If the GOP had worked on building the trust factor of their constituency rather than their trust funds and relationships with lobbyists, the result of the 2016 senatorial elections would be all but inevitable.
Earlier this week, Juan Williams of Fox News wrote a column entitled “Tea Party could lose Senate for GOP.” He’s half right! The GOP could lose the Senate, but not due to a lack of moderation from the tea party, but rather for a lack of courage and conviction from the GOP establishment themselves.
I like Juan Williams. He seems genuinely nice and classy. However, his column illustrates what’s wrong with D.C. and the media elite – they forget who they’re duty-bound to serve, “We the People.” Juan wrote: “The bad news for the few moderate Republicans still in Congress is that they face long odds in the fast-approaching 2016 elections. The good news for Republican moderates in Congress is that a difficult 2016 cycle of Senate races now looks likely to close the book on the tea party era of American politics.”
Isn’t it ironic that Williams appears to be empathetic to the plight of the Republican politicians that may lose their power, but not to their constituents that are losing their country? Trump, Cruz, Carson and Fiorina are resonating with the voters because they understand they have to win the hearts and minds of the voters, not the Boehners. Just for the record, the “tea” in tea party is an acronym for “taxed enough already.” What’s fringe, extreme, or troubling about hard-working Americans standing up to corrupt politicians that perpetually increase government largesse at the expense of everyday citizens feeding their families?
Juan believes that the “rhetoric” coming from radio hosts and conservative activists regarding Planned Parenthood and illegal immigration is going to make it more difficult for GOP senators trying to win centrist voters next year. For the sake of this column, let’s pretend that Juan Williams really cares about the future of the Republican Party. What’s a centrist in the Obama era? A socialist? I wish I were being sarcastic, but it’s worth contemplating. The U.S. is over $18 trillion in debt, Obamacare is all but inevitable, our educational system is overrun by extreme left-wing wealth redistributionists, success and prosperity are demonized, there are over 93 million Americans out of the labor force, illegal foreigners are lowering the wages of blue-collar American workers and the amount of jobs available for low-skilled workers, and Gov. Jerry Brown is busy seizing private farm land to build water tunnels in California.
This notion by Juan that the GOP may lose the Senate because of the tea party, when Mitch McConnell and the establishment have gone out of their way to neuter the tea party, is absurd! The GOP is in danger of losing the Senate because there isn’t enough evidence to convict them of conservatism. OK, so the Republican House managed to slow the rate of spending by President Obama. Besides that, can you name one major achievement or bill enacted or even presented to President Obama by Congress? I didn’t think so. That’s the problem! America doesn’t need two Democratic parties. It’s hard to persuade voters to your point of view when you’ve not distinguished your policies from your opponents.
Williams claimed that if the right wing keeps up its “extreme” rhetoric, we’ll not only lose the Senate in 2016 but we’ll long for Sen. McConnell’s leadership over Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer’s. Normally, he would be correct. It’s nauseating listening to extremists like Obama and Schumer talk down to us peons from their high horse. However, for logical voters on the right, the dilemma becomes, who can we turn to restore constitutional sanity? Increasingly, that answer isn’t the establishment GOP, who have made it all but clear to conservatives that our votes aren’t appreciated.
Unfortunately, I can’t totally disagree with Juan’s premise that the GOP majority in the Senate is in real danger. I live in Orlando, Florida. In 2014, despite winning the Senate and maintaining the House, only 15 percent of registered voters bothered showing up. Why? The GOP lost all credibility. You can only hear “elect me and things will get better” so many times before you realize things aren’t getting better! Additionally, Mitch McConnell has managed to remain on defense despite having a mandate from voters in 2014 to right Obama’s wrongs.
Not all hope is lost, however. In 2014 I wasn’t convinced that the GOP could win the Senate. I also argued that under the leadership of Speaker John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, who have been largely handcuffed by lobbyists and political correctness, it was hard to perceive that the base would be excited for 2016. That may have just changed.
Americans love leaders that love to win. The introduction of Trump, Cruz, Fiorina, Carson, Scott Walker and to some extent Marco Rubio (perceived outsiders) into the GOP primary race appears to be the Vitamin B shot in the arm the base needed to become energized. I hate to disappoint Juan Williams, but if anyone of these candidates wins the primary, senatorial candidates will have to run on a similar conservative message to win. The base may succeed in dragging the establishment to the right, and as a result, past the finish line in 2016.
