Stop Scouting the Opposition—Start Perfecting Our Own Game Plan
When the great UCLA basketball coach John Wooden was asked how much time he spent scouting opposing teams, his answer was direct—none. “We spend all our time thinking about what we do, and we hope our opponents spend all their time thinking about what we do.”
Wooden wasn’t claiming ignorance of his opponents. He knew their strengths and weaknesses. But his focus remained inward—on preparation, fundamentals, and identity. That lesson applies well to today’s Republican Party. It’s time, at every level, for Republicans to take a breath and think seriously about what we stand for. We need to “scout ourselves.”
For too long, we’ve allowed the political left to dictate the tempo of debate. We react, we counterpunch, we defend. That’s a losing mindset—even when you’re winning. If we are the party of ideas, then let’s act like it. Let’s make the other side react to us.
At the federal level, Republicans should ground our policy discussions around four critical benchmarks—security, sovereignty, education, and economic dignity.
Security: Is our military readiness improving daily? Do we have enough ships, planes, and trained personnel to deter aggression from China and other adversaries? That’s the first duty of government—protecting the American people.
Sovereignty: Are we securing our borders and protecting American jobs in key industries? Are we ensuring energy independence? A sovereign nation must be capable of defending both its territory and its economy.
Education: Are our schools producing the scientists, engineers, and builders who will sustain the next century of American innovation? We should be cultivating homegrown STEM graduates rather than importing talent to fill gaps our own system failed to prepare for.
Economic Dignity: Are we protecting society’s most vulnerable without promoting dependency? It’s time to revisit Milton Friedman’s “Negative Income Tax” concept—a model that replaces our bloated welfare bureaucracy with a simple, efficient, and dignified alternative. Under Friedman’s approach, individuals earning below a set threshold receive direct, automatic payments from the government that diminish as income rises. This ensures that work always pays and erases the perverse incentives of the current welfare trap.
This model aligns with President Trump’s recent comments about sending money directly to Americans and enabling them to invest in their own Health Savings Accounts—a practical, liberty-based method for reforming healthcare and welfare alike. It empowers citizens rather than bureaucracies.
We should be discussing these ideas now—before the 2026 elections—not when we’re under electoral siege. Republicans must present a unified alternative to the bureaucratic sprawl that defines the Affordable Care Act. Americans have seen what happens when government grows too large to be honest: millions of dollars lost to fraud at the bottom and profiteering conglomerates at the top.
Coach Wooden taught that great teams don’t spend their energy reacting to others—great teams set the standard. Republicans should do the same: stop scouting the opposition and start refining our own game plan. That’s how champions act.
