It's well within reason to expect those who tell you what they are against to also be able to tell you what they are for. I mean, if you're upset about inflation or the border situation and somebody tells you to vote for them because they can fix it, they should be able to tell you how, right?
And yet, by my observation, Republican candidates (local, state, national) seem to be pretty good at identifying problems but lacking in actual plans and answers. It's not like Democrats are great at this either. But they do seem to come up with functional legislation every once in while.
It's pretty obvious why this is — it's much safer to gin up support by railing against an issue than proposing a plan to solve it. Plans can be checked, analyzed, reviewed — and followed up with challenges and criticism. That's no fun. Plus, I imagine it's difficult to develop actual plans when there is likely a chorus of campaign advisors from your party telling you not to.
Editor's note: John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.
