While America was expecting a tsunami of a red wave on Election Day, a funny thing happened. The American voter expressed his and her choices in the mid-term elections and it didn’t quite turn out the way all the pundits, pollsters and other sundry experts had expected. Earlier posts on this blog were prescient in warning Republicans and Democrats that they faced a danger of slipping on thin ice if they persisted in their extreme ideological campaigns. Specifically, the Democrats were warned about persisting in class warfare and the Republicans were warned against using abortion as a wedge issue. A later post warned about the unintended consequences of the early leak of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s written opinion in the Dobbs case which reversed Roe v. Wade. Unfortunately for the GOP, these warnings went unheeded. The GOP had an irresistible urge to commit suicide and they did.
To not win control of the House of Representatives and the Senate with large majorities when facing a Democratic Party burdened with an unpopular president, severe chaos at the southern border, the worst inflation in forty years, rising interest rates and a foreign policy that has led us into a dangerous world is an outrage. It should have been a shoo-in for Republicans. What went wrong was the Dobbs decision. Let’s get it straight. People in America don’t want to be moralized to or dictated to. We don’t live in Ceacescu’s Romania, where every woman was examined every month to check for pregnancy and to deter abortion. The American experience over a hundred years ago made it clear. If you don’t want to consume alcohol, then don’t. Prohibition, the noble experiment failed. Similarly, if you are against abortion, then don’t have one. But don’t run an election campaign with foolish candidates who are incompetent campaigners and then blow one of the greatest opportunities to win control of the legislative branch of government.
At this point, the Nevada and Georgia senate races are still undecided. The Senate now is at a 49 to 49 tie. The House, according to various media at this moment is at 211 to 201 in favor of the GOP with 218 seats needed for a majority. How this turns out remains to be seen but in mid-term House elections with an unpopular incumbent in the White House, a thirty to forty seat gain for the Republican was expected. It didn’t happen.
What can the Republican Party do to salvage their situation as they move forward? In two years, 2024, there will be a Presidential election as well as a re-rerun of the legislative election, with the entire House and one-third of the Senate being contested. The GOP must become the serious party it always has been. Stop acting as clowns. Stop refusing to accept the 2020 election results. Richard Nixon, one of the most reviled Presidents had legitimate reason to contest the 1960 election but he didn’t, stating that it wouldn’t be good for America and that was more important than his winning. Get serious about representing your constituents, be the loyal opposition, fight for America. Vulgarity has no place in the American civic arena. Haters are not needed. Landmark civil and voting rights legislation passed during Lyndon Johnson’s presidency required Republican support and the GOP, led by Senator Everett Dirksen, delivered. Bipartisanship must be restored. This puts an onus on Democrats as well to work across the aisle. If men and women of good will can work together, one cannot begin to imagine what can be accomplished. Then, maybe, but just maybe, our best days may be ahead of us. The current demagoguery on both sides serves no one but the demagogue. It’s up to the elected representatives of the people to remember that they are the ultimate public servants, never the public’s masters. The next two years will be challenging, but who said it would be easy? It’s time for all branches of government, and all the elected and appointed officials to start working for America, not for themselves, their career and any momentary advantage that they may have. Let’s get to work. The American voting public is waiting.
Garry S. Sklar
Guttenberg, NJ
November 11, 2022
Yorumlar