It is often said that Newt Gingrich and I "nationalized" the election in 1994, but what the Contract with America really did was establish a national (as opposed to a parochial) vision for the Republican Party. When we took control, that positive Reagan vision of limited government and individual responsibility provided a great deal of discipline and allowed us to govern accordingly. Our primary question in those early years was: How do we reform government and return money and power back to the American people?

Eventually, the policy innovators and the "Spirit of '94" were largely replaced by political bureaucrats driven by a narrow vision. Their question became: How do we hold onto political power? The aberrant behavior and scandals that ended up defining the Republican majority in 2006 were a direct consequence of this shift in choice criteria from policy to political power...

I've always wondered why Republicans insist on acting like Democrats in hopes of retaining political power, while Democrats act like us in order to win.

If there was only one positive outcome for the Republicans in their defeat this week, I hope it will be that they will listen to people like Gingrich and Armey. We need more Reagan Republicans - those who are interested in limited government, personal responsibility, and returning power back to the people. Just as I think the Republican defeat in 1992 led the way for a revolution in 1994, I hope that a Republican defeat in 2006 leads the way for a revolution in 2008. There may be only one way for the Fairtax to get any traction - in the midst of a new revolution.

Labels: politics