Despite having both houses of Congress, most of the contract was not really accomplished.
And after that, we got “the education president” just 6-7 years later who instead of abolishing the dept of education, expanded it more than ever despite its very existence being in violation of the tenth amendment. Great example of bait and switch, not by intent (I believe the contract with America was well intended), but by the constant flaw of our party, “being nice” to those democrats who have proven over and over again that they cannot be trusted. We’ve blew our chance to get better government that could demonstrate itself effectively to everyone, thereby increasing its chance of being perpetuated—but gosh we were sure nice!
No it was bait-n-switch, they (the cynical leadership) never intended to pass real limits on themselves, they simply wanted the power. The freshman class, they believed, their supporters believed and many of them kept their voluntarily pledged self limits. Some (JC Watts, George Nethercutt and a few others) reneged and became objects of scorn. That together with Gingrich’s pants problem and the growing spend and spend mentality led to the GOP returning to minority status. Scum like Stevens of Alaska and Cunningham of California and Foley of Florida added to the valid charge of hypocricy.