The GOP Lacks More Vision Than Ever At The RNC

Sure, there have been themes each day at the Republican National Convention — and perhaps they sound great to you. "Make America This Again;" "Make America That Again." They do sound extremely patriotic — or nationalistic depending on your point of view. But in any case, each day's theme has one word in common: "again." And thus there's one thing that the RNC is missing that even Republicans have noticed.

As the Associated Press quoted Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican junior Senator from Tennessee, there's plenty left to be desired about what we've seen so far in Cleveland. "I do hope at some point there's going to be a positive message about the future and where the country's going." So it's not just me that sees the RNC thus far as a mix of doom, gloom, and hatred directed at Hillary Clinton.

Think back on the past days. We haven't heard a new master plan to bring our country, education system, and infrastructure into the 21st Century. No, this year the RNC is all about going backwards, to some imaginary time in the past that was perfect — even though that moment never existed, especially if you weren't a straight, white male born stateside. Even if we could return to 1950s Leave it to Beaver, who would want to?

The Chattanooga Times Free Press got Corker to expand on his thoughts — and how a vision could help Trump in November:

I think that an important element is making the case for why people should vote for you and what the country will be like if you're elected and those things that you put in place that affect people on an everyday basis.

Perhaps Trump will do all of that and more with his speech Thursday night, but it seems doubtful. If you take a look at the Trump campaign website, he only has seven positions. And two aren't even visions for the United States. One is about Mexico building a wall and another is about renegotiating trade with China. The others include healthcare reform, which is basically repealing Obamacare, and another is about protecting "Second Amendment rights," — not a vision of an America without gun violence.

Combine that with the kinds of things the other speakers have said thus far, and we may go the entire RNC without a positive vision for the future being expressed. Rudy Giuliani expressed fear while yelling in rage. Chris Christie painted Clinton as the ultimate foreign policy villain. Ben Carson played the Lucifer card. Mike Pence and Ted Cruz weren't planting visual pictures of rainbows and sunshine either.

So in the end this "positive message about the future and where the country's going" that Corker is hoping to see just might not happen this week. In that case, hopefully the Senator will tune in to next week's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. The difference ought to be striking.