By Douglas V. Gibbs
The midterms’ issues simply put. All of the excuses and blame are misplaced, to say the least.
The Iran War: No matter all of the arguments, Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.
Gas Prices: They are lower than they were during Biden, and should come back down once military operations are over.
Tariffs: The higher prices are for foreign goods. Tariffs bring jobs back to America, dismantles the global redistribution of wealth scheme against America, and ultimately will increase manufacturing in America. A country that does not produce domestically cannot survive in the international market.
Immigration: If someone breaks into your house, you don’t consider them a member of the household. You call the police and have them removed. Even when someone knocks on your door, you vet them by asking, “who is it?” Why should our border be any different?
Groceries: Many of the prices are higher not because of GOP policies or the President’s policies, but due to government regulations and subsidies. In the case of beef, the problem is two-fold: a reduced population of animals, and government regulations that pushed smaller meat packers out of business concentrating processing into four major corporations. The Democrats’ policies killed the little guys, increased the cost of doing business, and reduced competition which also drives prices up. The problem with grocery prices, in general, are not tied to Trump’s policies or the Republicans – the problem is deeper and leftist. As for the DSA idea of government-run grocery stores, the plan always fails, always drives prices up, and reduces the availability of goods. There’s a reason that shelves are empty in socialist countries.
DEI: Basic human nature tells us that merit produces better quality. In football, for example, teams don’t try to pick players based on race, or ethnicity. The best players based on their performance are the ones pursued. You can’t have a winning team unless your game-plan is based on merit. DEI is a strategy tied to class warfare, a communist concept that claims equity can only be reached through government manipulation, and forcing everyone to be equal at the finish line. What it does is discourages those who would rise to the top because merit no longer matters. The innovators and producers stop innovating and producing – and the result is eventual degradation of production and a vast reduction of the quantity and quality of goods and services.
Healthcare: Like with any of the goods and services in an economy, the more government is involved the more an industry suffers. Over a hundred years ago the average family could afford to go to medical facilities or a local physician, and doctors even made house calls. The reason? No government interference and no insurance companies. The industry competed directly for private dollars – so they lowered prices and offered higher quality services to win your business. Government instituted regulations that went beyond what was necessary, and then passed laws requiring employers to offer healthcare benefits (a direct result of government wage controls), and the madness of increasing costs in healthcare was off and running. The answer to more affordable healthcare is not more government involvement. It’s the opposite. In countries where socialized medicine is the norm, the costs actually go up (in taxes and supplemental insurance) and the quality goes down. Anytime government takes total control of any industry, rationing and a loss of quality is always on the horizon. There’s a reason laser eye surgery is inexpensive and an industry that enjoys great quality – government regulations on the industry have been minimal and it is not generally covered by insurance.
Environment: There is no doubt we should be good stewards of the planet. If there is gunk in the air and gunk in the water, it ought to be a concern, and as a society we should take care to clean it up and not dirty it up in the first place. That is common sense. However, the way to do it is not through heavy government control over energy. China is a great example: they are the number one polluter on the planet. Also, heavy government control over energy drives up costs and reduces the quality of the product. As for “renewable energy” like solar and wind, California has proven the ineffectiveness and folly of such strategies. Energy costs have not dropped, they’ve gone up, and reliability is a serious problem.
Elections: I am very upset that the Republicans with their majority did not pull off the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to be citizens, and establish voter ID at the federal level. The reality is simply this: only members of a society ought to participate in elections, and they must be ID’d for it. Otherwise, you invite problems. There’s a reason that Labor Unions only let union members vote in their elections, and expect to see ID’s at the door. The reality is, there are persons out there who wish to negatively influence our elections, and that needs to be guarded against.
Education: As with any industry, the quality of the product improves with competition and less government influence. Public education has proven to be a bottomless pit where taxpayer dollars are misspent, and misapplied. Should those who do not use that service be required to pay for it? This is where the school voucher idea is so good. It allows parents to use the funds they pay in taxes for education to be applied to private school (and if the law is good, homeschooling too) services for their child. It enables more people the affordability to use alternative services, increasing competition and the quality of education.
Government Spending and Programs: The commercials I watched during the campaign season concentrated largely on government services, be it Medicaid, education, or other services. The Democratic ads charged that Trump and his allies were reducing how much money went into programs, and then we were told those programs or the people who used them were suffering from less benefits and that the GOP and Trump’s allies hates those services or the people who use them. The truth is, Donald Trump is a businessman, so he looks at government spending from a business perspective. So, his aim has been to streamline costs, root out wasteful spending, eliminate fraudulent spending, and reduce spending that does not directly benefit the program. In some cases, certain programs were seen as redundant, unnecessary, or an abuse of taxpayer dollars. Therefore, some programs were shut down, and many of the dollars going into some of these programs were reduced. A reduction in dollars does not mean people’s services are being taken away. It means that the program is being better serviced for a lower price without losing the quality of the service. It’s the businessman way of approaching the issue.
Inflation: Inflation is directly caused by a number of issues. Among those are the cost of doing business. Prices go up when the cost of doing business goes up. Sometimes, those costs are necessary, and sometimes they are not. In the case of tariffs, while the cost of doing business for foreign producers goes up, it encourages domestic production, which translates into more American jobs and manufacturing returning to the United States. Isn’t that what we want? Don’t we want our jobs not to go overseas? While prices will take a while to reflect the changes, costs go up temporarily on foreign goods and some domestic goods. Eventually, they come down, and hopefully domestic goods become more available and we then depend on foreign goods less. There are other costs of doing business as well. Increased minimum wage, taxes, the national debt (hidden tax that goes into play by hurting the value of the dollar), regulations, availability of raw materials, and the list goes on. In most of those cases, the way to bring down prices is to allow the free market to do its thing. The problem is, people aren’t patient, and “free government stuff” sounds much more enticing. It may seem free in the beginning, but later on things become more expensive and everybody’s affordability goes down.
Housing: Same concept. The more government is involved, the higher costs go and the lower the inventory becomes. Regulations, taxes, and overall government influence has driven the market to a place where younger generations don’t see home ownership on the horizon. The way to fix it is not to have government take control. The result would be a vast reduction in homes built, a loss of affordability, and everyone living in one-room flats in high density housing projects.
With most of these issues, the basic concept of supply and demand come into play. An increase in supply reduces prices. Government influence does the opposite… every time.
These are just a few of the issues, and on all of them the Democrats are on the wrong side. I found it interesting that the Republicans lost both Houses of Congress, but if you take party out of the conversation a more conservative approach typically is the answer you get from most voters. Some are saying the vote in 2026 was meant to punish Republicans for not getting the work done they were sent to do. So the answer is to throw the whole thing in the toilet? Trust me, the Democrats plans are not better than the GOPs. The problem is the Republicans get in their own way. If there is any blame anywhere, it is that during the last two years Senate Republicans didn’t get their act together, and there was too much in-fighting.
We also need to remember that the average voter is not looking as deeply into the issues like I have here. They have only a few markers to go by, and their pocketbook is number one. I get it. But, this is why we need to be more informed. We need to know the context of these issues. The Constitution and the American System dies if we aren’t educated and informed – and then don’t vote in line with that information.
The next couple years will be tense and troubling. But, President Trump’s veto pen will keep the madness at bay, and their antics will likely reveal that on every issue, the Democrats are not on the side of what is best for Americans. Hopefully, Americans recognize that.
And, as I have said before: Smile. Don’t Panic. The real King, after all, is on the Throne. This, my friends, is only a temporary pit-stop.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
