The Republican Party's Role in the Future of American Democracy

We should all sincerely hope that the GOP will leave behind its recent history, when it ran campaigns built on themes of limited government, then governed as if it could not increase the size and scope of government fast enough.
They clearly lost sight of how oversized government has taken over every aspect of our lives, in fact, they became agents to make this happen.  

The GOP lost its way.  The War in Iraq has gone on too long to be acceptable to the American electorate.   The Bush Administration thought it could govern against the will of the majority continually, in fact treated it as if it was its duty.  The core cheerleaders for the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coulter, etc., then acted as if the American voters had a duty to go and vote for this expansionist view of government power.

American voters rejected the GOP, I believe,

primarily because they were increasing the power of government, they were using government power more than, greater than, we wanted.  This is unacceptable to our voters whether it is done by Republicans or Democrats, but especially when it is done by a Party that runs on themes of limited government.

The war became such an incredible electorate disaster, even tremendous military success in The Surge, became irrelevant – completely irrelevant.   But the Republicans got caught up in the cause of using our military power for its desired ends, and basically ignored the voters’ wishes in doing so.

As much of an albatross as the war became, however.   Across the spectrum, the GOP lost voters because they continued to pursue a larger scale of government than the people of America  desired.

If you doubt whether this is true, ask yourself, how many people do you know who have become Republicans because of No Child Left Behind?  Not many?  How about the Patriot Act?  Almost none?   Well then, how about the Bail Out Bill? 

 Truly, the $700 Billion bail out that George Bush and John McCain rushed through Congress became an epitaph to the kind of anti-populist conservatism that became the trademark of the GOP’s last two standard bearers, and the message that should be borne in mind by those who hold a temporary reigns of power in America:

The graveyard awaits anyone who would extend the reach of political power against the will of the American people.

It is true regardless of the popular mandate one holds before daring to impose more and larger government on the people.  The Democrats should have learned that lesson in 1994.  Unfortunately, because so many of the leaders they have chosen for their party today were held by Congressmen in the same safe seats back in 1994, they have heard the wrong message.

As the Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, and the new President who came from their own ranks, scurry to advance the intervention of government into whole new areas of our lives, they are grievously ignoring Bush and McCain’s epitaph.

Let us hope that Republicans will now recognize their losses for the rejection of government expansionism that it was.  If they do, there is hope that our government can be reigned in before it bankrupts itself.  If not, there will be no leadership and no impediment to the path toward collapse under the incredibly heavy burdens of government that continue growing heavier year by year.