The Democrat-media complex has glommed onto a new narrative that joins the ranks of past cliches that they’ve tried to exploit for political purposes. Others that have lost their usefulness to the Democrat Party over the years include “for the children” (Shrillary’s call to action from the 1980s until forgotten about by 2000), “change we can believe in/yes, we can” (Obama’s lies in 2008 that led to the horribly divisive changes he wrought on the body politic that continue today under the DEI construct), Shrillary’s 2012 “war on women” (more divisive Democrat identity politics), “save our democracy” (the Shrillary-Biden-Harris refrain that turned out to be the exact opposite given the stolen 2000 election), and the horrible “defund the police” refrain repeated endlessly by Democrats – including 2024 presidential standard-bearer Kamala Harris – from June 2020 through the 2024 elections.
Their new political narrative is “affordability.” This emerged as a dominant Democratic political messaging strategy in 2025, particularly during last month’s off-year elections. It marked a deliberate pivot from culture-war debates and ideological fights that have dominated Democrat messaging for 30+ years (especially “identity politics”) toward so-called “kitchen-table” economic concerns thought to resonate better with voters.
Democrats apparently think that the high grocery prices about which most people complain these days afford them an opportunity to set the political narrative in 2026 to help them regain control of Congress by claiming without a shred of evidence of proposed coherent policies that they can “do something about that.” And they recently announced that they were going to put some serious money into gaslighting the rest of us about that narrative.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation on 25 November, note the headline (emphasis added): “As Grocery Prices Remain High, Democrats See Opening And Plan To Spend Eight Figures Wooing Certain Demographics”:
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced a “historic eight-figure investment” into outreach to non-white voters and rural voters Tuesday. The initiative, titled “Our Power, Our Country,” will “center its efforts on organizing, educating, engaging, and communicating to [Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI)], [b]lack, Latino, and rural communities in competitive battleground districts – both offensive and defensive – key to flipping the House majority,” according to the DCCC.
What nonsense!
The fact of the matter is this: grocery prices have been inexorably rising with inflation FOREVER (well, at least since the US abandoned the gold standard in 1971. This was especially true with the big inflation spike that happened during the Biden regime, which was directly caused by cockamamie Democrat economic and fiscal policies with the predictably disastrous results. Keep in mind that Democrats didn’t talk about “affordability” during those years!
Grocery prices almost NEVER go down. The only thing that is (poorly) managed by the federal government is the rate of inflation and taxation which adds or subtracts costs from the food supply chain.
Let’s examine the issue further.
JUST THE FACTS, MA’AM
The graphic below tracks the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) for “Food at Home” (grocery store purchases), using 1982-84=100 as the base. Data is annual averages from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This shows how grocery prices have evolved, with notable spikes during the 2008 financial crisis, 2020–2022 pandemic/inflation surge (up ~25% from 2019–2022), and the misguided and completely misnamed “Inflation Reduction Act” that spiked inflation in 2022-2023. As of September 2025, the index stands at approximately 311.5 (up 2.7% year-over-year).
This chart illustrates a steady upward trend, with cumulative inflation of about 70% over 25 years (from ~120 in 2000 to ~204 in 2025). For context, $100 in groceries in 2000 would cost about $170 today. Data sourced from BLS via FRED and USDA ERS reports.
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Note that no presidency – Republican OR Democrat – has ever been able to significantly lower grocery prices for Americans without the fool’s gold of massive federal subsidies and/or artificially low federal interest rates (both of which contribute directly to inflation over time). In reality, based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Price Index (CPI) for “Food at Home” (grocery purchases), grocery prices have rarely declined over the past 60 years. The CPI index has shown an overall upward trend, with annual average increases averaging ~3–4% during this period, driven by factors like commodity costs, energy prices, and supply chain dynamics.
It is disingenuous for the Democrats to claim that they can magically “make groceries more affordable” if Americans will just trust them with their votes in 2026. Do they actually think we’ve learned nothing from the Biden years? After all, their tax and spend policies to which they have been wedded for 80+ years are the main engines of inflation. Note that the worst spike in that chart occurred during the Biden regime, and the commie Democrats would deliver more of the same if they were to steal control of Congress in 2026 and/or the White House in 2028.
In short, the “affordability” narrative they are trying to sell is a bald-faced lie.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
The wholly manufactured focus on “affordability” was a post-2024 political recalibration after getting shellacked by President Trump. Democrats, burned by inflation critiques that were supported by plenty of direct evidence, shifted from the standard Democrat fare of “incremental change” to voter-centric narratives like affordability that are aimed at boosting turnout among youth, minorities, and suburban women.
However, critics like economist Paul Donovan warn it’s “slippery” and anti-incumbent—easy to promise but hard to deliver, potentially haunting Democrats in power. As one strategist noted, “Saying ‘affordability’ over and over doesn’t guarantee good policy outcomes.” And that is particularly true when the Democrats have proposed no concrete economic and fiscal policies that would actually lead to a lowering of the cost of groceries and everyday expenses. Heading into 2026, the affordability narrative is being positioned as the Democrats’ “new winning formula,” but sustaining it amid tariffs and deficits and the lack of any credible track record in fighting inflation will be a tough sell.
The big problem for Democrats is that Biden-era fiscal choices drove cumulative grocery inflation to about 25% from 2019–2022, outpacing wage growth and eroding household purchasing power by roughly 3–4% in real terms during the height of the crisis. The groceries index grew from 261 in January 2020 to 335 in January 2025 – the largest 4-year rise in American history. This is the real reason for the “affordability problem,” and that’s all on the Democrats! They CREATEDthe affordability problem that we are all experiencing and are trying to fool enough voters into believing that only they can “fix the problem” while hiding the dirty little secret that they created the problem in the first place.
Finally, note that through September 2025, year-on-year grocery inflation was 2.7%, down from 2022’s 13.5% peak. Thank the Trump administration and the Republican Congress for that, not congressional Democrats who have voted almost unanimously against every Trump policy initiative since January.
Who in their right mind wants to trust the Democrats on the affordability issue in 2026?
The end.
This article originally appeared in Stu Cvrk’s Substack. Reprinted here with permission
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