Can you guess who said this?
“My friends, this election is about more than who gets what. It is about who we are. It is about what we believe, and what we stand for as Americans. There is a religious war going on in this country. It is a cultural war… critical to the kind of nation we shall be … as this war is for the soul of America.”
Those words came from Patrick Buchanan at the Republican National Convention… in 1992.
Now ask yourself this: Which candidate this year said “the soul of America is at stake!”
Sadly enough, it was Joe Biden.
As strongly as I disagree with Joe Biden, he understands something that far too many Republicans never seem to get.
It’s the culture, stupid!
As of this writing, the Arizona and Nevada Senate races remain too close to call, while the projected Republican majority in the House has shrunk considerably from expectations, but still remains likely.
How is this even close?
BEING BLUNT: There are far too many Republicans who don’t understand the fight we are in. They really don’t seem to understand what Nancy Pelosi and AOC want to do to our country. And if they do, they don’t believe telling the public the truth is “good politics.”
They still think it’s 1980. The economy is sputtering. Inflation is raging. Crime is surging. If they sit back and wait for Americans to grow more frustrated, voters will hand them the keys to power. Right?
Wrong.
We need Republicans to wake up before it’s too late!
Many people have asked me: How could voters elect an obviously mentally disabled man like John Fetterman?
The answer is that more and more voters are “culture voters” now. Pocketbook issues, up to a point, are not necessarily the driving issues. Nor is foreign policy, or tax cuts, or the myriad of other issues that have dominated our politics in recent decades.
Left-wing culture warriors understand the stakes. They defend their issues by painting their picture of the “good life” that includes support for abortion-on-demand, for any reason, at any time. They talk about building a world free of racism, sexism, and oppression – crafty slogans for their plans to destroy the family, indoctrinate kids, and consolidate power.
The fact is, $6 gas isn’t going to change their vote… Just look at California!
Republicans meanwhile talked a lot about crime. But did anyone dare to address the source of crime? Broken families, failing schools, the loss of our moral and religious habits and culture? Imagine a candidate for office saying: my goal is to inspire Americans to start going back to church.
We need leaders who know what time it is.
The old playbook is dead. We need leaders who have the courage to tell the truth about where the so-called “progressive” movement is taking us. And how we have a much different vision for where we need to go.
Back in 2004, President Bush used the marriage issue to increase turnout. That’s exactly what President Biden did with the issue of abortion in 2022. And you can count on Democrats to double down on this strategy in 2024. Big time.
Republicans can’t run away from this issue – or any of the culture issues – hoping they will go away.
For years, our Catholic bishops have been trying to make the case that abortion is the preeminent issue of our time.
And in a haunting, chilling way, Joe Biden proudly did just that.