Both political sides refer to the 2022 midterm elections — officially two weeks away, but already in progress via mail-in and early voting — as the most important in history. That’s said every election, but there are indeed a barrage of very tough issues facing our country right now.

But it’s bigger than that. The midterms are essentially a referendum, an opportunity for American voters to reflect on the leadership team they hired two years ago and to weigh in on that team’s competence, its effectiveness, and — critically — on the direction it is taking the nation.

Joe Biden is not on the ballot, but his administration and his polices certainly are. This election is not a referendum on abortion, or January 6, or any other single issue. Nor is it a referendum on Donald Trump, despite the Democrats’ feverish effort to make it one. This is a big-picture election.

To those on the Right, the verdict is already in: So far, the Biden administration has been a train wreck. The country is saddled with crushing inflation, rampant illegal immigration, looming war clouds in Europe and the Western Pacific, and a myriad of unsettling internal issues. Seemingly overnight, boys can be girls, violent criminals needn’t stay in jail, and an unreliable energy supply is OK as long as it’s green.

In fairness, the Biden administration has had more than its share of bad luck. As the president reminds us daily, inflation is a global problem. Russia, not the U.S., started the war in Ukraine.

But to most American voters, the midterm election cycle boils down to two very fundamental questions. Are we OK with our country’s hard-left swing and all it entails? And is Biden the cool, competent hand on the helm voters expected?

To both the answer is clearly “No.”

The Biden administration is implementing a thoroughly left-wing agenda, without an electoral mandate to do so. This is our chance to recalibrate. And both the direction of the nation and the administration’s constant stumbling along the way tell us all we need to know about the president’s leadership.

He is divisive. To Biden, America is systemically racist. He sees political adversaries as “semi-fascist” enemies of the nation and citizens who disagree with his policies as “domestic terrorists.” In his decades as a pampered career politician, Biden obviously never learned the key to true leadership: sharing the successes and shouldering responsibility for failures. He’s a boaster and a blamer.

The alarm bells started going off on Day One, when the new president delivered an eloquent inaugural address pledging to heal the nation — and then retreated to the Oval Office to sign a stack of executive orders that effectively declared war on half of America.

The missteps were right behind. Having foolishly promised to “crush” COVID (and being elected largely on that basis), Biden took credit for the successful distribution of vaccines without mention of his predecessor’s role in creating them. As the death toll doubled, he shifted the blame to others (e.g., “it’s a disease of the unvaccinated”).

COVID was not Joe Biden’s fault. But we are just now beginning to reckon with the long-term financial, emotional, health, and educational consequences of his administration’s haphazard — and largely ineffective — mandates and restrictions.

The Biden leadership façade came crashing down during the Afghanistan debacle. We watched it in real time. After the president proudly claimed ownership of his mission to extract America from endless war, there followed the horrifying string of operational blunders, then reflexive blame (it’s Trump’s fault!), and finally insistence that the withdrawal was really quite successful.

And there is the economy — which is not “strong as hell.” Inflation is a financial calamity for every American, and uncontrolled spending is a major contributor. For two years, with inflation ballooning before our eyes, the Biden administration rolled out staggering increases in spending, including a climate change bill (bizarrely titled the Inflation Reduction Act) and a wholly unnecessary (and arguably illegal) student loan forgiveness policy. Through all, he seems blissfully unconcerned about the financial harm his policies are causing.

The list goes on. The porous southern border that is inviting drugs, disease, and unvetted millions? Let’s just look the other way.

For me, it’s hard to argue with the train wreck characterization; surely many disagree, but I suspect that the midterm results will confirm that as the prevailing American view. Of course, that won’t solve all of our problems, but it’s a big step in the right direction.

Therefore, to everyone, VOTE! If you’re happy with the direction of the country, VOTE! If you’re not, VOTE! There must be no ambiguity this time.