Will the GOP Be Dragged Back to 2020 or Will It Press Forward to Win in 2022?

Townhall.com ^ | December 29, 2021 | Bob Barr

[Kaslin]

All things considered, 2021 was a good year for Republicans. In 2022 will the GOP build on its 2021 successes, or allow itself to be dragged back to 2020?

The answer is right in front of our eyes. This year has been a disaster for the Democrats largely because they refused to move forward, electing instead to remain mired in the past and fighting yesterday’s battles. If Republicans take the same course in 2022, they will likely reap the same disappointing harvest.

The events of last January 6 at the U.S. Capitol will predictably be a focal point for Democrat campaigns heading into 2022. They really have nothing positive from 2021 on which to campaign, so they will use 1/6 as a lure to drag Republicans down, too. The last thing Republicans need is to take that bait and fight on that playing field; doing so would be a sure way to turn off moderate Republicans, as well as independent voters who the GOP must reach in order to regain majorities in the House and Senate.

This, of course, is easier said than done. In addition to Democrats chumming the waters, some on the GOP’s own team refuse to move forward. They see 1/6 as a positive flashpoint and Biden’s heavy-handed response to it as a wedge issue to churn up anger on the Right. This would be a major strategic mistake

As right as these Republicans are about the federal government’s overzealous response to 1/6, it is not the winning message going forward. Voters, especially those not already committed to the GOP, yearn for a vision for the future rather than to be repeatedly enraged by the past.

The tone Republicans should strike is found in one of Ronald Reagan’s most famous speeches, where he defined America as a “shining city on a hill.” This was a clear and timeless reminder of the greatness America can reach if the principles of free markets and individual liberty are allowed to thrive.

For an America tired of fearing COVID, inflation, crime, and losing what little precious freedoms they still enjoy, Reagan’s truly is the message for the moment; but it needs to be delivered by leaders who can express it and who have the backbone to follow it through.

Fortunately, there have been several gubernatorial standouts for the GOP answering this call. When facing a social and economic nightmare created by federal incompetence these governors turned lemons into leadership, with undeniably positive results.

Democrat-led states continue to suffer from the Left’s hapless response to COVID, while Republican-led ones (in particular Georgia, Florida, and Texas) continue to show incredible resilience against a rudderless federal government listing wildly from side to side.

On top of their economic successes, Republican-led states and localities have maintained public safety without locking down citizens like criminals. These governors and mayors were the first to realize America must learn to deal with COVID rather than run from it, if a sense of normalcy is to return. Meanwhile, Democrats continue to pump doom and gloom, even as they admit they have no idea what they are doing.

Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin’s recent, incredible victory in Virginia presents Republicans with a roadmap for victory in 2022. Rather than relying on divisive rhetoric to motivate the GOP base, Youngkin presented a clear and consistent vision for restoring conservative governance that appealed to Republican and independent voters alike. Sure, he was aided in his effort by a Virginia Democrat Party that relied on worn-out messages delivered by tone-deaf messengers, but the win was delivered by Youngkin and those candidates on his ticket.

The GOP entered 2021 battered and bloody, but as the year ends the Party is poised to crush Democrats in 2022.

The question Republicans must ask themselves at this juncture, however, is do they want to be dragged back to November 2020 and January 2021, and risk suffering the same consequences that befell Democrats this year by doing just that? Or should they march forth with a vision for the future, keeping in mind what they actually have accomplished this year by not looking backward? The answer would seem to be a no-brainer.

[bert]

No of course not.

Personal attacks are frowned on.

That was a statement of perceived facts.

[precisionshootist]

"“THEY” will do nothing. It is up to us. Sit in your polling place for the full day, and observe every movement of the poll workers. Write everything down. Follow the ballot box to the main counting place. Sit in the main counting place. Sit in your car outside with the dash cam rolling. Cover all entrances. All WE have to do is sit and observe."

I understand your enthusiasm but this is not how you stop the democrats from stealing elections. The polling place is not where the fraud occurs. It's where the fraud is executed and you will never catch them because there are just far to many ways to stuff the ballot box when those ballots are anonymous. They can add pre printed fake ballots. Change the totals on electronic machines it's impossible to catch them and even if you do whose to say the votes are fake?

