Vote for Congress, Grocery Costs – American Family Association of Indiana
A Quick Decision
As you know, 2nd District Congresswoman, Jackie Walorski died in a tragic car accident which also took the lives of three other people. I knew Jackie very well. I could write a lot about her time as a legislator in the Indiana House of Representatives where we worked closely on several issues. She was a great leader who deserved every remembrance and good things said about her following her passing.
I saw a photo from her funeral of a banner that was quite touching and appropriate. It showed her birth date, her picture, and then the day she passed with the word “perfected” above the date. Jackie had been a missionary to Romania before entering politics and she was a follower of Jesus Christ.
This Saturday Republican Precinct Committee Members from the district will gather to select a replacement to fill out the remainder of Jackie’s term in the US House. One of the people in the photo I attached below will have to hit the ground running in more ways than one. In less than three months, that person will also need to have put together a re-election campaign for November. These are two monumental tasks in a very short amount of time. PC’s will need to pick a strong, capable candidate to represent their district and vote right in very difficult times and then be a skilled voice during a heated election season.
One offbeat reason I chose to include the photo at the bottom is that I was struck by the youthfulness of these individuals. (Only three of them have held public office, with one having held both local and statewide offices.) Perhaps this is a sign of my getting older. College kids all look like middle school students to me now. When members of Congress start looking young to me, it won’t be long before I wonder what my social security benefits will look like and what kind of restaurant discounts seniors get.
From left to right, candidates are Former Attorney General and County Prosecutor, Curtis Hill; attorney and grad student, Tiernan Kane; Former State Representative Christy Stutzman, outgoing State Representative Curt Nisly, and campaign finance director Rudy Yakym.
It is hard to predict who may win this Saturday, which is an incredibly short period of time for such a high-level race. Such caucuses are very unpredictable and can swing on any number of factors. (Some in the media have been quick to point to certain negatives among all these candidates, which reflects the day and age in which we live. Someone, perhaps Rush Limbaugh, once described this as “the gotcha media.”)
It might not hurt to pray for this caucus vote on Saturday. There will be two votes, among two different sets of overlapping PC’s because of redistricting. One vote will be to fill the seat until the end of the year. The other vote will be to replace Jackie’s name on the November ballot. It would be politically wise, in my view, for both choices to be the same person. It would be unusual for it not to happen that way, though it is possible.
The 2nd district is likely to remain in Republican hands, as it has slowly changed over the years from a toss-up to a Republican-leaning district. (Jackie lost by 1% and then won by 1% in her first two federal campaigns. Two years ago, she won the district by 23%.)
Grocery Shopping is Painful for Americans
My wife and I have both lamented that going grocery shopping today is flat-out depressing. It is hard to believe reports that inflation is only 9% when it seems many grocery item prices shoot up more than this from week to week. Then, to add to this, finding a specific brand item can be a fool’s errand.
A new poll from Rasmussen finds that 89% of American adults say they are paying more for groceries now than a year ago. Two-thirds (63%) say they have changed their eating habits because of increasing food costs. That percentage is up from 55% in April. More lower-income Americans say they have had to change their eating habits than those making over $200,000.
In June a YouGov/CBS News poll found that 61 percent of Americans say the price of food is affecting them “a lot,” followed by 29 percent who say it is affecting them “some.”
Inflation is at a 40-year high. Even so, 61% of those polled by Rasmussen say they expect the amount they spend on groceries to be even worse a year from now.
Speaking of high costs and everyday life, by now, you may not be too surprised to learn that two-thirds of the people in the Biden Administration (including the President) who handle economic issues have no meaningful business experience outside of government.
How Low Can They Go?
A new Gallup poll reveals that Americans’ confidence in media, to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly, has hit an all-time low with a 5-point drop in confidence for print and television media in just the past year.
Only 16% of Americans say that they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspapers. Even less, 11% say they have this much confidence in television news. In fact, most Americans, 53%, now say they have very little or no confidence at all in TV news.
There are some differences among political breakdowns, though no group shows anything close to majority levels of confidence. Only 24% of Republicans and 28% of independents and 38% of Democrats say they have confidence in newspapers. Democrats have the most confidence in TV news, but it is only 20% among them, with only 8% of Republicans and independents expressing confidence in television news reporting.
In Their Own Words:
“Let me control the textbooks, and I will control the state.” – Adolph Hitler
US HD 2 Candidates
