This could be an enormous year for Republicans for a hidden reason. Yes, if Democrat congressional retirements continue, if Biden remains unpopular, if Democrats keep drifting left, November could mean a route. But the bigger issue is what that means – for 2024.
First, look at Democrat retirements, a cascade. Already 18 Democrat House members are leaving, another eight not running for reelection. Many are seniors, including the Chairs of the Transportation, Science, and Budget Committees.
Why is that happening? Because they see writing on the wall, want out before that wall falls on them. What writing? Biden’s poll numbers for one, and their party’s left lurch for another.
Biden’s popularity is near record lows. A Rasmussen poll last week shows total approval at 38 percent, disapproval of 60 percent, strongly disapproves of 49 percent. That is abysmal in year one. See, Biden Approval Index History.
Meantime, Democrat leadership is captive to the Hard Left, those pushing race riots, wild socialist bills, overspending, defunding police, downsizing the military, Marxist “Critical Race Theory,” anti-energy independence, open borders, flipping state-level electoral integrity laws, pushing cancel culture, mandates, transgender sports. All this infuriates centrist voters.
The bigger picture is this: If Republicans win the House or Senate, they need to act. Winning Congress stops Biden’s crazy lurch left but it is only half the battle. To win the day, restore the country to common sense, less hysteria, more ballast, and centrism, the mission is bigger.
Needed is forethought on what to do with power, once secured. A Republican Congress – unless veto-proof margins – can only stop bad ideas, so must prepare for 2024.
The goal must be to think ahead, set up 2024 wins in the House and Senate, as well as the White House, for more than holding power and preventing leftism. The idea must be framing and advancing positive, meaningful, all-American legislation, what most Americans really want.
Needed is a clear, forward-looking agenda, a thoughtful, honest, historically rooted, liberty-centric empowerment of people, something that lays the foundation for a big 2024 win.
If the GOP can shape policies for 80 percent of the country – economic, public safety, cultural, foreign, national security, and elevating personal liberty, they can get a whopping win in 2024.
How is this to be done? One idea – which helped in the mid-1990s and informed the 2000s, was the Contract with America, ten priorities that returned government to the people, with wide agreement. A majority behind a new Contract with America could be decisive, saving America.
What might go into it? The list is long. Basics might include holding the government accountable, ending public corruption, restoring law and order, fiscal discipline, lowering taxes, halting overregulation, freeing markets to clear and prosper, lowering our national debt.
Other ideas include incentivizing US businesses to “decouple” from China, diversify supply chains, restore energy independence, reduce cancel culture, high tech, and restore free speech, plus stop federal intrusions on education, religion, diversity of ideas, and the military.
As Ronald Reagan and others demonstrated – with presidents of both parties – if you have the core ideas, stick with them, believe firmly in them – and they resonate, you bind wounds, unify, help the country to prosper. When we lose sight of the ideas and respect for history, we flounder.
So, time is now to think long term, win the day in 2022 – and with integrity convert that win to a bigger win in 2024, using a new Contract with America. Winning power is not enough. It must be used to restore respect for life, liberty, prosperity, and the pursuit of happiness. So, let’s begin!
Does everyone think we can make it another 3 years with these brainless democrats in charge? Trump did not have enough time to fix the damage from obama and now we have the same thing again with biden and his clowns.
Needs fixing now. 2024 will be too late as they will find a different way to steal an election.
The biggest “if” is if state legislatures don’t “fix” what cost Republicans the Presidentcy!
For a long time, I’ve thought a new Conservative Proclamation was needed to unite us and to lay out a blueprint for real progress in America for every American. Perhaps a reminder of this sort is needed every generation. Quid pro quo–there must be consequences for not following the blueprint. Otherwise, no one will be held to account when those promises vanish in the dust with the next pandemic, recession, global conflict…you name it, politicians have used every excuse in the book.
President Trump’s promise to repeal several regulations for each new one introduced is a good start. Committing to whittling down the national debt by dedicating certain revenues to the purpose is another. Protecting Americans and our allies overseas will put the great back into Make America Great Again. We’ve become the laughing stock of the world thanks to the current weak and incompetent president and his cabinet leaders.
A clear and sensible vision of this country’s future should calm the angst between the 2 main parties and provide the security we crave. If only the MSM will get on board instead of fomenting strife all the time. I’m very optimistic about the outcomes in 2022 and 2024. Please, candidates, don’t mess it up!
