Looking back on the midterm elections, some of us were happy, some were sad. But that is how all elections work out where there are unexpected winners and losers. Clear things came out of the elections that we need to pay attention to as voters, no matter your party allegiance.
First, the only two people who do not understand that they are unelectable in the next Presidential contest are Donald Trump and Joe Biden. For us, these are the only two people who need to know this and they have the potential to wreck the election for either party. The only way either of them can win is if they both run, and the voters choose one as the lesser of two bad choices.
President Trump did the Country a service when he won the 2016 election and kept Hillary Clinton out of the White House. But his rough and tumble style of politics played well in 2016 and had just frankly worn us all out by 2020. By 2020 he had become what he professed to hate, a Washington insider seeking reelection to keep power. He had become so weak as a leader that he could not defeat one of the most corrupt and weakest candidates in history. His performance and actions during the pandemic were good, but his ability to communicate with the American people and build confidence was very weak.
President Biden is showing signs of his age and is clearly cognitively impaired. On the world stage he is weak, and the United States is being taken as a less than a formidable force for democracy. His total avoidance of our southern border, lack of empathy for working class families with inflation woes, and family corruption issues make him a laughingstock internationally. He stays in office because Vice President Harris is worse and even weaker, and many who would remove him for corruption are themselves corrupt and cannot stand the light of day.
When we look at these two, we should be looking in the rearview mirror, not out the windshield. Like their predecessors, their time has come and gone. It is time for new, younger leadership for both the Republicans and the Democrats. Personally, I have doubts about the next generation and their awareness of both world politics and domestic issues.
This next generation seems to lack the values that have made us strong and want to tear apart those ideals that make us who we are. But perhaps that is always how the current generation looks at the next. For me it seems that the further we drift from World War II and the Greatest Generation, the weaker we become.
But it is not just Biden and Trump that need to step aside and become elder statesmen or king makers. Washington is awash with the earlier generation whose self-aggrandizement and grip on Party purse strings has let them hold power at the expense of the Country. The need for change is obvious to all who surround them, just not them. As of April 2022, the ten oldest members of Congress were listed as:
- Steny Hoyer, Democrat from Maryland, 83 years old, first elected 1981
- Maxine Waters, Democrat from California, 83 years old, first elected 1991
- Hal Rogers, Republican from Kentucky, 84 years old, first elected 1981
- Bill Pascrell, Democrat from New Jersey, 85 years old, first elected 1997
- Grace Napolitano, Democrat from California, 83 years old, first elected 1999
- Eddie Bernice Johnson, Democrat from Texas, 86 years old, first elected 1993
- Jim Inhofe, Republican from Oklahoma, 87 years old, first elected 1987
- Richard Shelby, Republican from Alabama, 88 years old, first elected 1979
- Chuck Grassley, Republican from Iowa, 89 years old, first elected 1975
- Dianne Feinstein, Democrat from California, 89 years old, first elected 1992
These are all career politicians and no longer representatives of the people in our opinion. Their primary motivation for running term-after-term is influence and power. Like Presidents Trump and Biden, they do not know that their time has passed, and it is time to step aside. Many are wealthy, some not, and there is nothing wrong with success and wealth. Except for Dianne Feinstein, these are not among the wealthiest politicians in Washington. So long as their wealth came from non-governmental business prior to entering Congress, more power to them. A Congressman or Congresswoman who enters office with wealth is certainly preferable to one who suddenly becomes wealthy after entering office. The issue here is length of tenure and perspective.
We have heard the argument that term limits are already in place because Congressmen/Congresswomen can be voted out of office every two years if voters are not happy with their representation. The same argument holds for Senators, but on a six-year cycle. But facts speak to the opposite. Politicians do not hold power for thirty, forty, or even fifty years on a level playing field. They get there by toeing the party line to get funds to run again, and again, and again. The power of incumbency is there for all to see.
Both the Democratic and Republican Parties have become too lethargic. The desire to hold power and influence leads them to cater to voters, no matter how absurd their demands. We only need to look at the WOKE mob, the border, inflation, and endless rounds of stimulus money to know how the game is played. Watching Congress as they allow themselves to do insider trading and manipulate markets to their own gain, proves that their perspective on right versus wrong has become distorted.
There are new, younger leaders out there who are ready to take the reins of government and who are more in tune with their constituents. The key issues will not be their willingness and desire for power, it is what will they do with it:
Do they hold the values that made our Country great, and will they build on our history and not try to destroy it?
Are a majority grounded in faith with boundaries on their behavior dictated by forces outside of government?
Are they a part of the WOKE culture that is openly working to destroy the nation and its values?
Has part of the next generation served in the military, and do they have an appreciation for the service and sacrifice needed to keep us and the world safe?
Can they transition power from the older generation in a way that builds a better America?
An observation on societal and political cycles has been attributed to many over millennia and reads like this (generational observations are ours):
Hard times create strong men, (Greatest Generation and Silent Generation)
Strong men create good times, (Baby Boomers and Generation X)
Good times create weak men, (Millennials and Generation Y)
Weak men create hard times. (Generation Z)
And then the cycle repeats.
If history proves to be right, then we are heading into a grim time for all nations when they are led by weakness and selfishness. This can give rise to such tyrants such as Hitler and Stalin, so staying vigilant and strong is a must.
But we need to remember that times of weak leadership awaken the next generation to the necessity for strong leadership, and therein lies the hope for us all!
