Recovering the Trust of American Voters

Last Thursday, January 20, 2022, marked the one-year anniversary of the inauguration of Joe Biden as President of the United States and Kalamata Harris as Vice-President. It has been a disaster. Other than the bi-partisan infrastructure bill, virtually everything that Mr. Biden has touched has turned into a train-wreck. Nightly, conservative talking heads chronicle the mistakes and the disastrous results. So poorly has Mr. Biden performed the even various liberal/progressive outlets such as NBC, MSNBC, CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post have taken to routine criticism – not so much for the errors in the policies that Mr. Biden has championed, but rather for the means and methods he has used to unsuccessfully press for their adoption. Whether you blame it on stupidity (which I have ever since I began writing about Mr. Biden) or diminishing cognitive skills, the result is the same – Mr. Biden is simply incompetent to be the President of the United States. He has exceeded the limits of the Peter Principle.

As for Ms. Harris, her latest disastrous interview – this time with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, a long time apologist for all things Democrat – turned almost instantaneously hostile with Ms. Harris insisting that she is the vice-president as if to add “credence-by-title” to a jumble of circular reasoning. She continues to demonstrate that she will not do the hard work to prepare for either the job or the interviews. She remains unqualified by her own choice.

Now that is all well and good but it is hardly a reason to elect Republicans in this Fall’s mid-term congressional elections. We have seen the results of building a “wave of hate” towards former President Donald Trump so high that voters concluded that anyone but Trump would do. And so they got Mr. Biden instead. How’s that working out? By any measure, Mr. Biden has failed at virtually everything – his thirty plus years of being on the wrong side of issues as a United States senator was a warning bell ignored by the voters. The same will be true if Republicans ride a wave of hate towards Mr. Biden in 2022 and 2024.

The Democrats compounded their problem by sprinkling their hate with glittering generalities like “hope and change”, “fundamental change”, “build back better”, “equity over equality” and “I’m going to shut down the virus, not the country.” All said without a single element of a real plan. Having fooled the voters they then claimed a mandate to do whatever they intended from the start but hid from the voters. Now that the voters have both a sense of the liberal/progressive’s direction and their incompetence they are leaving the Democrats in droves. It serves as a stark warning for Republicans in 2022 and 2024.

Republicans need a reason for voters to elect them. Republicans simply need to put a tag on the major problems and set forth a detailed plan to solve them. For instance it is insufficient to say you are going to solve the problem on the Southern border. Republicans must tell voters how they intend to do that; i.e complete building the wall, re-enter an agreement with Mexico to keep asylum seekers in Mexico while their asylum claims are adjudicated, immediately return all entering illegals to their country of origin, bulk up the staffing of the immigration courts (including hiring and training retired lawyers and judges) to clear out the growing backlog of asylum claims. revise the application of “green cards” focusing on job skills and guaranteed employment, withhold foreign aid to countries who fail to assist in eliminating mass immigration, etc.

Or, instead of telling voters you are going to deal with COVID in its varied forms, you tell them the truth about the mutation of COVID (Omicron and beyond), the truth about the vaccines (they don’t prevent getting or spreading COVID but they do an excellent job in mitigating the severity of COVID), distribute tests for determining those with natural immunity as well as a comparison of COVID resistance by those with natural immunity and those who have been vaccinated, rapidly test the efficacy of drug treatments for COVID and distribute them quickly, fire the chairman of misinformation and misdirection for COVID – Anthony Fauci – and install a real scientist, eliminate federally imposed mask and vaccination mandates, withhold federal funds from states that impose mask and vaccination mandates (they violate individual choice and retard economic recovery) and, make those most vulnerable (the aged and those with co-morbidity) priorities for all treatments, ignore the teachers unions and a rapid return to work.

Or, instead of telling voters that you are going to fix inflation and the economy, tell them the truth that most of the damage was caused by the government and that you intend to remove the barriers to oil and gas production and return the United States to energy independence, claw back the unused portions of the COVID relief payments and repurpose them for means-tested loans and grants to small businesses, reform all of the current welfare programs to encourage a return to work, provide programs modeled after the Work Projects Administration the provide public and private jobs to improve community infrastructure and maintenance, etc.

And finally, pledge to move governance back to the local level wherever possible. Neither the President nor the Congress should be responsible for crime on the streets, homelessness, educational standards, etc. In returning power and responsibility to the states, eliminate the bulging federal bureaucracies and use the savings for frontline employment and infrastructure. You might begin with the education process which between the teachers unions and federal mandates has resulted in the United States dropping to 11^th in science and 30^th in math according to the Program for International Student Assessment. School choice should be rewarded and federal funds should be directed to follow the student rather than the institution. Vocational training should be encouraged over liberal arts degrees in areas of limited job opportunities – more welders, plumbers, electricians and medical technicians are needed instead of art historians, gender studies graduates, and urban planners.

The point here is that after two years after vague promises and virtual nonperformance, the voters want accountability. Stand up. Grow a pair – testicles or ovaries. Tell people factually what you plan to do in a fashion which lends to accountability. Perform and you will be rewarded. Fail and you should suffer the ignominy currently being visited on Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris. 

And for the voters – a cut from The Who:

“I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again.”