Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D 

The results of this past election were disappointing to conservatives even though historically the party of the sitting president has lost seats in Congress in 18 of the past 20 mid-term elections. In fact, the Democrats lost 64 House seats in the 2010 mid-term election during former President Obama’s second term in the midst of the “Tea Party” movement. What is most discouraging is the magnitude of the losses when in many ways President Trump has implemented the promises he made during his election campaign in 2024. Let’s  examine some of the possible reasons for the losses, and how conservatives should react to it.

There is no doubt that the conflict with Iran to stop their terrorist, anti-Western regime from acquiring not only nuclear weapons but an overwhelming supply of ballistic missiles capable of reaching Europe and beyond was a major contributing factor to the election losses. Wars to prevent an evil regime from becoming a powerful force have never been popular. For example, the allies in the 1930s did nothing to stop the expansion of the Hitler regime in Germany when it was obvious that his intent was to take over other European countries. He had clearly outlined his plans in his book “Mein Kamph” (i.e. My Fight). The isolationists in our country consistently refused to increase military funding until we were attacked at Pearl Harbor by Germany’s ally Japan. Waiting until you are attacked to respond to a murderous regime when nuclear weapons are involved is akin to suicide. The Iranian-Islamist threats of “Death to America” have to be taken seriously. However, the need to take action  should have been more extensively communicated to the American public, especially the economic impact on fuel prices. All significant military actions require economic consequences and sacrifices. Of course, the consequences of this conflict in no way compare to the food and fuel rationing, stopped auto manufacturing, and housing shortages, etc. our country endured during WWII; not to mention the 407,000 soldiers killed.

Affordability was a campaign issue that the Democrats were able to exploit. This, of course, is ironic since the cost of housing, fuel, and overall inflation during the Biden administration caused the affordability issue in the first place. Also, the Democrats during their campaigning never presented any specific ways in which they would reduce prices and increase wages. Going back to shutting down refineries, mandating electric vehicles, and millions of illegal immigrants will only make the problem worse. Let’s face it, the only way to make things more affordable is to expand the economy, thereby increasing wages. Historically, recessions and depressions are the only things that reliably reduce prices! Recently, private job and wage growth in the United States has increased significantly. While Biden increased the federal government work force, the Trump administration has cut it by 10%, eliminating close to 400,000 government jobs. This is important because the biggest driver of inflation is the increasing government debt, with mortgage rates being dependent on the independent Federal Reserve. Also, the current growth of our overall economy is the highest of any major country. The Republicans should have emphasized what has been accomplished and the future potential as the Trump’s policies begin to show real private sector growth.

Finally, we conservatives have to not only recognize that many of our younger citizens have been indoctrinated into believing that socialism/communism and Marxism are effective solutions to economic issues, we have to do something about it. The fact that no communist country has ever been economically successful seems to be lost on many younger voters. The lure of “free stuff” is seductive but demonstrably disastrous. We need to present the truth before it is too late. For example, we should start by insisting that local Board s of Education implement mandatory curriculum in the schools that teaches the truth that socialism never works and that free-enterprise is the only system that has produced consistent economic growth.

These disappointing election results should motivate patriotic conservative Americans to fight harder to save this country. We owe it to our children, grandchildren and all future generations.  Let’ do it!