Senator DeMint (R-SC) lays out the warning in the Wall Street Journal:
…I ask what so many voters are pondering: If Republicans win this fall, will they have learned the lessons from the overspending and corruption that got them tossed out in 2006 and 2008?
“In the House, John Boehner and the Republicans get it,” Mr. DeMint says. He’s not so sure about the Senate. “I think we’re in danger of doing the same thing we did before, where a lot of young conservatives come in who have been out there campaigning on the right issues, but then all the senior guys take control of the committees and it’s business as usual.”
He warns: “This may be our last chance with voters, because if we’re given the majority . . . and don’t reform Washington, everybody is going to say, ‘What’s wrong with these guys? We need a third party.'”…
The Senator may well be right about that. I’m a Republican and I’ve stood by the party through thick and thin – complaining when RINOs and/or corruption stained our honor, but holding that the party, itself, was still a force for good. I am still convinced of this – but if the GOP blows it in 2011, then it will be time to re-think just how we get from current state of government collapse to reformed government working for the people.
Like DeMint, I see that the House GOP seems to have learned its lesson – but in Senators like Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe I still see GOPers who will cut the party off at the knees for personal advancement. If we win in November, then it will be a mandate from the people to force Obama off his agenda – to make him change course to a more moderate, centrist policy. This doesn’t mean we have to insist upon 100%, down-the-line Reaganism (not possible while Obama is in the White House), but it does mean that taxes must not be raised, even if we can’t cut them; that spending must be reduced; corruption must be rooted out; that the government be responsive to the needs of the people, banksters and bureaucrats can go jump in a lake.
If the GOP does this, then we will have earned the trust of the people and we’ll be well positioned for a complete and smashing victory in 2012. If the GOP tries to cut deals to get pork or to continue to bail out failed banks or does anything which smacks of helping the Ruling Class rather than the people, then the GOP may very well be on the path to self-destruction as the people start looking for a new party and a new set of leaders.
The warning has been given – and I hope the GOP leadership is listening.
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