The runoff senatorial election in Georgia between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R) is over. For all intents and purposes, so are the 2022 midterms. I have withheld comment until the voting was finished, but now is a good time to share a few thoughts about the results.
The United States Constitution provides a system of checks and balances between three branches of the government, Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. This system safeguards against codifying the whims of popular opinion and the excesses of one-party rule. Following the midterm election, we hope to see that system at work. We want the Republicans to unite together to use their majority in the House of Representatives to limit the immoderate governance we have seen, while the Democrats have controlled all three branches of government.
The string of debacles caused by the Democrats since January of 2021, gave the Republicans an opportunity to decisively defeat them on 6 November. They failed to rise to the occasion, and they need to figure out why before the next national election in 2024.
Things usually happen for more than one reason. In the spirit of attempting to help, I will try to provide these few observations in a respectful way.
Opinion polls taken before the election found that a big majority of voters thought the country was, “headed in the wrong direction.” However, the polls also showed that a majority of voters intended to vote for Democratic candidates. * Still, many Republicans and other conservatives continued to expect a big Republican victory. The reasons for that discrepancy were rationalized and explained away. Perhaps more effort should have been given to finding out what was really going on and correcting it.
The actual vote was fairly evenly divided, but close doesn’t count. The results of the election seem to show that the conservative message was not what voters wanted. The Republican party needs to reexamine the alternatives they are providing or revise the way those changes are being presented.
To win, conservatives should frame their agenda in terms of a positive program of action, rather than opposition to how things are being done now. The people need to be shown how these positive actions will benefit them, rather than to be asked to blindly accept them.
By precinct, the pattern of voting showed that the Democrats continue to prevail in large urban areas, while the Republicans win in the “heartland.” Demographically, the Republican party cannot win elections decisively until they can win in the big cities. The strategy of concentrating campaign efforts toward “getting out the vote” in rural and suburban areas needs to be supplemented by concerted efforts to win in the cities, and in particular among the urban poor.
The old guard establishment of the Republican party must realize that the grassroots of Republican support has changed. If a candidate is selected by the primary election process, that candidate should receive the party’s full support. The party leadership cannot continue to undermine the candidacies of candidates they disagree with. This destructive, internecine warfare within the Republican party has got to stop. If it doesn’t the party cannot win elections, and it cannot govern if it does win.
To American voters in general, there are some things I hope you will think about before the next general election, in 2024. In respectful language, I am rephrasing a famous quote from Albert Einstein to wit: ‘It is not logical to do things the same way over and over and expect a different result.’ You cannot change the “wrong direction” America is headed in by electing Democrats, since they are the ones who got us going the wrong way to start with.
As long as the American voting public continues to elect executives and legislators who think that the way to solve problems is to throw money at them, we will see our great nation continue to decline. If we persist in electing leaders who promise to provide us with a cradle-to-grave socialist nanny-state, we will continue on the path to poverty. Those who want to remake our country in the image of the Social Democratic countries of Europe ignore the fact that they are successful because for the last 70+ years, the United States has provided the lion’s share of the cost of their defense and the defense of freedom around the world.
Hopefully, America will be able to recover from the damage that big spending, big government is causing. We made a mistake on 6 November by not decisively turning things around.
In 2024, let’s vote for win-win trade agreements with our trading partner nations that safeguard the interests of American workers and consumers. We need to vote for a strong national defense and a firm but fair foreign policy. Our immigration laws must be rewritten and then enforced. Our industrial and manufacturing base needs be incentivized to return to the United States. The federal government should encourage economic growth and reduce inflation by reducing taxes and deficit spending. Public education ought to be focused on subjects like reading, writing, mathematics, science, computer literacy, conventional history, geography, music, literature and the trades. It must equip our young people to successfully participate in the economic activity of the United States and the world. Government spending on infrastructure ought to be on improving our electric grid, railways, roads and bridges, and air and seaports. To lower fuel, electric power, and home heating costs, domestic oil, natural gas, and coal production should be regulated by free market demand and not by the government. Americans want their government to keep them and their property safe, and Republicans must provide law and order.
All of these, and more, are positive steps that conservatives offer to improve the quality of life of our citizens. Do you know of more that can be done? Write your senators and congressmen. Let them know. Together, we can get the country moving in the right direction again.
*See our post from 4
November 2022
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