The United States must be growing and prosperous at home and strong and secure in the face of the many security threats facing us abroad.
The former can only be achieved with free markets and limited government domestically and the latter through a robust defense budget.
On both fronts, Democrats would take the country in the exact opposite direction needed.
Voters seem to understand this. RealClearPolitics reports Democratic Party favorability at -20.0 unfavorable and Republicans at -15.4 unfavorable.
Nevertheless, in polling on the overall congressional election for 2026, RealClearPolitics shows Democrats up +6.0.
Two things may explain this disconnect.
One, although voters show generically more favorability to Republicans, Republicans are still underwater in overall favorability.
Second, when voters are overall not happy with how things are going, they vote against the party in power.
Per the RealClearPolitics consensus, only 34.3% feel the country is going in the right direction.
Regarding the climate that will define the upcoming election season, one big variable will be the outcome in the current hostilities in Iran.
My prediction is that President Donald Trump and the Republican Party will emerge the clear big winner here.
Those who have opposed this war will be inducted into the national hall of shame. And here we are talking overwhelmingly about Democrat leadership.
The readiness of Trump to identify the clear and present danger to our country of the maniacal regime in Iran, both regarding their acquisition of nuclear weapons and development of a massive arsenal of long-range ballistic missiles, will secure Trump's place in history as a great leader.
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American action in Iran has also brought forth with clarity where the rest of the world stands.
We now better understand the lack of principles of our so-called European allies and the squishiness of NATO. We now better understand the evil and threat lurking in Russia, China and North Korea.
And particularly interesting is the potential realignment that will emerge in the Persian Gulf, as suddenly the Arab nations in the Gulf have found themselves attacked by the Iranian maniacs. We may see a great solidifying of U.S. relations with those oil-rich Gulf nations, and we may see an historic solidifying of their relationship with Israel.
It all has made the security picture even clearer to Trump, who is requesting in the 2027 budget a 50% increase in defense spending, from around $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion.
The current war has made abundantly clear the inadequacy of our defense spending, now hovering at an historic low of 3% of GDP. We live in a dangerous world. The motto "peace through strength" has never been clearer.
But how do we add $500 billion to our defense budget when we are running multitrillion dollar deficits at home and we're carrying national debt greater than 100% of GDP?
There is one answer. We must step up finally and revamp and reform the massive waste in our federal spending -- now approaching 25% of our GDP.
The GAO reported last year that the federal government loses $233 to $521 billion in fraud. It also reported improper federal payments since 2003 totaling at least $2.8 trillion.
In 2024 alone, GAO notes improper payments in Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP (food stamps) of $95.5 billion.
When Republicans moved to reform Medicaid in the One Big Beautiful Bill, Democrats went crazy and took us to a government shutdown.
Democrats are out front complaining about the spike in gasoline prices.
The best way to manage gasoline prices is increased supplies of oil and gas. Democrats are forever obstacles to this, making discredited claims about climate. Recently Microsoft founder Bill Gates, once a climate change enthusiast, has now repudiated "the doomsday view" of climate change, saying it "is wrong."
We may well see in the midterms that voters indeed see Democrats as the clear and present danger to the nation.
Star Parker is founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. Her recent book, "What Is the CURE for America?" is available now.
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