Feehery: When the anti-establishment become the establishment 

It is unnerving when the anti-establishment becomes the establishment.  

It used to be said of the two political parties that the Democrats fall in love with their candidates while the Republicans fall in line. 

During COVID-19, it became clear that the Democrats fell in love with falling in line, while conservatives became free thinkers who challenged the establishment line. 

It is hard to pinpoint exactly when the progressive elite started setting the parameters of polite society, but my guess is the transformation started during the Obama administration.  

Comedians could make fun of any Republican they wanted, which was par for the course, but making fun of Barack Obama was not allowed.  

I remember talking to a high-ranking Hollywood studio executive and he literally thought that President Obama was a God. Not the God, mind you. Even better than that.  

When I was growing up, “Saturday Night Live” was the place to go if you wanted to see some truly revolutionary comedy. Now it’s become the house organ of the political establishment — and in the process became unwatchable. 

It perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise that the baby boomers who once were told to turn on, tune in and drop out now are telling everybody else to close schools, mask up, and stay at home. The generation that once hoped to die before it got old is now promising to never die, no matter the damage being done to the younger generations. The aging hippies who once told us to never trust anybody over 30 now have yard signs outside their expensive homes that say “In Fauci We Trust.” 

When podcaster Joe Rogan dared to question to prevailing COVID-19 narrative, Neil Young, the guy who wrote protest songs about the Southern Man, Woodstock and the Kent State massacre, threatened to leave Spotify if it didn’t enforce the establishment line. The ACLU, which once defended the free speech rights of actual Nazis, has now become part of the state’s propaganda machine. You can speak freely, just as long as you don’t offend the new powers that be.  

This election has become a referendum on the new establishment.  

Do people trust whatever President Biden and the left-over organs of the Obama administration have to say, or do they want a check and a balance on the new religionists who proclaim the Gospels of St. Barack and St. Fauci?  

Do they believe that the gray-haired, pony-tailed mask-wearers really have the best interests of our kids in mind?  

Voters now wonder: does this new religion that preaches the police are bad and most criminals need to be released from prison now work to keep the streets safe? 

Does the new monetary theory that preaches the national debt doesn’t matter, that everybody needs free money now, no matter how hard they work, and that capitalism is inherently corrupt really put families in a better financial position? 

How can you trust an establishment that refuses to protect our borders and does nothing to stop the flow of illegal drugs that have the ability to instantly kill our children? 

Sure, this midterm election is a referendum on the performance of Joe Biden, who is not very good at being president and not very popular with the American people. But the stakes in this election are so much higher and more profound than the erratic leadership of a grumpy old man.  

It is a referendum on the new progressive establishment and its radical plans to thoroughly remake the essential character of this country, its constitution and its people.  

The new establishment used to be the anti-establishment. It was better when it had no power to achieve its warped goals. 

Feehery is a partner at EFB Advocacy and blogs at thefeeherytheory.com. He served as spokesman to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), as communications director to former House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and as a speechwriter to former House Minority Leader Bob Michel (R-Ill.).