Cooper: Why would we go backward?

On Tuesday, Americans have the opportunity to keep the country going forward or re-anchor it in the failed policies of the past.

We hope they choose wisely, not just in Tennessee but across the country.

Remember the past? Only two short years ago, then-President Barack Obama told us about “the new normal.” The new normal was slow economic growth, a record number of business-crushing rules and regulations, and a future postponed.

In 2016, the last year of his second term, economic growth was 1.6 percent, the weakest in five years. The growth of the country’s gross national product decelerated each of the last three quarters of the year.

As the presidential race hit its sprint that fall, The New York Times declared “the underlying reality of low growth will haunt whoever wins the White House.”

That same far-left newspaper, two months ago, said “by nearly every standard measure, the American economy is doing well.”

What changed? A pro-growth, low-taxes, low-regulations businessman was elected president.

President Donald Trump is not on the ballot in Tuesday’s election, but he’s admitted his policies are. He rightly has taken credit for a humming economy, for business expansions and for more money in the pockets of most Americans.

But it’s not just the economy. At his direction, the U.S. accelerated its efforts to help rid the Middle East of the creeping, cancerous Islamic State. He helped engineer peace talks between North Korea and South Korea, talks which have the potential of seeing North Korea give up its nuclear weapons. He withdrew the U.S. from a nuclear weapons deal with Iran that had little to no strategic value for the United States and did not keep the Middle East country from continuing to be a sponsor of terror.

Trump also withdrew the country from a multi-nation climate treaty that even true believers admitted would have little to no long-term affect on the climate. He also did what previous presidents only pledged to do and moved the United States embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Domestically, he has appointed two conservative judges to the U.S. Supreme Court and many others to lower courts, has eliminated many of the onerous demands of the Affordable Care Act, and has, in smaller ways that have gone little noticed, made numerous decisions to protect religious liberty and the sanctity of human life.

Trump has done all that with a broad target on his back. The political left and its national media allies were so incensed by Trump’s upset victory over their candidate, Hillary Clinton, that they have done all they can to thwart him at every turn. Beyond opposing his policies and the legislation he has suggested through the Republican Congress, they have sought to target ordinary Americans who support him with slurs and hate, violently confronted other Republicans, and shut down the communication of those who support him.

Here’s the rub:

Without a Republican Congress, progress in the last two years of Trump’s term could stop. Even a Democratic House would curb what the president could do for the American people, would spend the next two years investigating this jot and that tittle, and generally would spin the nation’s wheels.

Why, as a nation, should we go backward?

Tennessee, by all conventional wisdom, will have no say in whether Republicans keep or Democrats take control of the U.S. House. Although three of the state’s House members are not running for re-election, the state’s delegation is expected to remain seven Republicans and two Democrats.

In the Senate, it could be a different matter. Currently, Republicans hold a tenuous, 51-47 majority, with the two independents always caucusing with Democrats. An open Tennessee seat pits Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn against Democratic former Gov. Phil Bredesen. Although we believe Bredesen was an effective governor, we aren’t sold on his claim that he would be an independent operator in Washington. Unfortunately, in today’s hyper-partisan climate, it doesn’t work that way there, especially with Democrats. If you go there, you are expected to toe the line, and that line today is far to the left of most Tennesseans. We strongly suggest a vote for Blackburn.

In the Tennessee governor’s race, voters have an opportunity to build on the state’s accomplishments under the two terms of Republican Bill Haslam by electing Republican Bill Lee. Over the past eight years, the state has lowered many taxes, increased funding for education and created innovative education opportunities, kept its debt low and decreased the size of government. Lee, a businessman, would continue the state on a fiscally conservative track while drawing on his experience in the private sector to help bring solutions to some of the state’s most vexing problems. We believe he is the right man at the right time.

The last time a Republican president faced a mid-term election, in 2006, the war in Iraq, wrongly placed Hurricane Katrina blame, the needed suggestion of Social Security reform and individual candidate scandals ushered in a Democratic Congress for the last two years of George W. Bush’s presidency. Within two years, consumer confidence fell, the housing market collapsed and the economy tanked. It’s a fact.

In 2010, the electorate returned Republicans to power in the House and in 2014 to the Senate.

We need not go through that again. Americans need only remember what has been gained since 2016, be mindful of the hateful winds attempting to halt those gains and vote to continue moving the country forward.