Why Are Republicans So Weak?

During the 2004 presidential election season, Rush Limbaugh remarked that in the America he once knew, President George W. Bush would be up by 30 points over the elitist, East Coast liberal John Kerry. However, in reality, Bush won by only a couple of percentage points in the popular vote and by only 35 electoral votes (286 to 251). Although the Iraq War was well underway and was just turning into the quagmire it would become, Bush’s vote was not severely impacted by the failure to locate the weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein allegedly had squirreled away.

So, why did Bush win a squeaker that should have been a landslide? In my opinion, his inability to articulate the “vision thing” that his father scorned had something to do with it. But his over-willingness to work with the Dems, even while they were backstabbing him over the war that they had approved, was also a contributing factor.

Are today’s Republicans, mostly an undesirable admixture of timidity and incompetence, in the process of blowing a historic opportunity to upend the Dems in the upcoming midterm elections? Let’s see.

I’ve already written several pieces about “tone-deaf” Republicans, but there is a common thread weaving through all of the otherwise inexplicable cave-ins and missteps over the last 40 years (that is, since the end of Ronald Reagan’s presidency). Simply put, as the prevailing culture and downstream politics have moved further and further leftward, the Republicans have been too weak and ineffectual in response. Ironically, to many voters this weakness has made them appear rigid, out-of-touch, and yesterday’s news. How else do you explain that numerous communist candidates have won primaries this year and are polling at least even in most midterm election races?

When I saw the numerous white seniors attending an Abdul El-Sayed (DSA-supported Senate candidate) event in small-town Michigan recently, that said a lot about where the “guilted” white vote is going. The question is, why are these liberal white people feeling so guilty as to support an openly socialist candidate? And what, if anything, have Republicans done to defuse unwarranted guilt?

Let us count the ways Republicans have failed us over the years:

1. Climate Change. White voters, given their general affluence, which leads them to presumed over-usage of fossil fuels for their vehicles and generated power, are obvious targets for the left’s caterwauling about the climate-generated disaster they’ve been insisting is just around the corner. Trouble is, none of their dire predictions have come true to date. Where have Republicans been to aggressively counter the left’s specious arguments? I’d say, mostly AWOL. Don’t let the temporary lull in the ridiculous requirements for massive solar and wind power projects fool you. Even now, the strident governor of New York is sticking it to those in the upper part of the state who dare to vote for someone else, by taking over thousands of acres of farmland to plant an army of solar panels.
2. Race Relations. During Barack Obama’s presidency and accelerating after the George Floyd incident, whites have been made to feel guilty about alleged “systemic racism” which is largely a myth in 21^st-century America. But Republicans in their timidity and fear of being called racists, have again stayed largely on the sidelines while the left has owned the argument. As a result, we moved further down the leftist trail with the unnecessary, yet mandatory and often disastrous, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs foisted upon government and industry. While we may think that Trump’s orders to dismantle DEI programs have settled the issue in our favor, don’t be surprised if the Dems resurrect it once back in power.
3. Cost of Living/Affordability. That the Democrats can dare to make any claim that they’re qualified to fix this issue says a lot about what most Republicans let them get away with. Sure, some Republicans are speaking up about what inflation looked like under Joe Biden, but there is not enough emphasis that, while Biden’s price increases were lasting, those occurring now are temporary and should ease once a settlement of the Iran conflict is (finally!) in place.
4. Abortion. Clearly, there have been many squishy Republicans on this issue over the years. That is one reason why, despite the overdue Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade, many states still have liberal to extremely liberal abortion policies, but at the same time the Court’s action is regularly cited by the left as a supreme example of overreach, pun fully intended. This ruling and subsequent generated controversy gave the Dems an opening to advance their argument to “pack the Court” with more justices that will see things their way.
5. LGBTQ Issue. The left relentlessly lets conservatives know how heartless they are for their “discrimination” against transsexual people, especially those transsexual “women” who wish to play in women’s sports. Although some progress has been made in putting an end to this madness, it is by no means over as far as the left is concerned. As it is, Republicans have been cowed into going along with gay “marriage,” and that has opened the door for the transsexual movement to gain momentum.

You can take your pick among these issues, and for any (and others not mentioned) the left has found a weak point to intimidate Republicans and shame the populace (primarily whites) that unless they change their thinking on these issues, bad things will happen. We’ll see whether their influence is as big as it seems once the election results are tallied.