We could all use something solid. Everything from our currency to culture is shifting. Now comes the GOP’s “Commitment to America.” It has a nice ring. What is this Republican vision document, the GOP blueprint for January 2023 through January 2025? For one thing, it is a real, unapologetically patriotic, focused, and genuinely positive plan – something to be for, in a world of hurt and things to be against.
For another, it reaffirms constitutional, economic law-and-order and accountability priorities dating back to Reagan’s time and Republicans’ 1994 “Contract with America,” both highly successful.
The roadmap is about returning to core values – hope, trusting the people, less government, lower taxes, safe streets, sound economy, solid borders, strong defense, no apologies for America.
If that is not enough, it recognizes that parents raise kids, not administrators, unions, or federal overlords. It speaks to respect for institutions like the Supreme Court, First and Second Amendments, the recent Dobbs decision – reversing Roe v. Wade, and checks-and-balances between branches.
To restore confidence, predictability, and prosperity, it sees citizenship as an honor worth preserving, work as a privilege, liberty key to the Republic, and the Bill of Rights as non-negotiable. Speech, worship, self-defense, travel, and being secure in our homes “against unreasonable searches and seizures,” are pivotal.
Specifically, it is built around four “pillars.” These are “an economy that’s strong,” “a nation that’s safe,” “a future that’s built on freedom,” and “a government that’s accountable.” Behind these pillars are flashing facts: inflation at a 40-year high driven by reckless overspending and a clampdown on energy; record murder, carjacking, violent crime, and drug overdose rates – crashing upward; 3.5 million illegal, unassimilated aliens across the southern border; and abuses of power that test our Constitution.
All this is hard to argue, and – in the old days – would not be argued. The race would be to see which party more fully embraced these common goals of energy independence, a secure economy, dollar low inflation, low interest, high employment, lower taxes, lower crime, drug trafficking, and illegal crossings, and greater transparency with no abuse of power, wild-eyed investigations, or unprecedented invasions.
But we are not in the old days, and one wonders – more or less, daily – what days we are in. The Democrat response to this agenda, a set of priorities that would be embraced by Reagan, Bush 41, and most American presidents, including Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy, is to blast it.
The reaction of Speaker Nancy Pelosi – incredibly – is to call these priorities “an extremist agenda.” Really? So, defunding police, disrespecting borders, destroying our credibility overseas, violating the Constitution, canceling citizen’s speech, criminalizing religious services, threatening Supreme Court justices, deriding decisions, pledging to pack the Court, spending 4 trillion dollars Americans do not have on what they do not want, attacking the energy sector, promoting at-birth abortion, crazy genders, and ending Title 9 are all what? Normal?
I guess the reality is this: Americans need to decide what kind of world they want to live in – the sort Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, and yes, Donald Trump offered as a baseline, regardless of style differences, or the one Pelosi promotes, with runaway inflation, scary levels of crime, illegality of all kinds, no predictability, stability, safety, honor, respect for taxpayers, limits, or accountability.
For my money, family, vote, and two cents, her world is something Orwell, Huxley, and the great dystopian writers warned about that Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, atheists, and neo-communists admire. That is not the future of America most hope to see, not one to which Americans should willingly commit anything. Not everything in this “Commitment to America” will please every voter, but there is enough for everyone, and a great deal in that document reminds us how we got here and why we need to preserve what we know is proven, honest, stable, constitutional, and good. For my nickel, that is solid.
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Where has the GOP been while the Constitution is being trashed and the USA is under attack by socialist leaders?
The time to stand up is always no just before elections!
The Commitment to America is just too vague. There are no attainable goals and we’re not given any specifics on how Republicans will be held accountable to it.
The authors of the Commitment should learn lessons from Newt Gingrich who gave the people of American clear goals and told the people how Republicans were going to get there in the Contract with America.
Of course, we longer past successes to inform us as we move forward as a nation.
One of the things that should be in there is a promise to not vote for Mitch as Majority Leader!
Until I see real action taking place, it is just words on paper, a gimmick to get elected / re-elected. It remains to be seen if the republicans mean what they say….this time. We have heard promises before an election that mysteriously vanished post election.
Did the 1994 “Contract with America” have an expiration date???? What is the expected life span of this proposal? We now have this proposal but what about the delivery of the great sounding pillars? Is the “Commitment to America” just another piece of paper to be waived around when a speech is being made????
To answer your question at the end, at this point towards the end of the campaign process, that is exactly its intended use. As it contains no hard deliverables, it is more a general statement of intended direction. Nothing more. It’s far too late at this point to redo whatever messaging the vast majority of the Republican candidates have been using or re-shoot the TV ads in any significant way. Remember, the second Contract with America was supposed to be unveiled back in April and then the date kept being pushed out to June, then July and finally September. So you are correct that this will simply be something mentioned at the end of speeches at this point.
