Useless Republicans
Patricia McCarthy asserts that "too many Republicans are as useless as Democrats." Conservatives know that this is true. America is overwhelmed with critical political issues that need serious people to address them, but the probability that many of our Republican representatives will do anything approaches zero. The big question is why our Republican leadership is so useless and what we can do to fix it.
Weak Republicans were always there, quietly undermining a seriously conservative agenda. They have worked with Democrats for a long time, figuratively crossing aisles and giving Democrats bipartisan cover for the things they do. Democrats used to do the same. The system was designed so that compromises would create moderation. It worked when neither party was out to bankrupt the government. Today, though, Democrats are determined to do so, which should not be a conservative goal — but Republicans keep crossing the aisle, making themselves not just useless, but complicit.
In America, Congress has become the living embodiment of Welsh politician Aneurin Beven saying, "Politics is a blood sport" — but only one side is losing blood. Conservative voters have long hoped that their representatives would copy the Democrats' representatives, who routinely go to battle for their issues. Sadly, conservatives have few political warriors at the national level. The people they elect to be their warriors often turn out to be Democrats in disguise or, at best, no better than Democrats at representing their interests.
President Donald Trump changed the equation for conservatives because his exuberant activism revealed the timidity of the useless wing of the Republican Party. Donald Trump is a political warrior. He wants to battle for his supporters, and wants his allies to fight, too. Weakness is unacceptable. President Trump would not give in to Democrats while pretending to be Republican. He needs more elected Republicans to fight as he does, but conservatives are often stuck with weak politicians, leaving President Trump to stand alone.
Image: Republican leadership. YouTube screen grab.
The lack of a broad, united opposition allows Democrats to unify and focus their opposition on a single person. This current unity is at the bottom of nearly every vote in Congress. Every vote and every decision becomes a referendum on Republicans and President Trump, as he is unquestionably still the leader of the party. I'm sorry, Mitch or Kevin, but it isn't you. Even our currently installed president will issue edicts and orders based on reasoning no more thoughtful than the fact that it is exactly the opposite of whatever President Trump did do or would have done. Biden's incompetence can be blamed, in part, on his focused opposition to President Trump.
The political battlefield has been determined. The issues have been drawn with stark definition. There is little doubt where allegiance and principles should lie. In a political arena such as this, there is no place to hide. If you are not in the battle, you are useless. Too many of our elected leaders are choosing to be useless.
Conservative-leaning Democrats began to disappear when Ronald Reagan was president. It got a bit worse with the "stolen" election of George W. Bush. However, it was Trump's election that set off the nuclear blast that vaporized every elected, appointed, or hired Democrat who might ever agree with anything Republican. The conservative Democrat does not exist.
Weak Republicans are relics of a simpler time. They are stuck in the politics of the 1970s. The political calculus has changed and left them behind. The Democrats are currently winning the battle of emotion and intense rhetoric. They are winning because Democrats are united and radical. It is impossible to defeat radical intensity with weak Republicanism. Democrats win because they are committed to winning — and Republicans are not.
Increasingly, it's apparent that Democrats define winning not just by advancing their policies, but by eliminating Republicans. They want a political death sentence for the opposition, and Republicans unwilling to stand against this challenge are useless.
Republicans need to get in the game or get out of the way so that younger and more energetic conservatives can enter the political battle. That's why voting is important. Conservatives aren't sitting out elections merely because they perceived that cheating makes their votes irrelevant. Weak Republicans also make their votes useless. If conservative voters knew that their representatives would stay strong, they would fight to vote.
President Donald Trump showed Republicans how this is done, but the weaklings refused to learn. He continues to remind them every day how this battle is effectively fought and how useless they are in fighting it. We conservatives support President Trump because he fights for us instead of against us.
It is worse than "too many Republicans are as useless as Democrats." Too many Republicans are worse than useless. They are taking up the space where a fighter is needed.