Despite everything national Democrats tried to do to not make the 2014 election a referendum on President Obama – and everything the president himself did to make it about his policies – the beat-down Republicans gave Democrats Tuesday was very much a repudiation of all things blue.
Word has it, the popular ice cream brand (made in my home state) Blue Bunny is considering a name change.
I only slightly kid there. The results were historic, giving Republicans their biggest majority in the U.S. House of Representatives since the end of World War II, and nearly flip-flopping the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.
But don’t start celebrating, yet.
These are still the same Republicans who, deep down inside, despise everything about you. The same ones who used race-baiting shenanigans and outright voter fraud to ensure your voice – and the voices of those who agree with you – would be silenced during the primaries.
But, as I said earlier, they still owe us. As one of the new celebrities of the right (also from my home state) famously said during her successful campaign: it’s time to make them squeal.
If Republicans want to have any chance of winning the 2016 presidential election, the GOP has to prove to the American public that it is ready to lead, and lead in a completely new direction. Exit polling conducted Tuesday showed an overwhelming majority of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track, and that we’re in danger of handing this nation over to the next generation in a worse state than we received it.
To compound matters, they will be working with perhaps the most lawless American president since Abraham Lincoln (that can be a topic for another article), if not ever. President Obama has absolutely no track record of wanting to work with his opponents, and I don’t believe the loss of legislative power in Washington is going to make him suddenly reinvent himself as it did for President Clinton not so long ago.
Here are some steps, which don’t necessarily require a change of leadership in either chamber, that will help Republicans accomplish their mission.
Step 1: Remember who did this for you – yes, the American people voted you into power, but as John Quincy Adams said, the duty was merely ours. The results were God’s. So, acknowledge it, be thankful to Him in it, and don’t you dare forget that He can take it all away just as quickly as He gave it to you.
Step 2: Purge the RINOs – there are many in Washington today who have taken up the “R” behind their names as a means to an end. They say they are Republican, but more often than not act in a manner quite the opposite. Americans demanded real change, not change merely for the sake of change, and it’s up to you to give it to them. Your political life now rests on being as “not Democrat” as possible.
Step 3: Kill the filibuster – it was a lot of fun standing with Rand and Ted, but Democrats are going to use every trick and tool at their disposal to block any changes Republicans will attempt to make. Were Harry Reid and the Democrats in the same position, they wouldn’t hesitate to do away with the filibuster. Allowing Democratic obstructionism to be an excuse for getting nothing accomplished won’t fly for any Americans – period.
Step 4: Encourage discourse – even today, Americans love statesmen. Statesmen don’t wield political power to silence their opposition; they engage in civil discourse and allow free speech – true free speech – as opposed to squelching it. That might mean some Republicans won’t be around in two years, but it will mean they will be replaced by good, conservative Republicans.
Step 5: Own it – during the campaign, the Democratic machine told a “horror story” about how a Republican-dominated Congress would undo all the really great things they accomplished over the past six years. So, do everything they tried to use as fear mongering – repeal Obamacare, eliminate the EPA and federal Department of Education, send a personhood amendment to the states for ratification, audit the Federal Reserve, comprehensively overhaul our nation’s tax system (insert shameless Fair Tax plug here), and deregulate everywhere – and show Americans a true alternative to liberal-socialist-progressive-statism.
I’m not going to pretend that any of this is easy. And with the current makeup of the American media, you’re not going to win a whole lot of popularity contests. But, I can assure you that following these steps will very quickly win over the hearts and minds of the American public.
One final, parting thought … Patrick Henry, in his famous “Give Me Liberty” speech, told the Virginia House of Burgesses, “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.” The same is true for all of us, and experience – history – has proven that giving the American people less government and more freedom always makes us a better nation.
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