U.S. Sen. Rick Scott drew some media attention this week, but not the welcoming kind. The media picked up Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s dismissal of Scott’s recently unveiled “Rescue America” plan.
The Florida Republican’s 11-point agenda harkens back to Newt Gingrich’s famous Contract with America, which in 1994 helped usher Republicans into control of Congress for the first time in 40 years.
It includes ideas like teaching school children patriotism; ending racial identification on government forms; “re-funding” and respecting the police; securing the border, including building the wall; stopping the creep of socialism; eliminating any federal program that can be done locally; stopping left-wing efforts to “rig” elections; protecting and defending families; fighting abortion and the gender fluidity movement; welcoming God into the public square, and putting America first.
What upset McConnell were provisions in Scott’s plan that would force all Americans to pay some income tax to support the bloated federal government, and that would sunset all federal laws in five years and force Congress to pass them again.
At a press conference, McConnell said, “Now let me tell you what will not be part of our agenda. We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people, and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years. That will not be part of a Republican Senate majority agenda.”
But one conservative observer took McConnell to task.
Michael McKenna of The Washington Times wrote on Wednesday that Scott was demonstrating something most Republicans fail to show: Ideas.
He also suggested Scott’s plan could lay the foundation for a 2024 presidential bid.
Noting that Republicans are likely to take back Congress in the fall, McKenna then asked: What next?
“If recent history is any guide, they [Republicans’ 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.’”
“Here’s the problem with all of that: In politics, like in life, you are either moving forward or you are losing ground. … 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,” McKenna added.
He pointed out that McConnell has essentially said voters will have to elect Republicans before finding out what they will do once back in the majority.
“That’s certainly one way to proceed,” McKenna noted. “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.”
One of those “other” Republicans, he added, is Sen. Scott.
“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),” McKenna said.
“But they are worth a read, if for no other reason than they are, in fact, ideas.”
“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,” McKenna continued.
“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,” he concluded.
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