When a lie gets repeated so often that everyone thinks it’s true, it’s called “conventional wisdom” – maybe because it happens so often at political conventions. These days, the conventional wisdom from some politicians and their “news media” press agents is that European-style, cradle-to-grave Socialism Lite is immensely popular with Americans, and only a handful of evil fascist, racist Republicans are standing in the way of the glorious “progress” the people want. Don’t buy this load of manure.

Throughout the Bush-Obama era, the media kept repeating “failed conservative policies” until even a lot of so-called conservatives believed it. In truth, it’s socialist policies that have been proven to be tragic failures, everywhere and every time they’re tried.

During the Obama years, we tried leftist policies. They resulted in a sluggish economy, depressed job growth, rising income inequality, reduced wealth and opportunities for minorities, and abroad, a decline in US prestige and leadership and the advancement and emboldening of our enemies, including a terrorist “JV team” called ISIS growing and spreading into a worldwide threat.

Polls began to show that most Americans wanted the government to do less and spend less. In France, where an actual Socialist was elected President, his huge tax hikes crashed the economy and made socialism as popular with the French as cheese in a can. The media were shocked when voters turned right in the next election. They should’ve known that nothing turns people off socialism like actually experiencing it. (See “Venezuela.”)

Of course, they were even more shocked when Trump won in 2016. He immediately reversed Obama’s leftist policies. Despite a non-stop media barrage that brainwashed a lot of people into thinking that was the WORST TIME EVER, it was actually a time of nearly unprecedented peace and prosperity. Crime fell, ISIS was smashed, the borders became more secure (although Democrats fought tooth and nail to keep them from being truly secured), unemployment reached record lows, real wages rose for the first time in decades, and the Abraham Accords saw historic Middle East peace agreements.

And then came COVID and the unsecure 2020 election, the inauguration of President Biden, his reversal of all those policies. And the combination of shock and whiplash experienced by many Americans who never dreamed that leftist policies could destroy so much so fast. Let’s all hope and pray that the 2022 elections will reflect that hard-won lesson and dump socialism back on the trash heap of history where it belongs…at least until a new generation arises that doesn’t remember the lessons of history and has to learn the hard way all over again.

It is a shame that we have to keep relearning the hard way that top-down, big government solutions don’t work. Young people can almost be excused for flirting with socialism, since they are empty vessels who get filled with whatever their teachers tell them, and we’ve been remiss in allowing leftists to politicize our schools and fill those precious vessels with garbage. Let’s also hope that parents have gotten “woke” to that scam and we’re about to see some real changes in our school system, from kindergarten through college.

But Republicans who promised small government and fiscal responsibility should already know better. Instead, too many let deficits skyrocket, stuffed budgets with pork, and became cheerleaders for big government. These so-called conservatives slammed me in 2007 for not being a “real conservative” because I pointed out problems in the economy that were hurting working people and criticized the lack of oversight of Wall Street’s excesses. Just two years later, they wanted to spend $700 billion of our grandkids’ money to bail out Wall Street from its excesses. They abandoned government’s rightful role as a tough-but-impartial referee and wanted to use its power to pick winners and losers in the market. Is that “real conservatism?”

The truth is that voters didn’t turn their backs on conservatism, Republican politicians did. Democrats didn’t sweep to power in 2008 by claiming to be government-bloating tax-and-spenders, but by swearing they’d changed and were now fiscally responsible. Of course, once they gave the White House and Congress to the Democrats, voters quickly realized their terrible mistake and gave the House back to the GOP (now it’s déjà vu all over again.) But too many Republicans had already squandered their credibility, so when Democrats ballooned the deficit, they could deflect criticism by simply pointing at their GOP opponents’ own records.

From Jefferson’s belief that government closest to the people governs best to Reagan’s faith in free markets, from low taxes to fiscal restraint, from a strong military to secure borders, conservative ideas work whenever they’re tried. Obama mocked Trump for saying we could bring back manufacturing jobs and have growth of over 4 percent, saying that Trump didn’t have a “magic wand.” But the only magic needed was a simple disappearing act: getting government out of the way. Biden brought back Obama’s policies. Doesn’t anyone seriously believe things are better now, other than Democrat cronies who get rich off government money?

Gandhi once said, "If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today." I think if all politicians really followed the principles they espouse to get elected, all of America would be conservative today. (Much of it already is: look at the 2020 county-by-county voting map – and that’s an election Democrats “won!”)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2020_United_States_presidential_election_results_map_by_county.svg

Americans just need politicians who’ll actually do what they claimed they would do once they arrive in Washington.