While some political polls are fairly straightforward, others are a little trickier. The Real Clear Politics.com "Right Track" poll this year has consistently shown a 60/40 spread that voters think we are on the wrong track.
Usually, that means bad news for incumbents – as they tend to be the ones driving the train.
But look at the generally favorability for each party, whereas Republicans are showing a 13 percent net unfavorability, Democrats are showing 20%.
Indeed, CNN reported that almost 60% of voters say Democrats have moved too far left. This was the same week that CNN actually held Democrats’ feet to the fire for their criminal opposition to voter ID. (So, is actually doing journalism again!)
Democrats' response to negative polling is usually just to play the race card; we all wish it would be to fix their awful policies. But until they do, we must fix things for them.
Some particularly bad policies Republicans are overturning is the lingering legacy of Biden-era Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan. Under Khan's "leadership," the FTC adopted an aggressive standard of exploiting antitrust to implement the Democrats’ so-called progressive agenda.
Lina Khan is a proponent of replacing the longstanding consumer welfare standard to antitrust law with a "social welfare" standard.
Upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court for the last 50 years of jurisprudence, consumer welfare means the government must prove a company was engaged in anti-competitive activities harmful to consumers.
Khan's approach was simply "Big Is Bad."
Consumer welfare assumes the accused is innocent until proven guilty whereas Khan Democrats took an approach not seen in American since, oh, the Salem Witch Trials.
Indeed, Khan's FTC was "on a mission to have courts vindicate social goals through antitrust statutes," as 2024 Prof. Tom Campbell wrote for the American Bar Association, noting that using the consumer welfare standard over a social welfare standard clearly illustrates its "superiority" for the economy.
Khan loves an outdated Great Depression law, the Robinson-Patman Act to bully companies who offered bulk-pricing discounts to their customers.
(I've written about RPA myself before here.)
Note: virtually every retail company offers lower prices to those who buy in bulk because the free market it’s better for consumers.
This is why people love shopping at Costco, but Khan and other "progressives" don't want you to do that.
On Jan. 17, 2025 — months after voters rejected the Democrats — Khan filed a suit against PepsiCo under the accusation that claimed favored Walmart and other big box stores giants over smaller grocers.
Pepsi – whose delicious diet wild cherry is fueling me as I write this article – was just offering lower prices to Walmart, but the Biden's administration still sued them.
RPA was written to stop monopolies from rigging prices to crush their competitors and thereby harm consumers not to stop companies from competing on price, which is the entire point of the free market.
When I bought a bunch of Pepsi from Costco a couple weeks ago, it didn't harm me – it helped me.
Because the voters chose wisely in 2024, this issue is disappearing.
In a January 2025 dissent on the PepsiCo case, Andrew Ferguson labeled the Pepsi case a "purely political . . . insult to the commission's credibility, its hardworking and talented staff,” and "a waste of taxpayer dollars."
Once Ferguson became FTC chair himself, dismissed the PepsiCo case.
One hopes we will see a similar outcome for Khan's similar suit against Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits, an alcohol distributor that also gives deals to Costco and other stores buying in bulk.
This case is in the headlines because of a motion filed in federal court last week. It looks like this case will be torpedoed as well though.
In her dissent, Commissioner Melissa Holyoak said that "not only does the Complaint fail to identify harm to competition or consumers, the proposed remedy would likely impede price competition and harm consumers."
Alas while Khan is no longer in Washington, she is not sparing the United States her wrath.
She became the co-chair of Zohran Mamdani's mayoral transition team, one supposes she figured if she couldn’t destroy the entire American economy, she'd settled for America's largest city.
It explains why 5,000 businesses have fled New York City in just the last year alone.
This is why 60% of voters who think we’re on the wrong track and that Democrats have gone too far.
Let's hope everyone remembers that this November.
Jared Whitley is a longtime politico who has worked in the U.S. Senate, White House, and defense industry. He has an MBA from Hult business school in Dubai. In 2024 he won the Top of the Rockies Best Columnist award. Read more Jared Whitley Insider articles — Click Here Now.
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