For far too long in our country serving in federal office has been nothing more than the top rung of the ladder for most of our elected officials' chosen career. Some young city councilman joins the legislature, biding their time till a house seat opens up, so they can get enough name ID to jump in a Senate race. These campaigns always ran the same lines, “I can compromise”, “it’s time to work across the aisle” and “let me be your voice and break up the partisan gridlock.”. Despite sounding cute, and making us feel good, most of these campaigns brought us the same thing, nothing.
In 2016, we saw a monumental change as a country. Love him or hate him, Donald Trump ushered in a movement of “outsiders”. Across the country Republicans elected people like Burgess Owens, a former NFL player who spoke openly about hitting hard times defeating a career politician serving in his 3rd elected office. Lauren Boebert, a restaurant owner defeated a sitting member of Congress to win the primary only to then beat another career politician in the general election. There are easily a dozen similar stories recently, situations that were nearly unheard of just 6 years ago.
That same hunger for change isn’t exclusively Republican. Most recently in the Georgia Senate election, two more establishment incumbents were ousted by “outsider” Democrats from the far left, a documentary filmmaker Jon Ossoff and a pastor Raphael Warnock. The year 2016 brought us something voters in both parties had longed for, boldness. Immediately after Donald Trump descended the escalator, career politicos jumped to action with groups like The Lincoln Project, because with his ascension they lost the thing they held most precious, job security. Non-traditional Republicans like Congressman Owens, Boebert, Cawthorn and others bring signs of a movement, a movement of regular people who aren’t polished or carefully crafted changing the way we see Washington.
3 months ago Jake Bequette a barely 32-year-old Super Bowl Champion turned Army Ranger announced he was running for United States Senate in Arkansas. His opponent? A 70-year-old who’s been in Washington now for over 20 years. The kicker? When Republican voters were polled about how their Republican US Senator was doing 32% didn’t even have an opinion. Let that soak in, after 20 years 32% of a sitting US Senator’s own party in his home state doesn’t even have an opinion of him.
Right now as Republicans we are a minority in both the house and senate. The odds of conservative legislation even making the floor is somewhere close to 0%, so the likelihood of something passing is pretty bleak. So what is the job of our Republicans in the legislature? To make noise, to raise awareness, to make sure the voters know exactly what’s on the table. As far-left policies like critical race theory have infiltrated our legislature and schools we’ve heard passionate speeches, countless interviews and constant social media interaction from legislators like Burgess Owens and Ted Cruz. As Joe Biden completely botched our withdrawal from Afghanistan we’ve seen leaders like Brian Mast make sure the news cycle didn’t change. Then as Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer pushed their $3.5 trillion wishlist, men like Rand Paul and Byron Donalds made sure the American people knew exactly what was going on. Right now we don’t have the votes, so there is no greater duty than making sure voters are completely aware so in 2022 we will.
The truth is, in Congress, it’s not the Democrats who are letting us down. AOC campaigned on exactly what she’s doing, Bernie Sanders has never hidden his intentions. Right now, the ones letting us down are the invisible Republicans. The Republicans who sit and wait just to see how it plays out. Now, more than ever, if we don’t have an opinion of you, you’re not doing your job and it’s time to find someone else who will.