oped: I concur and totally agree!
by:
David Limbaugh
Commentators and political consultants are working overtime to divine
why Donald Trump’s candidacy is explosively successful despite his
breaking all the established rules. They’re outthinking themselves.
They say he is a flash in the pan, the darling of disaffected
independents, the tea party’s dream, a Clinton plant or the right wing’s
narcissistic alternative to Barack Obama.
Folks, it’s not that difficult. For many Americans — who knows what
percentage? — the Republican Party is not an antidote to President
Obama’s seven-year wrecking ball.
They look at the GOP and occasionally see strong rhetoric but mostly
observe a lack of inspiration, energy and any sense of urgency about the
current state of affairs. They recall that when Republicans didn’t have
control of Congress, they asked for patience until they recaptured the
House. In the meantime, we were not supposed to rock the boat and
jeopardize the upcoming elections.
Since winning back Congress, they’ve offered a similarly tired
excuse: We don’t have control of the presidency. Just wait until 2016,
and we’ll really turn things around. But for now, let’s be calm.
Calm? What is there to be calm about?
Those living outside the Beltway wonder why there isn’t universal
horror over the $18 trillion debt and $100 trillion of unfunded
liabilities threatening our kids’ future, the gutting of our military,
the government’s destruction of the world’s best health care system, the
assault on American businesses and the energy industry, Obama’s runaway
Environmental Protection Agency, his managed invasion of our borders,
his war on Christians’ religious liberty, his mistreatment of Israel,
the Iran deal, and the government’s funding a notorious abortion
factory.
It’s true; Republicans don’t have control of the executive branch.
But that doesn’t mean they have no power. They have the power of the
purse. They didn’t have to forfeit their constitutional power on the
nuclear arms deal with Iran.
Obama hasn’t had the power to do many of the things he’s done, either
— from granting selective exemptions on Obamacare to granting amnesty
to “Dreamers” — but nothing has stopped him.
Likewise, the same-sex marriage lobby didn’t have anywhere close to a
majority when it started bullying its way toward societal and legal
legitimacy, but it proceeded fearlessly. And it got results.
Even if you believe that Republicans have no power, is that any
excuse for their always having their tail between their legs? Some see
little evidence that the Republican Party believes in its own ideas
anymore.
But that’s not the case with Donald Trump. Even if he isn’t a Reagan
conservative, at least he’s got the courage to take on the status quo —
the outrages of the Obama administration, the complacency of
establishment Republicans and the tyranny of political correctness.
Trump is standing up, shaking his fist at the Beltway elite and
saying he is tired of the intentionally managed decline of America and
the impotence and apparent indifference of Republicans. In contrast with
much of the GOP ruling class, he is high-energy, is in your face, has
no tolerance for excuses and is vigorously proud of America. He refuses
to take no for an answer, unlike most Republicans, with a few notable
exceptions, who seem to lust after any excuse for inaction and avoid
confrontation at all costs. Trump may get more slack because he’s an
outsider, but it’s time that our risk-averse people took some chances
themselves.
Trump is filling a void, which he couldn’t do if one didn’t exist.
Like him or not, he is shaking things up, sounding an alarm and showing
other candidates what appeals to voters.
Some look at establishment Republicans and see those comfortable with
Obamacare lite. They pretend to favor full repeal but in the end will
only tweak it. They say they’re fierce free-marketers, but they’ll
barely reform the tax code. They acknowledge that entitlements are
bankrupting us, but they don’t have the guts to make the case for
restructuring them. They promise to cut government spending, but they
think that means shaving pennies off the rate of increase. They say
they’ll protect the borders, but they spend half their time trying to
prove they’re not xenophobes.
When Ronald Reagan was vying for the Republican nomination, he didn’t
muzzle himself for fear of scaring off moderates. He said what he
believed. Leadership is presenting ideas you believe in and selling them
even to a minority. It is not keeping your powder dry until the next
election. Do you ever see the wildly successful left doing that?
Trump is showing leadership, whether or not you like him or believe
in his authenticity or his ideas. Before you complain too much about
him, you should ask yourself what his success says about the
establishment’s prescription of sitting on our hands and biding our
time.
Trump is hardly my first choice, but he is doing a lot of good right
now, including showing the value of confidently presenting your ideas
and how “making America great again” is a message that still strongly
resonates with voters.
Let’s quit spending so much time worrying about Trump and focus on
regaining confidence in our own ideas and presenting them to the
American people.
