What is the main issue of the 2022 election? Is it a referendum on Donald Trump or Joe Biden? The answer to those questions will play a key role in who wins. Democrats clearly would rather keep Trump front and center. Republicans want the election to be about Biden, who is, after all, the current president and whose policies have been a nearly uniform disaster for the country.

With the release of “The Commitment to America,” Republicans have clearly laid out their agenda of positive policies for a country in need of, shall we say, some hope and change. As our Douglas Andrews put it earlier this month when previewing the GOP agenda, “The House GOP is betting you care more about inflation, crime, schools, immigration, and a rigged system than Donald Trump’s documents.”

Given that Democrats just really don’t like America all that much, this provides a stark contrast.

“This November, you have to choose to be a nation of hope, unity and optimism, or a nation of fear, division and darkness,” said one national politician. “I believe America will move forward to the future, a future with possibilities, a future in which we can build, dream and hope.” That was, of course, Joe Biden, who is responsible for much of the fear, division, and darkness, and whose policies put the future in doubt.

So, to the planks of the GOP agenda.

An Economy That’s Strong

Inflation is at its highest point in 40 years thanks to the grossly profligate spending passed by Democrats in Congress since the foolish and destructive pandemic shutdowns. What’s Biden doing? Celebrating because he signed a law that has nothing to do with inflation, other than goosing it with more spending on left-wing goodies.

Republicans, by contrast, aim to curb inflation by reducing federal spending (to be fair, that will mean at best slowing the increase), working to boost American energy production, and bolstering the supply chain in part by moving more things out of China and back into the U.S.

A Nation That’s Safe

Democrats exploited the death of George Floyd to inflict their racist vision on the country, breeding resentment against law enforcement and unleashing a record wave of violence and murder around the nation. They changed from a party that supported a secure border to one that opened the border to illegal entrants. Biden has allowed in more than 3.5 million known illegals during his presidency, even flying them secretly around the nation while feigning outrage when Republican governors fight back.

Republicans plan to fully fund and support police, while pushing district attorneys to prosecute crime. On the border, they plan to “end catch-and-release loopholes,” enforce requirements for legal employment, and “eliminate welfare incentives” for migrants to come in the first place.

A Future That’s Built On Freedom

Democrats are busy stripping parents of say-so in their children’s education or healthcare, taking away personal liberty over the pandemic, and censoring any opinions they don’t like.

Republicans plan to tackle all three things. They want to “put students’ futures first,” not teachers union bosses. They want to unleash the “best medical care in the world” by getting rid of “top-down, one-size-fits-all” government mandates and control. And they aim to confront Big Tech censorship head on, while protecting Americans’ privacy and data and equipping parents to “keep their kids safe online.”

A Government That’s Accountable

For the last six years, there’s only one person Democrats wanted to hold accountable: Donald Trump. Never mind the double standard for Hillary Clinton or Joe and Hunter Biden. Pay no attention to the two-tiered justice for January 6 rioters compared to BLM and antifa thugs. As for Democrats upholding their own oaths to support and defend the Constitution? Don’t be silly; they’d never do such a thing. They’re too busy siccing the FBI on concerned parents, or targeting more Americans with an army of IRS employees, or putting kids way behind on education by shutting down our schools.

Republicans noted some things with Biden’s favorite number: Zero. As in, “0 House hearings on the origins of COVID, 0 House hearings on the Biden Administration’s failure in Afghanistan, and 0 House hearings on Biden’s Justice Department labeling parents as ‘domestic terrorists.’” That will change as Republicans work to “hold Washington accountable” for these and other gross failures.

Now, to be sure, few Americans are clamoring for more theatrical congressional hearings, but it is essential to have a government that is accountable to the people and protects our constitutional rights and freedoms.

The GOP hopes to relive the success of Newt Gingrich’s 1994 “Contract With America” that swept Republicans into control of the House for the first time in 40 years. Today, the GOP needs to win only five seats to retake the majority. They won’t be able to pass many laws with Biden still in the White House, but a GOP-controlled Congress can stop a lot of bad stuff.

Democrats know their only hope of winning is to distract voters from their own record of inflation, crime, border crisis, national security disasters, and censorship by heaping scornful labels like “MAGA Republicans” and “semi-fascists” on their political opponents. Nancy Pelosi derided this GOP plan as an “alarming new extreme MAGA platform.”

Republicans can realize the predicted red wave by instead standing for something positive. The challenge will be talking over the Democrat propagandists who control the media to get that hopeful message out to voters.