Lenin quipped, "[g]ive me just one generation of youth, and I'll transform the whole world."

Free Stuff

Who doesn't want free stuff?

Free health care?  Sure, why not?

Free tuition?  Where do I sign up?

Free or subsidized housing?  Yeah!

Universal basic wage?  A thousand dollars per month of free money.  Whom do I need to vote for to get this?

This past week, Kamala Harris proposed giving all poor and middle-class people $6,000 per year.  As many don't know where government money comes from, they will think this money grows on trees.

While we (attempt to) caution our Millennial minds of mush (hat tip: Rush Limbaugh) of the dangers of socialism (or democratic socialism), all they hear is the utopian vision of free stuff.  Students want free college.  The elderly want free health care.  The middle-aged want free or subsidized housing.  Everyone would take $1,000 a month to sit on his duff.

While we understand where this "free stuff" leads (see Venezuela), our reasoning and historical perspective are being drowned out.

With lying media, manipulative social media platforms, voter integrity and intimidation, mass centers of indoctrination, and the promise of free stuff, we will have many hurdles to overcome going into the midterms and beyond.  I pray that we have the stamina and wherewithal to run the race and claim victory.  The hurdles, win or lose, will only get worse.