If smart, Republicans will catch up on two issues that should most burden Democrats. They will exploit the left's intractable, self-defeating platforms.

To the left, E & E means "Electrify Everything." For the right, E & E should mean Easy Elections.

Republican Es — Energy and Education — could put the Democrat Party's recent momentum into a statewide and national stall. They could make Republicans attractive to the middle class, minorities, the working poor, the poor and the scared-to-be poor.

Start with energy.

Auto executives say the UAW strike could wipe out the American industry and the jobs it provides. They cannot afford to compete with nonunion Tesla and foreign makers under the UAW's elaborate demands that begin with a 36% pay increase and reduced workweek.

Make no mistake, Democratic policies — combined with fantasy deadline goals — led to this strike. Nearly any outcome will exact a toll on workers who inevitably get laid off to pay for it, future workers, middle- and lower-income consumers trying to buy cars and multiple delicate regional economies that depend on auto manufacturing.

Of course, it will mostly harm "people of color" and others who struggle with privation the left calls "income inequality." The strike, if not resolved sensibly, threatens to seal Detroit's fate. Anything that harms Detroit hurts minorities, who comprise 87% of the city's population.

Democratic policies, initiated and pitched by extremists, increasingly harm demographics that long comprised the party's base. It is exactly why Democratic Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, one of the country's promising Black leaders, transitioned to the GOP last week.

Colorado causes homelessness and empty cupboards each time left-wing policies force consumers to fund the overly aggressive electric revolution. The state requires average consumers to pay for electric-car infrastructure and subsidize the wealthy buyers of battery cars.

For families driving clunkers, as inflation erodes their earnings, it amounts to distress imposed by privileged activists looking down on them. Anyone who does not grasp this should visit the working poor in any of Colorado's working-class communities.

Make no mistake, "Electrify Everything" led to the UAW strike and threatens the electric revolution Democrats hold dear.

The Biden administration subsidizes the transition through the "Inflation Reduction Act." To meet the act's emissions goals, two-thirds of new vehicles will be electric within nine years.

"Union demands would force Ford to scrap its investments in electric vehicles," said Ford CEO Jim Farley, as quoted by TechCrunch. Farley said the UAW is forcing a choice of "rewarding workers or going out of business."

Therein lies part of the left's conundrum. Democratic politicians favor unions and electric cars, the latter of which makes union demands impossible to meet. It's a collision course.

Education presents another should-be downward spiral for left-wing politicians. Teachers unions are a major Democratic constituency. Because the unions oppose charter schools and educational choice generally, Democrats cannot get on the center-right's populist movement toward revolutionizing a one-size-fits-all education system that fails too many children.

The upper-middle-class and wealthy can afford private schools. That makes Democratic opposition to educational freedom a direct affront to minority, middle- and low-income households who desire the same privilege. Republicans should promise a system that wastes no child's mind.

A family's inadequate income should never limit a child's future. Given the left's affinity for "equity," they could join Republicans in the fight to liberate children. Because of unions, they can't.

Energy and education offer center-right candidates a sustainable advantage over union-constrained opponents — but only if they use it. By leveraging the Es, with policies that elevate humanity and the country's future, the right could win on compassion with the left's traditional base.

The Gazette Editorial Board

REPRINTED FROM THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE

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