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I have been hoping to see a post like this from you, Jim. Thanks.

We have the system we have, and we are in the circumstances we are in. It didn't spring up overnight or by accident, and none of us here today will live to see our Republic fully restored to the Founder's vision.

However, like all Americans of every time, we have a job to do. Giving up and checking out is not an option.

I think that in January of 2009 things looked a lot worse for conservatism and for America than they do today, even considering Romney's apparent nomination. The tea party movement was and continues to be a great hope for the future. We have some good young people in office (Paul Ryan, Bobby Jindal, Scott Walker, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, etc.) The conservative new media presence is way ahead of where it was in 2008.

Here is what I see as the key point: America continues to be a conservative country and the American people can still be trusted as a whole to choose the conservative path if it is on offer. We need to build on this but the framework is still there, thank God.

Bill Clinton ran (falsely) as a moderate and a pragmatist in 1992 and won against a divided and demoralized GOP. He then governed as the leftist he always was and as a result the 'Rats got slammed in 1994. Bubba said "I hear you" and declared (insincerely) that "the era of big government is over." He then proceeded to compromise and govern as a moderate until after the 1996 election.

Obama also ran (even more falsely) as a moderate and a pragmatist in 2008 and won against a divided and demoralized GOP. He has governed as a raging commie. The 'Rats got smacked down again in 2010 but rather than employ Clintonian triangulation and guile, Obama has come out of the closet even more as a leftist. It is all about class warfare and identity politics with him and will be through November.

Here's the thing: Even though Romney is no one on FreeRepublic's idea of a true conservative, still he is running somewhat as a conservative. More importantly, we have the first election in decades where the Democrat is running as a self-acknowledged undiluted leftist. Thus we have a golden opportunity to run this election as a national referendum on conservatism vs. leftism.

I look forward to the next six months of explaining to the American people why leftism results in low growth, high unemployment, huge deficits and debt, inflation and a weak dollar, plummeting home valuations, exploding student loan debt, insolvent entitlement programs, ruinous unfunded public employee pension and health care obligations, bankrupt municipalities and states, downgraded credit ratings, and all the rest.

These failures of leftism are happening right now across America and throughout the Western world. Yet as recently as 2004 and even 2008 we had the 'Rats extolling the European big government model and talking about how America is backwards and hateful for not having government health care, government paid college, etc.

Obama and the 'Rats now have to own Obamacare, "stimulus", "green energy" central planning, @julia lifelong handouts to all, the entire menu of now-failed leftist nostrums. They have nowhere to hide when we come at them with the Reagan stick.

So let's just get right down to it and beat the crap out of them! (In the arena of debate and at the ballot box, of course.)

We can worry about Romney once he and the new GOP-majority Congress are in office.