Commentary

We heard it from the late John McCain and most recently from a campaigning Joe Biden, who talked about his good friends in the Senate.  They talked about reaching across the aisle to find common ground.  It’s just that … talk.  Because there is no common ground between the visions of the two parties.

What half of the socialist new green new deal are we willing to accept?

Surely, you recall President Reagan’s definition of compromise. Succinctly, he said … “We win, they lose.”

During former President Obama’s healthcare summit in 2008, he responded to criticism from McCain with “we’re not campaigning anymore, the election’s over.”

In 2009, former President Obama invited GOP leaders to the White House to discuss his stimulus plan, but when he was challenged by then Sen. Jon Kyl, he curtly replied, “I won.”

I can understand why the Republican Party offered to meet with Biden over the outrageously costly “infrastructure plus” legislation.  They want voters to believe they gave bipartisanship a chance.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell even selected the grandmotherly Sen. Shelley Moore Caputo as the chief negotiator. The truth is, it isn’t worth surrendering our principles.  And we remember that last president who vowed to transform America.

Over the years, Pew Research has learned that the majority of likely voters prefer politicians who stick to their principles without compromising.

While it’s usually the losers who want to compromise, thankfully that isn’t true with Republicans after 2020.  We may have lost the presidency and the senate majority, but we closed the gap in the House.  On the national scene we command most of the governorships and state legislatures.

We only need to flip six seats in the House in 2022, and redistricting will aid  Republicans.  Jobs and the economy, increases in crime and the left’s push to defund the police, and of course, the border issue, are issues the GOP will focus on.

I’m optimistic that we can take back the House and Senate in 2022.

Finally, when I think of “consensus,” I am reminded of Margaret Thatcher’s view of it. “To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies,” she said, “so, it seems it is something in which one believes and to which no one objects.”

Consensus, too, needs to be deleted from the GOP vocabulary.

Now, more than ever … may God continue to bless the United States of America.