OPINION:
In announcing his intention to seek reelection, President Biden extended two great courtesies to voters.
First, he was kind enough to put his announcement on three minutes of video (which apparently took several hours to get right). That spared all of us the embarrassment of recognizing (yet again) that our president has some real trouble creating and sharing intelligible sentences.
The second and more important courtesy Mr. Biden extended to voters was to clarify and frame the election as one in which the victory of one side would result in more freedom. In comparison, a victory by the other side would result in less freedom.
Usually, an incumbent president would ask simply whether things were better at the current moment than they had been whenever he ascended to office. For most incumbents, those answers are easy, mostly because things (especially the economy) usually get better over time in the United States.
For whatever reason, Mr. Biden decided to shed that metric. It might be because his record on inflation (increased about 15% over two years) is not good. Or because his record on job creation is not great; just 3 million more people were working in February 2023 than there were in February 2020. That’s an increase of just about 2%. Maybe it’s the bank failures. Maybe he senses the looming economic downturn.
Perhaps he has read the survey results that indicate that most people don’t think his administration has accomplished much, or maybe the results indicate that about two-thirds of voters would rather have a different choice of candidates.
It doesn’t really matter. By selecting freedom as the relevant measuring stick, Mr. Biden has made the stakes of this election clear.
One party has actively participated in censoring the views of Americans on social media. One party has directed the surveillance of their political rivals, the media and members of Congress by federal law enforcement. One party has made certain that Americans are not secure in their persons or possessions by allowing lawlessness in our cities and on our borders.
If you have a doubt about that, walk through Philadelphia or Detroit or the District of Columbia this evening and get back to us on how secure you felt.
One party has consistently undermined the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms. One party has assisted in vitiation the right to life of those yet to be born. One party has done its level best to marginalize and minimize the free exercise of religion — turning a blind eye to violent attacks on Catholic churches (more than 300 attacks in the last three years), while at the same time surveilling both church attendees and parents concerned about what their children are learning in schools.
One party routinely ignores the 10th Amendment, which reserves powers and authorities not specifically granted to the federal government to the states. One party favors genital mutilation of children, in some cases well below the legal age of consent, and sometimes without the involvement or even knowledge of their parents. One party is trying to prevent candidates from running against Mr. Biden. One party has recently claimed that your children belong to the state.
In each of these instances, that party is the Democratic Party, which is ostensibly led by Mr. Biden.
By wandering into this particular minefield, the Biden administration has unwittingly chosen to fight on terrain favorable to its adversaries. The Republicans’ principal and perhaps only claim to legitimacy is that they are the party of the preservation of rights, especially those rights embedded in the Constitution.
By focusing the election on freedom, Mr. Biden has also made it easier for his Republican counterpart — former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or whoever — to stay on message, avoid going down rabbit holes, or wandering into the fevered swamps of personal grievances and conspiracy theories.
Mr. Biden wants to talk about freedom and the real threats to it. The Republicans should take him up on that offer with enthusiasm and dispatch.
• Michael McKenna, a columnist for The Washington Times, co-hosts “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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