Op-Ed: No one really has any clue about what’s going to happen in the midterms.
After an unexpectedly strong election, Republicans who have been worried about the Democratic takeover of Washington should stop acting as if they do.
The country is headed toward an era of greater bipartisanship, as the public becomes increasingly disillusioned with our political class, the Tea Party and Donald Trump.
And Republicans, who see a stark choice between a hard-right nominee and a safe choice such as Senator Ted Cruz, should embrace the changes the election has brought to America’s politics and recognize that America is fundamentally changing.
When Congress was controlled by Republicans in 2002, more than 200 congressional committees were created and funded by the American taxpayers. The current congressional budget process, which takes decades to complete, has been held up for years by gridlock. The United States Supreme Court has not ruled on two-thirds of our law-making issues for nearly 40 years.
The House and Senate are now controlled by the Democrats and the new Congress will pass a budget for the federal government, which, among other things, finances wars and domestic programs. And with it comes increased oversight, which might have been welcomed under the previous Congress.
The first half of the new Congress should be about the American people, and they will be paying attention to the outcome.
And so, as we prepare to leave the year 2018, it’s important for Republicans to recognize just how far things have come.
Trump vs. the Democratic Party
The first half of the new Congress has a lot to do with Donald Trump. The first two weeks of the Trump era have been a period of remarkable and historic change.
First, there was the election of Donald Trump as president, because millions of Americans did not want politicians who have been in office as long as George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
Second, this election gave millions of Americans a reason to get excited about the future of America and they have. The election of Trump showed the Democrats are not the party of government or progress.
The Democrats are the party of power and control, and their entire career is about power and control