Unless Dominion is dealt with, don’t even think about 2024.
Lots of “ifs” in this article. The two “ifs” you left out of this rosy scenario is “if” ALL the states ensure that a repeat of the voting practices of 2020 are NOT repeated, via the necessary state legislation enacted to prevent it via the midterms and beyond. The second “if” is that the Republican Party radically needs to step up its current lethargic campaigning.
So far the first one, securing the vote, is way behind schedule and the pace of state legislatures still needing to get this done needs to speed up as the cut-off date for making such changes ahead of the midterms is rapidly approaching. Otherwise, the bid landslide you’re hoping for may not materialize in both chambers of Congress.
As for the second, so far Congressional Republicans are not offering anything substantial as a reason to vote FOR them. They all come on TV or give print interviews and just say how bad Biden and the Democrats in Congress are and how history has shown that the party in the minority always picks up congressional seats. We shouldn’t be relying on history when substantial parts of the country are still going to be pushing mail-in balloting. Congressional Republicans also need to offer a positive vision, with some real, tangible commitments, to the American people and it has to be what ALL Republicans are running on. Yes, a unified message as much as that might offend some. Kim below suggests a sort of new Contract for America, although given the squishy style of McConnell and McCarthy, that might be expecting a little too much. Neither one speaks or acts as forcefully as Newt Gingrich did back in 1994. So a consistent verbal message will have to do.
Do we have a good chance to win back both chambers of Congress in 2022? YES. However, we shouldn’t think it is either a slam dunk or some kind of cake walk, where the Republicans don’t have to put in any real effort. Democrats will be pulling out every dirty trick they know to try to hang onto Congress this year. We have to work smart to ensure they don’t succeed.
I think a lot of people think 2024 will fix this. It won’t. The Repubs are happy to be rid of Trump who made them all look bad and they have really not made much of an effort to fix 2020. Why would anyone think they will ever win any election again? The cheating has been shown in many States. Ho Hum from Congress. We saw cheating on TV from surveillance videos. Ho Hum again. NO ONE has been held accountable. The States are slow walking any possibility of indictments and the Democrats now know they can cheat their asses off and no one will hold them accountable. Federal election Interference is a crime. Is anyone in jail yet? Nope.
How can We the People be so clueless to imagine we will EVER win again? The massive cheating was right out in the open and the Dems got a pass. Why will 2024 be different?
Welcome to the United Soviet Socialist States of America.
The reference to the Book of Daniel 5:5 is almost always misstated. What caused apoplexy in the Babylonian king was not the writing, but the hand writing on the wall–which he rightly interpreted as divine judgement.
Newt G says that a new Contract with America is percolating among Republican reps and we’ll see something before the end of the summer. I hope he is correct, and that it has a net positive spin.
I forwarded this to Facebook and hope they not only read it but subscribe.
Thank you, Mr Charles , for this straightforward article with excellent foresight. A breath of fresh air! I do hope those in Congress and those hoping to win come November will take all of this to heart. It will be a real winner!!
Left, Right, Voting, CRT, Defund the police, boys can be girls all a distraction to keep us pitted against each other. No election can fix this, the family unit must be fix first. Until then this fall will continue something Evil is in charge it must be purged, paper money backed by a printer, hopefully people realize this cov-19 was there social security fix. This must be fixed at the local levels thru Faith in our Creator.
Excellent statement in a few words. Yes, can we lead if and when we get the chance and how will we do it ? The dims have learned that they are too divided to lead. They have no consensus. Progress does not mean “progressivism”. Progress means attaching a huge majority of your own party to a significant number of independents so that a consensus is formed. Biden’s failure is extremism. A change cannot consist of super-conservatism or liberalism. Change must be balanced or nothing happens. That’s how we work and its how it should be.
We as a nation must brace ourselves to hit the brakes hard, then make an honest and open minded evaluation of where we are and where we are going. As we do this we will realize that as that well known song states “We were lost but now we are found, we were blind but now we see”, then we must make a sharp U turn and get back to our founding principles in our faith, morals, family values, and overall culture, otherwise we are following in the footsteps of the Romans, and we all know how that turned out.
Newt would be a great running mate for Trump in 2024