Why We Lost

It was indeed a dark week for the Republican Party. The loss of Senators such as Conrad Burns, Jim Talent, Mike Dewine, Rick Santorum, and George Allen is not only a blow to the Republican party, it is also a blow to this country. The innagural post of this blog is dedicated to the Conservative ideal embodied by these noble warriors.

When Republicans took back the House of Representatives in 1994, we all expected the country to change. What is remarkable, is, in fact, how little it changed. With Newt Gingrich's "Contract for America", Conservatives and Moderates alike believed that the Republican Party would succeed in making the country a better place. Hopes were high that the Republican Congress would fix Social Security, Medicare, Immigration, and a host of similar problems plaguing this country.

However, as time went on, it became clear that the Republicans would not fix these problems. Most of the party gave up on Gingrich's "Contract for America" and contented themselves with remaining in power by embracing the status quo.

In the past dozen years of Republican dominance in Congress, little has changed. The reforms we were promised never occurred, the ideals we held in common were never put into practice. The Republicans defeated themselves this past Tuesday. They defeated themselves because they lost sight of their goals, embraced partisan politics, and lost the backbone to deal with issues of national importance. While the Republicans did make some progress (the partial birth abortion ban), they deserved to lose the election. They failed their Conservative base, the Republican Party, and the American people.

-LWS-