"Parents matter"

As Republicans prepare for a midterm election that seems quite winnable, they are without direction. Last night, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds gave them direction.

Picked to deliver the Republican response to Biden's bewildering State of the Union address, Reynolds gave her party and her country direction when she said, "Republicans believe that parents matter."

This was the main theme of her rebuttal.

She hit the mask mandates and other nonsense hard when she said, "Americans are tired of a political class trying to remake this country into a place where an elite few tell everyone else what they can and cannot say. What they can and cannot believe.

"They're tired of people pretending the way to end racism is by categorizing everybody by their race.

"They're tired of politicians who tell parents they should sit down, be silent, and let government control their kids' education and future.

"Frankly, they're tired of the theater. Where politicians do one thing when the cameras are rolling and another when they believe you can't see them."

That is the real state of the union. We are led by phonies. These hypocrites laugh in our faces and rub our noses in their slime.

She swung for the fences and connected when she said, "It seems like everything is backwards. The Biden Administration requires vaccines for Americans who want to go to work or protect this country but not for migrants who illegally cross the border.

"The Department of Justice treats parents like domestic terrorists but looters and shoplifters roam free.

"The American people are left to feel like they're the enemy."

Reading that, I almost stood up and cheered.

The heartland has a voice and it is clear-throated and loud.

She said, "Iowa was the first state in the nation to require that schools open their doors. I was attacked by the left; I was attacked by the media. But it wasn't a hard choice. It was the right choice.

"And keeping schools open is only the start of the pro-parent, pro-family revolution that Republicans are leading in Iowa and states across this country.

"Republicans believe that parents matter. It was true before the pandemic and has never been more important to say out loud: Parents Matter.

"They have a right to know, and to have a say in, what their kids are being taught.

"Families also have every right to live in a safe and secure community. And that begins with a safe and secure country."

She speaks as someone who lives in America, not Washington.

She said, "Republicans may not have the White House. But we're doing what we can to fill the leadership vacuum. On the issues that are affecting Americans, Republicans are leading.

"We are standing up for parents and kids; we're standing up for life. We're keeping our communities safe and thanking those in uniform. We're fighting to restore America's energy independence, including biofuels. We're getting people back to work, not paying them to stay home. Most of all, we're respecting your freedom."

The Reagan Revolution lives on 42 years after his election as president. The RINOs and Democrats keep putting us down, but we rise again and again: the Gingrich Revolution in 1994, the Tea Party in 2010, and the election of Trump in 2016.

Americans must stand up for their rights. Parents matter means a little more than that. It means we the people matter. We're in charge, not Washington.

Her presidential hopes are somewhere between few and none. At 62, she is unlikely to be nominated as VP.

But she provided frustrated and ignored Americans with a rally cry.

Parents matter.

We do.