My Kids Are Exactly The Voters Republicans Lost Last Night

I woke up this morning with a heavy heart and a clear head. Republicans lost big last night . As a Republican, I am not going to pretend we didn’t have this coming. This year I got to see the party from a different perspective: from the inside… and through the eyes of my young adult children . We didn’t lose because our principles failed. We lost because so many of our leaders drifted from them. The light is growing dim, and the weakening torch is being guarded, not passed to the next generation . We didn’t lose because our principles failed. We lost because so many of our leaders drifted from them. The next generation doesn’t feel heard, known, valued, or respected. I know, because I’m a mom of 15. My kids are passionate and principled individuals, ages 11 to 27, and they want a ballot full of leaders who fight for them, not against them. What matters most? As I listen to my adult kids and the young parents around me, it comes down to something like this: Liberty. Life. Free speech. Justice. The freedom to pursue one’s own happiness without government overreach. They want low taxes. Less red tape, more trust. Fewer potholes. Clean air, clean water, clean food, safe medicine, vibrant main streets, diverse farms, safe and affordable communities, and real food on the table. This generation wants sidewalks that go places. Not wider roads, not more asphalt, and not bigger parking lots. They want the government out of their business, their bedroom, and their medicine cabinet. They don’t want to be coerced into vaccinations, and they don’t want to be punished for keeping chickens or for selling eggs to a neighbor. They don’t want to be burdened with the debts of the previous generation’s out-of-control spending. They don’t want wars in Iran and Ukraine , and a legacy of broken promises. They want the freedom to give their kids a better education than public schools currently offer, and they don’t think children should have to be medicated just to sit still through boring lessons. They want neighborhood schools their kids can walk to, where they learn skills over standardization. They don’t want politicians to look the other way when their buddies are getting drunk on private islands and doing things they ought not. They are tired of the waste, fraud, and abuse. They don’t want AI robots running the country. They don’t want data centers that look like prisons. They don’t want eminent domain used against them and in favor of private companies . They want to get back to basics and raise families on one income instead of two, so someone can create a home for the kids. They want the government out of their business, their bedroom, and their medicine cabinet. They want faith that’s spiritual and churches that take a stand. They want leaders they are not ashamed of. They want the criminals off the streets and out of public office. They want to raise up the next generation in a country where a mother’s womb is not a dangerous place for a child. Those are not new ideas. They are the ideas this nation was built on. Many of these values are based on the foundation of liberty… that the Republican Party has always claimed to stand on. These are the principles our soldiers went to battle for. Last night, a nation that still holds on to the principles that made us America told us it no longer believes we, the GOP, do too.