We are now several days past the biggest Republican comeback since--well--since there were Republicans. Several important changes have been made, but at least one attitude adjustment is still required.
It is clear from Obama’s pouting, Reid’s smirking, and Pelosi’s refusal to surrender center stage that Democrat leaders will choose to ignore this stinging rebuke of their political philosophy and continue to push America toward crippling socialism. Thus, it is likely that in 2012, the Democrats will present an even larger and slower-moving target than they did this time around.
Second, most conservatives realize this was a defeat for the liberal agenda rather than a warm electoral embrace of Republicans. As P. J. O’Rourke correctly predicted, this was not so much an election as a restraining order against runaway big government. If the electorate had any other alternative than Republicans to Democrat liberalism, they probably would have chosen it. But in our current two-party system, Democrat intransigence handed the GOP a big win.
Many have said this is the last chance for Republicans to act on conservative principles. They are on probation, with a voting public ready to toss them out if they fall into the big government, big spending, big brother ways that cost them the majority at the end of the Bush 43 administration.
Voters now expect Republicans, bolstered by many newly elected conservatives in the Congress, to stop the runaway spending, dismantle Obamacare, reduce the size and scope of government, save the Bush tax cuts, and get this economy back on its feet. If they falter or compromise or betray these principles, then Republicans will be vacating their newly-won offices in two years’ time.
The Democrats and their media henchmen will try to convince you that Republicans caused the debt that Obama and his Congress created. They will frighten you with stories of the old, the infirm and the helpless being abandoned by heartless conservatives. They will argue that only drastically higher taxes can save this country and raise revenue, when exactly the opposite is true.
That’s why the real responsibility for what happens to this country rests not with the Democrats nor with the Republicans. If this last election taught us anything, it is that the buck stops with the American voter. We are smart enough to know when government ceases to act in our best interests, and to register our disapproval at the ballot box. 2010 was just the latest example of the American electorate saying, "Enough is enough. Throw the bums out."
If we truly want lower taxes, smaller government, freedom to choose our own health care, and a balanced federal budget, we will have to accept some painful consequences. We may have to sacrifice services the government has been providing, accept cuts in programs we have come to rely upon. We will have to stand behind the people in Congress who make those tough choices, and ignore the wailing of those whose power and influence depend on their ability to dispense pork and political favor.
Americans have given Republicans one more chance to prove they’re worthy of our votes. If they fail, if they waver, if they sell out, then we should kick them out of office. But if they do what we ask of them, in the face of what is certain to be a deluge of criticism and defamation, then we must give them our unwavering support, our encouragement, and our votes. Because if we don’t have the courage of our convictions, neither will those who represent us.
