STOP APPEALING TO THE IRRITATED RUMP.

The latest mumbled wisdom from the coot claiming to be president is “What are Republicans for? What are they for? Name me one thing they’re for.”  The snarky thing to say is "Not being a senile coot."  It worked well enough to turf out Donald Trump, didn't it?

But it would be helpful if both major parties came up with policy proposals that appealed to voters who don't spend every waking hour on the latest supposed gaffe.  Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo suggests a way forward that, if you strip out the polemics, might be a good first step.

Treating all persons as individuals, not as part of a subset of Americans, is the means to vanquish group injustice. Though a stifling political class represses duty, honor, wholesomeness and faith, these traits are the heart of America: Their beat is strong for those who have ears to listen. We are for them.

Republicans realize freedom is in jeopardy, for the self-anointed ruling class that bankrolls the Democratic Party to cloak their own greed does not understand liberty. These usurpers pocket the hard-earned money of citizens or print it, causing inflation, the most regressive of taxes. The cost of basic goods ─ food, gas and shelter ─ constitute the greatest proportion of wages for working Americans who do not have letters after their names.

He concludes, with a question the coot lacks the capacity to answer, "Will you change course, sir, or will you preside over the collapse of our principles, our traditions and our civil society?"

I repeat, strip out the polemics.  It does little good for Democrats to suggest that people who vote against them are deplorable or bent on insurrection, or for Republicans to suggest that people who vote against them are criminal or bent on collecting more transfer payments.

Consider Reason's Steven Greenhut, who is no fan of the false binary I have often urged readers to reject.  "Republicans always are better on balance than the Democrats, so I need to join their side and fight—even when they promote idiocy."  Well, sometimes all the Democrats have to do is not be crazy, and they can't even do that.  The same is often true of Republicans.

Yes, metropolitan suburbs were the site of the party’s greatest down-ballot reversals during the Trump era, in congressional and legislative seats. These losses cost the GOP control of the U.S. House in 2018 and somewhat reduced the party’s power in state capitals (although Republicans still comprise 55 percent of state lawmakers, down just two points from their 2016 share, and continue to control many more state governments than Democrats do). Contrary to the hopes of Democratic leaders and to the fears of their GOP counterparts, however, these Trump-era losses in metropolitan areas did not constitute a lasting partisan realignment. The suburbs remain intensely competitive — and Republicans are feeling increasingly confident that they’ll snatch back many of these lost seats in the 2022 midterms. If they do, it won’t be by peddling conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. It will be by employing tried-and-true conservative messages on taxes, crime, schools, and other issues that matter most to soft partisans and swing voters.

There are, however, positive things that an opposition party, not necessarily the Republicans, might advocate.  Victor Hanson offers a list of ten such things.   "Lots more might be included in any such agenda (e.g., moving agencies like the FBI out of Washington), but God limited his commandments to 10, and humble Republicans should keep that consideration in mind."  More importantly, there might be six or seven of the items on that list that more than a few Democrat-inclined voters could go along with.  Unlike Divine Word, politics is about creating something practical, and getting three quarters of the cake is better than having the cake fall any time it's not perfect.

Then Charlie "Prof Scam" Sykes, whose Bulwark sometimes skews more pro-Democrat than "recovering liberal," rediscovers his recovery with four broad items: schools (the presidency is irrelevant, closed schools are red-pilling a lot of so-called progressives); crime; voting (how long ago was a regular talking point on his Milwaukee radio show that voters should be prepared to demonstrate that they are who they claim they are?); and language (which is not the cadences of the faculty lounge.)

Who knows, a partisan appeal that doesn't let the irritated rump call the shots might make the false binary look less false and more like gradations of generally decent choices.

I'd still prefer for elections not to be advance auctions of such large policy bundles, but one thing at a time.