WHAT’S NEXT?

Crisis=Danger and Opportunity

The old saying that the Chinese character for crisis is a combination of danger and opportunity applies here. Nowhere is this truer than at this time with this Congress. In previous mid-term elections, George W. Bush dodged the historic mid-term election losses that most presidents experience. Perhaps this was the accumulation of those historic losses that did not previously materialize.

If Republicans had to lose an election, this was the one to lose. This gives them two years to get their act together and two years for Democrat and Liberal pratfalls. The radical Left in the Democrat party will not go quietly. The national Democrats were able to push the Liberals in the closet and nail the door shut. However, with the exuberance that goes with gaining a majority, they will need to deploy more and longer nails in the door because those folk have not gone into permanent hiding.

Democrats have to lead now and with leadership come responsibility. Democrats will have to take responsibility for ALL that happens—the good, the bad and the ugly.

THE BAD: Look for a flood of investigations under the guise of “oversight”. The Liberals in the Democrat party are salivating for the opportunity to grandstand on some of their pet issues: Katrina, intelligence estimates, Halliburton, gasoline prices. Historically, they have been incapable of not being intemperate in these matters. Charles Rangle, slated to be chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has already said the tax cuts will not be made permanent. In the Senate Judiciary Committee, look for an end to judges who adhere to judicial restraint and originalism. Of course you will see the steady increase in the welfare state as Liberals increase the percentage of the population that is beholden to the government especially behavior modification through the tax code. More people will be made wards of the state through tax preferences and exemptions.

THE UGLY: The 2008 Presidential Campaign started two days after the mid-term elections when Democratic Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa took the initial step in his long-shot bid for the White House Thursday by establishing a presidential campaign committee and seeking an early jump on 2008. John McCain is tapping his presidential snare drum to begin the media’s marching cadence to elect him president. George W. Bush has already said he is going to resume his fight for “comprehensive immigration reform,” read: amnesty for illegal aliens.

THE GOOD: After this election debacle there might actually be new GOP leadership coming from the ranks of conservatives, signaling a return to the REAL Conservatism that was the heart of Reagan and Gingrich Revolutions. U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, R-Ind., formally announced his campaign for Republican Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. Spence sent a letter to his colleagues, “we didn't just lose our majority, I believe we lost our way .... Our opponents will say that the American people rejected our Republican vision. I say the American people didn't quit on the Contract with America, we did. And in so doing, we severed the bonds of trust between our party and millions of our most ardent supporters....” Apparently he gets it. Other potentially bright spots include Mitch McConnell from Kentucky running for Senate Minority Leader. McConnell was on the front lines leading the battle against the despicable McCain-Feingold campaign finance “reform”. Marsha Blackburn, appears to get it also. She is running for House Republican Conference chairman saying, “We lost because we didn’t trumpet our ideas enough and we didn’t stick to our core beliefs enough. We have the better vision for America, we just have to get back to that vision and share it with voters more effectively.”

Perhaps all is not lost. The Democrats who got elected ran as moderate, centrist and, dare I say, conservatives. No doubt they will come to like being in the majority and hopefully they will mightily strive to match their actions with their rhetoric, since the days of talking conservative at home and voting Liberal in Washington are gone.

In truth, the path back to majority status for Republicans can be found in the words of Barry Goldwater forty years ago: “I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is "needed" before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents "interests," I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can.”

If Republicans embrace this philosophy and govern accordingly, conservatives will return and the put them back in power. If enough Republicans and Democrats wrap their arms around it, conservatives can enjoy a working majority that will restore the republic.