Ronald Reagan's Warning

The free-fall that is now the Republican majority in the House of Representatives is a needless self-inflicted political wound that only serves to distract the GOP caucus and the nation at large from the very real crises facing America.

Rather than focus on the open borders that are transforming our nation's cities into migrant camps and threats from foreign adversaries such as the Chinese Communist Party, we are engaged in recriminations and intraparty personal feuds. Rather than tackle a crippling debt of nearly $33 trillion, we are witnessing a political drama associated with selecting a new Speaker of the House. Rather than advance American energy independence, we are parsing possible votes for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's replacement. And instead of confronting those who would seek to steal the results of the next presidential election, we are engaged in recriminations and arguments about who and what sparked the historic firing of the Speaker.

These actions will not protect the integrity of the ballot box any more than chaos will rescue a democracy that is under cyber-assault and intellectual property theft by foreign states hostile to our role as leader of the free world.

This is a distraction from the genuine challenges that will determine America's standing in this century.

In the middle of this muddle is a Democrat-Progressive coalition content to watch that descent into political turmoil. It works to their advantage. The coalition may well be thinking, not without justification, that if Republicans are engaged in a needless ideological food fight among themselves, the GOP is bound to lose focus on the truly important issues that will chart our future, thereby allowing us to set the agenda and win more Congressional seats in 2024.

What House Republicans have forgotten is the primary instruction offered by President Ronald Reagan, "Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican." They also seem not to remember a California colleague of Reagan, Gaylord Parkinson, who served as that state's GOP Chairman, who warned, "Henceforth, if any Republican has a grievance against another, that grievance is not to be bared publicly."

If America is to have a proud and dynamic future worthy of our forefathers, House Republicans would do well to recognize that the real threat to their majority, the future of the next White House occupant, and America's greatness is taking place around them. They may be "preoccupied," but our enemies, both foreign and domestic, certainly see that they have been presented with an opportunity to redirect history.

Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
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