GOP on Autopilot Doesn't Guarantee Midterm Win

For the sake of the country, it’s time to take a hard, long, honest look at the upcoming midterm elections.

I’m afraid the GOP has gone into autopilot.

I’m afraid we’ve assumed that just because Biden is such a terrible president, people will automatically vote for good, conservative candidates.

It’s not true.

Polling confirms it isn’t true: according to recent data from The Trafalgar Group and Convention of States Action, a majority of voters believe Republicans have not made a strong enough case as to why they deserve support in the 2022 midterm elections.

Cautiously, Democrats are already beginning to celebrate. They aren’t out of the woods yet, of course. But many are quietly touting the idea that the highly anticipated “Red Wave” is a mirage.

“No matter the indicator,” The New York Times observed, “it’s hard to see the once-clear signs of a Republican advantage.”

The red flags are everywhere. In multiple special congressional elections, Democrats have fared better than Biden did in 2020. Their Republican opponents, by extension, have underperformed Trump — an uncomfortable metric for red wave-hopefuls.

Speaking of Trump, his endorsed candidates are everywhere falling behind in key congressional and gubernatorial races. In Alaska — a state Trump easily won in 2020 — for example, former GOP vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin lost her House race.

Polling suggests Trump-backed Senate candidates seem poised to suffer similar fates in Arizona, Ohio and Pennsylvania as well.

For those of us who want to see Biden’s radical agenda stopped in its tracks, now is the time for one of two things: pointing fingers or quickly pulling together a new, bold plan for winning back cynical voters.

Is it Trump’s fault GOP candidates are underperforming? Maybe. Are Lindsey Graham and his suddenly announced desire for a national 15-week abortion ban to blame? Some seem to think so.

Regardless of who — or what combination of factors — is at fault for less than impressive Republican performances, we don’t have time to throw stones. Doing so will only further deter already disheartened voters.

Instead, Republicans must prove they actually have something to offer. They must candidly admit that Republicans, especially in Congress, are infamously good at chalking up just how pro-Constitution, pro-limited government they are — only to fall in line with the rest of the big government crowd.

These so-called friends of the little man pay lip service to our pleas to get the government off our backs. But it just keeps growing.

The national debt keeps climbing. Our taxes keep rising. Hard-working Americans are struggling financially. All the while politicians on both sides of the aisle keep getting richer and richer.

As a prominent leader in the Tea Party Movement, I should know.

In 2010, the Tea Party — a nationwide movement of patriots disillusioned with the federal government — championed the biggest GOP wave since the 1920s, electing Tea Party-affiliated candidates to the halls of Congress in a stunning display of political dissidence.

These candidates were the byproduct of an electorate that felt no matter who they voted for, Washington D.C. just kept getting bigger and the citizen kept getting smaller. Voters demanded that these candidates cut taxes, cut spending, and roll back governmental overreach, and above all, their new representatives promised to do just that.

We were ecstatic.

The momentary impact on Washington was colossal. But then … nothing changed. The government kept growing. The national debt kept climbing. And politicians on both sides of the aisle kept getting richer.

More than 10 years and multiple election cycles later, this monumental failure — this anticlimactic assimilation of political outsiders into a broken political system — haunts the legacy of the GOP and the do-nothing Republicans.

We had our wave. And did nothing with it.

Be that as it may, voters won’t flock to the GOP by nature of the fact that they aren’t Biden. It’ll take a little more effort than that.

The Republican party must rebuild trust with the American people. The GOP must propose a new and exciting vision for America … and this time, they must follow through on every promise.

That opportunity may soon present itself.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is set to unveil his “Commitment to America,” a list of legislative priorities for House Republicans, similar to Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America. He admits that the 2022 midterms are more than just a referendum on Joe Biden; Republicans need to be proactive in proving their worthiness to voters.

Whether he’ll actually do that, however, remains to be seen.

McCarthy must speak in a muscular, conservative manner. He must demonstrate leadership by specifically saying exactly what Republicans will do if and when they take control of the House. We know the House controls the purse, and the House must unequivocally refuse to fund those things that are antithetical to conservative values.

For example, he should unequivocally promise that the GOP will refuse to fund Biden’s 87,000 new IRS agents.

The Tea Party Congress had every opportunity to seriously cut back on government overreach yet squandered it. If McCarthy hopes to be different, he must genuinely mean every word that comes out of his mouth.

The sad truth is that politicians have forgotten what elections are really all about — serving the American people.

The feeling amongst grassroots patriots that Washington D.C. remains hopelessly out of touch is palpable. They are tired of empty words. Sick of watching the debt climb year after year — knowing that their children and grandchildren will suffer the consequences.

A day may come when it becomes necessary to point fingers, to identify whether or not someone is at fault for poor GOP performances. For now, that’s not what the American people want or need. All they want is a positive vision that things in this country really can — and will — turn around.

Will Republicans step up to the task?