It seems Newt Gringrich gave up on getting an actually second Contract with America done, because both McConnell and McCarthy wanted to avoid any hard deliverables they would have to commit to. So the best that could be hammered out was this vague, short list of general positions that McCarthy would agree to. McConnell has refused to sign onto even this, so that tells you where Republican congressional leadership stands.
You are right about this. Let’s go back to the principles of the Contract.
The Republican Party needs to get behind America first candidates and get a stiffer spine.
THIS IS A HOPEFILLED MESSAGE AND NEEDS TO BE BROADCAST FAR AND WIDE!
Media pushing about segment in Contract to “Federalize” police??
Finally, I see Republicans using the word “FREEDOM”. This needs to be put out front instead of being buried in the text of their agenda. It should be part of every candidate’s campaign ads and literature. We cannot let the voters forget what the Democrats did over a two-year period to try and limit our Constitutional rights and change the make-up of the Supreme Court just because they disagree with some of the Court’s decisions. I am glad that the Republicans are putting forth the idea of the founders that there are three branches of government, and one is not supposed to try and takeover the others. I wish they would have said that they will attempt to rein in executive orders that go way beyond what the original language of the law that was adopted. Presidents do not make law and they should be held accountable when they refuse to enforce laws, whether or not they agree with them.
Once again i want to state that in November vote as if your freedoms are at stake, because they are!
Well after waiting for 7 months, we finally have a broad outline. No real, hard deliverables, but I guess it is better late than nothing at all at this point. I see McCarthy was willing to sign onto this outline, but McConnell was not. Why am I not surprised by McConnell? He continues to behave like a spoiled child willing to throw the election, because he couldn’t get the list of RINO candidates he wanted past the primary process. With only 42 days to go until election day, I think we’re about as lined up to go as we’re going to get. Now we just have to get it done.
Lots of talking but few details…….the usual from our politicians………we senior citizens have no one in our corner
The obvious lack of details provided at this time may be intentional. Revealing too many particulars and specifics before the mid-terms will only serve to provide specific targets for Democrat and media detractors to more precisely focus their criticism in an attempt to discredit and weaken Republican election boosting efforts.
So your logic is Republicans have to be afraid to state what they actually stand for in a plain and direct manner, because it might upset Democrats and lead them to bash us more than they already do on a daily basis?
House Republicans, via their “Commitment To America” mission statement, have already plainly and directly stated their position(s). What they didn’t elaborate upon, however, were the action steps necessary to achieve the goals that are an integral part of those positions. I believe this was done intentionally for reasons already delineated. (Personally, my logic would have suggested the aggressive pursuit of a more succinct route, but I’m not a politician.)
I agree with you that the Commitment to America is overly vague and lacks any real, measureable metrics to gauge success or failure. In short, it is essentially a vague wish list or statement of values, with nothing tying the Republicans to deliver anything tangible. You can literally read it and completely forget it in 5 minutes, as it essentially says nothing memorable. That is why I used the language I selected in my original comment above. The document was finally delivered, but based on its contents and the late date, it will be completely forgotten within two weeks.
The original Contract with America had some specific deliverables in it that held the Republicans to something the people could see either occurred or failed. It also was announced far earlier in the election cycle and made part of the overall messaging far sooner. That is what Gingrich tried to get both McConnell and McCarthy to commit to this time around as well. Unfortunately, neither McConnell nor McCarthy apparently wanted to be held to anyhting specific. That was obvious by the timeline for the production of this document constantly slipping over the past several months. Which given how both current congressional leaders have behaved over the last few years in their respective positions, it is what I thought would happen. Both McConnell and McCarthy are “go along to get along” types when you scratch below the surface and they just want to continue “business as usual”.
As Mr. Charles reminds us a strong economy, a secure nation, liberty and freedom, and an accountable government are all “pillars” that are needed to make America great again. The feckless Democrats are totally destroying these “pillars”. The treasonous Democrats are MIA. Most of the Democrats are Red China’s greatest enablers. They are actively killing our Constitutional Republic.
Lots of really great rhetoric. The task at hand is putting action behind that rhetoric. Until then…here we are.
You’ve said it,don’t tell me,show me
Yes, here we are indeed.
Hopefully we won’t see the same non-action as before, assuming the GOP gains power!
Will believe the Compact when I see detailed subjects an Repubs with enough backbone to carry them through!
It’s really important to a lot of us that the people who are destroying this country in the current regime are held accountable. Investigate litigate incarcerate. If the GOP leadership is not willing to do that then they need to get out of the way quickly once we regain control of the house so that others can step in and get that done. Wishy-washy Republicans are a thing of the past. We must have Representatives that are willing to stand up for what is right and punish people for doing the wrong thing. That’s what laws are all about.
It is not enough to just replace the elected parties that want our Nation in the chains of communism. The GS worker at all levels must be removed also. If they are allowed to remain in government service the programs that are harming our people shall continue.