There are a host of issues that the dems are better on (assuming one agrees on what better means), but I don't think they're particularly better on this issue. One can point to pro-privacy outliers on both sides, but we're not likely to get one of them as the final candidate in 2028.
A Democrat has won almost every election since the presidential election [1] [2]. It is a referendum on this administration imho, and based on all available data and evidence, I expect it to continue.
I expect Dems to be better on privacy in this context ("We don't need ALPRs because privacy is more important than faux threats conjured up to sell corporate surveillance to the masses for institutional shareholder returns") because you're more likely to be fear driven as a Republican/conservative (and therefore, support invasion of privacy via ALPRs despite facts and statistics around the risk) due to a larger amygdala (where fear processing takes place) [3] and amygdala–BNST connectivity [4], but of course some Dems will disappoint on this policy topic. You might even be able to suss out confidence in policy implementation using photos of candidates [5], which can predict political orientation (and therefore, brain structure).
[3] Kanai R, Feilden T, Firth C ...
Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults
Current Biology, 2011; 21, 677-680 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2011.03.017
[4] Pedersen WS, Muftuler LT, Larson CL. Conservatism and the neural circuitry of threat: economic conservatism predicts greater amygdala-BNST connectivity during periods of threat vs safety. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2018 Jan 1;13(1):43-51. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsx133. PMID: 29126127; PMCID: PMC5793824.
[5] Kosinski, M., Khambatta, P., & Wang, Y. (2024). Facial recognition technology and human raters can predict political orientation from images of expressionless faces even when controlling for demographics and self-presentation. American Psychologist, 79(7), 942–955. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001295
Dem advantage heading into midterms is highest in 20 years [1]. I am hopeful if democracy is directly attacked during the upcoming election cycle, the attempt will be contained, but agree it remains to be seen and you should have an exit plan if democracy fails.
Mental model: I am sure of nothing. All models are wrong, but some are useful. Better to have a plan and not need it than need it and not have it. Hope alone is not a strategy.
I was thinking regime change along the lines of you gonna get old and croak and be replaced in the voting both by some millenial/Z/alpha that will not repeat your mistake of trying to give the government arbitrary power because their whole lives all they have ever seen is that power come back around in various forms to screw the people.
It will take 10-20 years of election cycles for the cohort replacement you mention to take place. By regime change, I mean the current administration is disempowered.
To note, we did not get here from arbitrary power; we got here due to partisan failure of checks and balances in Congress and SCOUTS. But, to your point, I believe changes will be made to prevent this failure scenario in the future.