Liz Peek: America — don’t vote for crazy over normal in the midterms

There’s a reason the Democratic primary in Michigan is getting national attention, and it isn’t because Abdul El-Sayed has a clever plan to make insulin cheaper. He’s the latest test of how far left the party will go, and the answer so far is: pretty far. El-Sayed talks about Medicare for All and abolishing ICE like they’re cost-free slogans, while regular Michiganders are watching their gas bills climb and wondering whether the people running Washington have any idea what that feels like. The midterms are a simple choice: normal or crazy. The crazies are the ones promising free everything and blaming Donald Trump for prices that started climbing before he ever took the oath.

What makes this race worth watching is how it exposes the Democratic split between wanting to win and wanting to prove how progressive they are. El-Sayed is the candidate who makes the case that the party’s future belongs to its most vocal fringe. That might thrill activists in Brooklyn. It doesn’t play as well in the counties that decide Michigan. Meanwhile, the Iran war hawks in the party are suddenly sounding like the same interventionists they spent years mocking. They’re eager to lecture Americans about foreign policy when they can’t even agree among themselves whether inflation is real or just a vibe.

Trump’s economic record is the elephant they can’t talk around. Lower taxes, energy independence, manufacturing gains — those aren’t talking points, they’re numbers that show up in paychecks and factory orders. The left wants to change the subject to Iran because they’ve got nothing to say about affordability. Voters aren’t stupid. They remember life before 2016 and they see what the alternative looks like now. Normal isn’t flashy, but it beats a lecture from someone who thinks a revolution begins in a Michigan state senate seat. America should vote for the boring stuff that works..