It goes without saying that Republicans are looking to make major numbers gains in this fall’s congressional midterm elections, yet there’s a tangible sense of worry among many
conservatives that the multitude of predictions regarding the formulation of a “red wave” aren’t frequently accompanied by a great deal of confidence from the speakers of the boast.
Peruse the political headlines these days and there’s usually some optimistic establishment media liberal presenting an argument for smaller GOP returns than forecasted due to invisible factors like candidate quality or an undetectable voter enthusiasm gap. They say things like, “Democrat voters will be energized by the women’s constitutional rights stifling Dobbs decision,” or, “Gas prices have dropped a dollar a gallon in the past few weeks, so the public’s anger will be considerably assuaged by Election Day.”
And then there are the inevitable snide cracks by arrogant liberals such as, “Gee, those stupid Republicans nominated unelectable rightwing racist nuts (translation: Trump-backing outspoken conservatives) in certain primaries, throwing open the door for Democrats to insert their foot and possibly steal or retain a seat that they otherwise would’ve lost.”
Democrats never, ever opt for crackpots in their primaries, do they?
Regardless of the hype, one can’t help but think the real public relations injuries Republicans have sustained in the lead-up to the midterms were self-inflicted. It’s not who the voters selected in primaries that’s doing the damage to the party brand as much as the RINOs in Congress forgetting who they are once again. These spineless losers are essentially surrendering without a fight. The only question is whether conservative voters will punish the whole party for the failures of a comparative few by not showing up when the moment arrives.
It's almost as though Republicans go out of their way to fall on their own swords.
In a piece titled, “Why Republicans are having trouble closing the deal with the 2022 midterms”, Michael McKenna wrote at The Washington Times:
“There has been a wealth of survey data developed in the last few months that indicate that the House and Senate races are much closer than expected. Just last week, the Cook Report reduced the projected net Republican gains in the House from 35 to as little as 15. Each close Senate race shows an advantage for the Democratic incumbent or the Republican challenger leading but within the margin of error.
“This is despite the broad and deep national consensus that Democratic rule has been terrible. The president has been underwater in surveys since the debacle in Afghanistan last August and has never recovered his footing.
“The logical and unhappy conclusion from the survey data? While no one likes the Democrats (not even the Democrats), the Republicans are having trouble closing the deal with the public because voters remain unconvinced that they will be much different. Given recent votes, one can hardly blame them.”
Ouch. This is what’s known in today’s political parlance as a stinging rebuke or fighting words, a pungent dose of reality forced down the throats of Republican leadership without a water chaser to help it through the narrow spots. If, as Mary Poppins crooned, “a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down”, then GOPers just took the pills with a cup of sand instead.
And Republican voters’ skepticism is well deserved. In his piece, McKenna pointed to two recent congressional votes – the one in the House last week where 47 Republicans voted with every single Democrat to overturn the effectively dormant Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) enacted in 1996, and, the other in the senate where 17 GOP senators joined with the Democrat leadership to move the Nancy and Paul Pelosi benefitting CHIPS Act, which is little better than corporate welfare for the semiconductor industry along with a huge slice of pork included for Democrat supporting constituencies such as the federal bureaucracy and academia.
These “Republican” turncoats aren’t conservatives, they’re poll watching scaredy-cats who shrink from a challenge and worry incessantly that the Democrats are more popular than they are. There isn’t much concentration on the big picture for the purveyors of fear; they’re much more likely to be punished by bad votes than rewarded by good ones.
McKenna argues that Republicans aren’t providing conservative voters much of anything to be excited about these days, and who can fault the folks in the hinterlands? Hypothetically speaking, politicians are sent to Washington to advocate for the people who voted for them as well as to keep a watchful and responsible eye on the government’s purse strings.
The Republican outcasts who were suckered into, or willfully joined with, Democrats to vote for what amounts to unfettered permission for liberal blue states to enact whatever marriage rules they feel like (polygamy? Marriage between minors? The virtual elimination of religious objections to gay marriage?) as well as irresponsible and bloated federal spending… well, they’re not carrying through with what they were sent to the capital to do.
