POMPEO: What I'm Looking For at the Debate – the Issues That Affect Americans the Most

This week, candidates seeking the Republican nomination for the presidency will take the stage together and present their case for why they should lead America.  We need leaders who are willing to confront the issues families are talking about around their kitchen tables every day across the country.  These must include economic challenges brought on by inflation and high energy prices; dealing with the immigration crisis on our southern border; how to secure the rights of parents to make choices for their children’s education; and how the United States should engage in an increasingly dangerous and unstable world in a way that puts the American people first and ensures their security.  The American people need someone who will present a genuinely positive vision of America.

The Biden Administration has recently poured effort into publicly touting the success of its economic program, “Bidenomics,” with Vice President Harris stating that, “Bidenomics is working . . . America’s economy is strong and experiencing stable and steady growth.”  The facts tell a different story, though: Biden’s hostility to American energy has resulted in persistent high energy prices – the price of gas is back up to its highest point in ten months – and the higher cost of energy has driven persistent high inflation, which hits working and middle-class families the hardest.  The resulting high-interest rates have made it impossible for young families to even consider taking on a mortgage. Biden’s lavish federal spending has only driven inflation higher without solving any underlying economic problems.  I hope that anyone seeking the presidency will present a different economic course for America, including sensible energy policies that return America to energy independence, massive deregulation to encourage growth and risk-taking, and cuts to crazy green-energy handouts that, ultimately, do not benefit American families.

Green energy isn’t the only target of misguided government spending, though – our broken, ineffective immigration system saps enormous resources from federal, state, and local governments, with some studies placing its current total cost at $150 billion and rising.  And that number doesn’t account for the emotional and physical havoc the fentanyl epidemic has reaped in towns and communities across America, an epidemic that is fueled by our inability to stop the deadly drugs across the border.  I hope the candidates will present a plan to encourage legal migration, stop illegal immigration – primarily by enforcing the law and upholding the Trump Administration’s policy agreements with Mexico – and finish building the wall on our southern border.

The third issue candidates should be clear about is their support for the rights of parents to have a say in their children’s education.  This must begin by directly confronting teachers unions’ outsized influence over our public schools.  These unions were responsible for shutting down schools and causing years of learning loss during the pandemic, and by every measure, academic performance cratered as a result.  Yet these unions don’t support the vast majority of our teachers, let alone our kids.  Instead, they spent the summer pushing far-Left politics in the classroom.  Conservatives should listen to parents, not powerful unions. 

Last, I hope that the candidates will recognize the challenges facing America abroad and communicate these threats to the American people honestly and effectively.  It is easy to rail against aid to Ukraine or claim that Taiwan can’t matter much to the American people.  But any leader engaged with these issues can see the enormous stakes for American security in both.  It is absolutely in our interest to frustrate the ambitions of our adversaries and ensure they cannot violate the sovereignty of their neighbors at will.  Candidates who wish to lead our great nation must articulate why this matters to the American people and explain how they will establish a model of deterrence that will keep the American people safe and our enemies in check.

Most importantly, I hope the candidates will present a positive vision for America—one that rests on our cherished Founding principles.  I am confident that if they can do this, the American people will make the right decision in 2024, no matter whom they choose.