OPINION:
Representative government is pretty simple. Candidates explain to voters what they will try to do once in office. Voters decide whether they think those things are good or bad and proceed accordingly.
It has been pretty much the same since the Romans first came up with the crazy notion that political power draws its legitimacy from the informed consent of citizens.
Therefore, Sen. Rick Scott, Florida Republican, must have been surprised when his relatively short, straightforward and fairly anodyne set of ideas about what he might try to accomplish if the Senate Republicans wound up in the majority drew immediate hostility from various Republicans in the Senate.
Sens. Mitch McConnell, John Thune, John Cornyn and probably a few more seem to believe that the publication of these ideas might enable the Democrats to attack the Republicans. In their view, the right campaign strategy is to remain silent and rely on the current terrible political environment to deliver the majority unto the Republicans.
No doubt they are correct. The Republicans will probably take the Senate and the House this November; the Democrats have not done a very good job managing the nation.
Then what? What will the Republicans do with their majorities?
If recent history is any guide, they will promise to “hold the line.” They will complain that the most the legislative branch can do is to trail along behind the executive and hope all goes well. They will promise to conduct oversight, which is shorthand for “have hearings at which members make speeches, and nothing is actually accomplished.”
Perhaps not coincidentally, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has already promised to … increase oversight in the event he becomes speaker again.
Here’s the problem with all of that: In politics, like in life, you are either moving forward or you are losing ground. People who have enough confidence in their ideas to articulate why they should be given power and authority by the voters will usually be successful rulers. Those who don’t have that confidence usually fail.
If you don’t trust yourself to explain why something is a good idea, or you don’t trust the voters to understand why something is a good idea, it is probably not a good idea.
The leaders of the Republican Party have made it clear that they are not terribly interested in explaining themselves or their ideas. In 2020, at the behest of the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee failed to produce a platform. This year, Mr. McConnell, the Senate minority leader, following the lead of Team Trump (irony, no?), has said that the voters will find out what the Republicans will do once they are given the majority.
That’s certainly one way to proceed.
Other Republicans, more confident in the ability of voters to make sound judgments, in their own abilities to persuade, or in both, are creating and will soon share policy agendas.
Mr. Scott’s efforts are not the best explication of Republican, populist or nationalist sentiments or ideas ever written. Many of them have little to do with what the federal government does. Some Republicans might not agree with all of them. They were clearly not subjected to focus groups (the traditional and depressing finishing school of political ideas).
But they are worth a read, if for no other reason than they are, in fact, ideas. Mr. Scott has summoned the courage to engage on the day’s great (and sometimes small) issues. That’s what candidates and parties are supposed to do. That’s how the process works.
Predicting the future is impossible. But it seems very likely that the winning presidential candidate in 2024 will be the one who can best defend the American way of life and all that phrase encompasses. If you think about Mr. Scott’s proposals as part of that effort, they suggest that he will be a strong contender for president in 2024 or will be important in helping the Republican Party find its way to the right candidate.
• Michael McKenna, a columnist for The Washington Times, is the co-host of “The Unregulated” podcast. He was most recently a deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the White House.
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