The fraud is the hundreds of thousands of fake or otherwise invalid voter registrations not actually connected to a real and legal voter. We always hear how not purging the voter rolls sets up the opportunity for fraud. WRONG! Allowing registrations not directly connected to a real and legal voter IS THE FRAUD. The democrat criminal enterprise has spent decades amassing hundreds of thousands of fake voter registrations in every precinct in every state in the entire country. Then they have convinced our side that the inaccurate voter rolls is just an administrative oversight and we have fallen for it hook line and sinker.

With thousands of fake voter registrations democrats can just add however many votes they need to steal an election and it's virtually IMPOSSIBLE to prove this is what happened.

We must focus on voter registrations. Every voter registration must be directly connected to a real and legal voter. When it's known exactly how many potential legal votes exist then it's far more difficult to steal an election.

[FreedBird]

A fair election will not elect Socialists to run the country.

[nathanbedford]

As right as these Republicans are about the federal government’s overzealous response to 1/6, it is not the winning message going forward. Voters, especially those not already committed to the GOP, yearn for a vision for the future rather than to be repeatedly enraged by the past.

The author leaves the impression with this assertion that the outrageous conduct of the administration in prosecuting trespassers as insurrectionists and converting these January 6 protesters into terrorists should be strictly avoided by Republicans. No!

The women of Virginia, primarily the women, were not interested in the author's prescription: " The tone Republicans should strike is….the greatness America can reach if the principles of free markets and individual liberty are allowed to thrive. "

We are supposed to run on a banality when the rule of law and the Bill of Rights are being skewered? Are we to forget what animated the women of Virginia to storm the polls in defense of their children? Are we to forget what animated the protest of January 6? Are we to accede in 2022 and 2024 to being defrauded again? Are we to forget Afghanistan? The border? Inflation? Crime?

No, we can walk and and chew gum at the same time. We can make clear the connection between a fraudulent election, a star chamber prosecution and the disintegration of every support under our feet. The women of America, indeed the voters of America no less than the women of Virginia, will march to the polls to save their children, their homes and their freedom as well as themselves when that message is driven home.

[RideForever]

Is it fair to ask, how will the Republicans stop the Democrats from cheating like last time?

When the timing is right, the nation needs to address the DNC proposing 2 candidates for the office of POTUS (and VPOTUS) who were not Natural Born Citizens. There is a Senate Resolution to this effect. According to the US Senate in the McCain confirmations, he was a natural born citizen because BOTH his parents were U.S. Citizens at the time of his birth. Obama’s stated father was a Kenyan with a wife already, and polygamy is not allowed in the US. Harris has an Indian mother and Jamaican father.

File a quo warranto case, take out Harris as possible POTUS, delist the DNC with the FEC, and turn all (D)s into (I)s overnite.

[Fiji Hill]

All of his enemies are alive ,breathing and walking around. A fighter would have taken out at least one and a good fighter would have destroyed five or ten.

This is not El Salvador and we don't conduct our politics using death squads. We have to use the ballot box, the courts, and the media, and that is what Trump is doing.

[fuzzylogic]

It seems to say everything except “get rid of Trump” but I still read that between the lines.

There’s a full court press against PDJT for 2024...already begun. If they don’t do something now they know it’ll be too late.

I expect lots of anti-Trump sentiment from GOP sources. We should just take note of the authors, they are outing themselves.

[elpadre]

can’t we do both?? Correct the 2020 election results and plan for victory in 2024!!

[ohioman]

“All things considered, 2021 was a good year for Republicans.”

Bob Barr is an idiot. Using his logic, 1939 was a good year for Poland.

[bert]

you are like Trump........ unwilling to fight.

[Romans Nine]

So let me get this straight, you want to lambast Trump for not “fighting” yet you won’t even define “fight” on a forum………ok……

[bert]

Go away....... everybody knows Trump did not lift a finger to fight his political enemies.

He is a negotiator not a fighter. His enemies never came to the table.

[Eleutheria5]

How did they stop it in Virginia this year? Cheating has limited parameters. You need foot soldiers, and if the foot soldiers are fed up and won’t help you cheat, you can’t cheat. You need a close race. If it’s a landslide, you can’t cheat unless you have super-motivated foot soldiers and a compliant media. In 2020, they had both. They won’t have either in 2022, and the battleground states probably won’t even be close.

[Vaden]

I have no more faith in GOP, Inc.

[Nebr FAL owner]

No next question.

[Fiji Hill]

you are like Trump........ unwilling to fight.

I'm in the fight. Are you?