"Republican politicians have failed to learn the lesson of Ronald Reagan's two landslide electoral victories; conservatives will turn out and vote in overwhelming numbers for a genuinely conservative candidate."
Look at his opposition (Carter), not to mention the state of the economy. Plus, and maybe most to the point, the pubs were the party out of power at the time. In those cases they always act conservative. As for Reagan's actual performance, I thought it was great! But I'm afraid he may have been basically a lucky accident in terms of republican politics.
"..the lesson of the 1994 Republican Revolution; conservatives will turn out and vote in overwhelming numbers for a genuinely conservative agenda."
True. But again, consider both the political climate and the republican political position at the time. And look how quickly Newt got pilloried.
Most of all... Look at the continuing overall trend in terms of size of gvt over all those years. In my view, guys like Reagan and Newt are great where you can get 'em. But the best you can hope for ever from them is just a slowing in the rate of growth of gvt.
Fast or slow... were's still getting there (to socialism).
Is that a terrible mistake? Of course it is. I just hope I'm dead by then.
Your skepticism is understandable. You don't agree completely with your business associates, your wife or your children. Neither does anybody else. However, do you have any doubt that Ronald Reagan ran on very conservative political agendas in all of his electoral races, including his two races in California? They are called "leaders" because they are able to bring people, even people who normally disagree, along with them to the leader's side of the debate.
By the same token, no political party ever put forth a clearer conservative agenda than the Contract with America. There has never been a more dramatic shift in the balance of power. It is absolutely crucial that people understand why Republicans have not had another Contract with America. This will be the focus of our next article.