by Bob Barr | Dec 29, 2021 | Townhall Article |
TownhallAll 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 mistakeAs 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 Bob Barr | Dec 27, 2021 | Daily Caller Article |
Daily CallerFor as long as I can remember, whenever I went through the checkout line at our local supermarket, the cashier would ask politely, “Did you find everything you were looking for, Sir?” Until recently, I routinely answered, “Yes, thank you,” although I would think to myself, Of course I found everything, this is the United States. No longer.For the past year, when I am asked that question by the always very polite supermarket cashier, my answer has become, “No, but thank you for asking.” In my mind, I find myself wanting to ask the cashier, have we become a Third World country?Welcome to the Brave New World of Biden’s America, where empty grocery store shelves and gas station pumps festooned with the little yellow bags indicating empty pumps have become the norm.Dealing with empty grocery store shelves and gas pumps, however, is not the only or even the most serious evidence that America today is not the America of previous eras, especially the nation that, since the end of WW II, has served as the world’s beacon of political and economic freedom.Having to circumvent shortages of one product or another in food purchases or searching for a full gas pump are things that can be dealt with, at least in the short term. Working around more serious indications of the decline in our heretofore expected standard of living are problems not so easily dismissed.Inflation, long a hallmark of economies of developing and Third World countries unable or unwilling to rein in impediments to free market economics, is now in the United States at levels not seen since the disaster that was...
by Bob Barr | Dec 22, 2021 | Townhall Article |
TownhallThe confluence of COVID-19 and the election of Joe Biden has created a federal leviathan that considers no problem as too small or off-limits for federal involvement. This makes Republican governors the last line of defense against a full federal takeover of states. Thankfully, in this respect the GOP is stronger than one might think. Republican governors by and large have not let 2020’s election defeat distract them from proving themselves to voters ahead of the crucial 2022 and 2024 elections. Most notable among this group are Governors Ron DeSantis of Florida, Greg Abbott of Texas, Kristi Noem from South Dakota, and Brian Kemp from my home state of Georgia. Tested simultaneously by the pandemic, the federal government’s response to COVID, Biden’s disastrous economic policies, and urban crime, these governors have shown repeatedly to voters the value of governing according to consistent, conservative principles. It is no coincidence that those states that are doing better than others are those governed by Republicans, who understand that the best response to COVID-19 was not to run into the basement and turn off the lights. Beginning with Georgia, and soon followed by Florida and Texas, states quickest to reopen after the initial COVID “lockdown” consistently have demonstrated far more resiliency to this perfect storm of economic and social challenges, than states opting to rely on the heavy hand of government.For example, while California’s and New York’s unemployment rates are 7.3 and 6.9 percent respectively, Georgia’s remains at an all-time low of 3.1 percent; Florida and Texas also remain low, at 4.6 and 5.4 percent.This is no fluke. There is an ongoing, seismic realignment of economic centers in...
