Congressman Tom Barrett: 'Being a socialist should disqualify him

You’ve got to hand it to a man who tells the truth about his opponent and then watches the other side squirm. That’s exactly what happened when Michigan’s Tom Barrett sized up his race in the Lansing-based 7th District and said the quiet part out loud: being a socialist should disqualify you from representing Americans in Congress. Barrett is running against William Lawrence, the founder of the Sunrise Movement. You remember those kids. The ones who want to cancel the economy, defund everything that works, and replace it with a Green New Deal wish list that reads like a ransom note from the future.

Let’s be honest about what Lawrence represents. This isn’t a debate between two flavors of conservative or even two views on tax policy. The Sunrise Movement literally campaigned to make the Green New Deal the centerpiece of American life. That means nationalizing energy, crushing agriculture, and putting climate activists in charge of your grocery bill. Barrett didn't say Lawrence is a bad guy or a poor campaigner. He said the man's worldview is disqualifying. That's not an attack. That's an assessment.

The left will howl that this is name-calling. It isn't. It's called reading the platform out loud. When your opponent proudly runs as a socialist in the heart of Michigan’s farm country, the most honest thing a conservative can do is point at the label and let the voters decide. Barrett understands something a lot of Republicans forget: you don't have to make the other guy look bad. He already did that himself. You just have to connect the dots for people who are busy living their lives.

This race is tight, and it shouldn't be. But tight races are the price we pay for a district that's been gerrymandered into a blur. Barrett may be the only thing standing between that seat and a vote for the Green New Deal. In that fight, the socialist label isn't a smear. It's a warning label. The voters in the 7th should read it carefully, because the alternative is a guy who thinks the answer to high gas prices is more government. That’s not a vision. That’s a bill.