Unfortunately, these submissions aren’t a new phenomenon. Some Republicans routinely ignore principles and common sense to gain favor with liberal Democrats and the establishment media. They fear this fall’s not-yet-conceived attack ads that always appear whenever a legislator stands up to the “woke” outrage mob. Imagine being accused of working against homosexual marriage. You intolerant cretin! Haven’t you seen the polls? Americans (supposedly) overwhelming accept same-sex unions now! Can’t you sway with the times?
So what if some wedding florist or cake baker in state x refuses to violate his conscience and is sued for tens of thousands of dollars by vindictive leftists who are only interested in revenge and example setting? In these instances, there are more than enough business people who would gladly welcome those who were turned away as customers, but the vindictive souls won’t settle for taking “yes” for an answer. They want blood.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a core group of Republicans in both chambers who are willing to give the leftist screamers what they want. Rather than banding together to continue to oppose the Democrats’ disastrous policies, they capitulate when steadfastness is needed most. What would any Republican gain by codifying the wrongly decided Supreme Court decision that defied dozens of state laws to impose same-sex marriage on all of us?
Needless to say, there were no religious freedom protections included in the Democrats’ “woke” same-sex bill, practically leaving individuals of good conscience to fend for themselves against the lawsuits that will inevitably result. Will Bible-adhering churches be sued because they refuse to conduct gay weddings? It’s hard to fathom in twenty-first century America that we’re still fighting for basic freedom of belief after all this time.
It's often mentioned that safeguards for religious freedom were placed first in the constitutional amendments because, along with rights such as freedom of speech, the press, to petition the government for redress of wrongs and freedom to associate, freedom of religion was right there as a bedrock of a liberty-based society. The Founding Fathers resented the notion that the government should tell anyone what to believe or say. At the very least, such a prohibition is unenforceable. Yet Congress, including a great many Republicans, is doing just that.
By the same token, conservatives also didn’t send Republican senators to Washington with the idea that subsidizing particular industries with taxpayers’ dollars was a good idea. The last thing that government should do in an economic sense is pick winners and losers. Everyone knows the federal government has grown way too large – and the bureaucracy way too powerful – so to go all-in on the CHIPS Act, no matter how innocent or good the intentions might be, only encourages more lobbyists, more special interest contributions (bribes?) and more corruption.
Last time I checked, the GOP was supposed to be the party of traditional American values – like marriage is between one man and one woman – and limited government when it comes to spending a quarter of a trillion dollars (like the CHIPS Act would cost). There’s simply no way to determine where the cash is being directed. That’s bad for all of us.
These aren’t difficult concepts, yet we end up mulling over them way too often. Maybe instead of – or in addition to – publishing long white papers full of policy prescriptions, conservative organizations would do well to print simple notecards congress people could carry around that say, “Don’t do something stupid! Midterms are on the way!”
Sadly, without these simple reminders, the RINOs’ actions only seek to prove McKenna’s point – that Republicans are having trouble “closing the deal” on these once-in-a-generation political opportunities to wipe the Democrat party from the face of the earth. McKenna is right – voters aren’t wild about Senile president Joe Biden, but they’re not taking to wishy-washy phony Republicans either.
You can see it in the polls. No wonder establishment media liberals are so hopeful that Election Day in November won’t be as depressing for them as everyone says it will be.
Why aren’t the Republicans introducing bills that deal with the real issues of the day, such as inflation, illegal immigration and energy production? Even if this legislation has no chance of passing now, it could be considerably easier in 2023. Then the Republican Party might actually stand for something, and “closing the deal” on 2024 will be that much simpler. Food for thought.
Joe Biden economy
inflation
Biden cognitive decline
gas prices,
Nancy Pelosi
Biden senile
January 6 Committee
Liz Cheney
Build Back Better
Joe Manchin
RINOs
Marjorie Taylor Green
Kevin McCarthy
Mitch McConnell
2022 elections
Donald Trump
2024 presidential election