you and I really aren’t disagreeing at all...I’m not disputing that the Contract was, for awhile, a good thing that connected with middle America.
But where is it now?
You point out correctly the party has gone “wrong” the last 6 years, and you are right.
For a brief time we were given the impression that the “Contract” was going to be a continuing relationship with republicans trying to work for families.
But once Newt hit a brick wall - politics returned to business as usual.
Newt turned out to be a typical politician, who was affective for awhile but in the end was exposed for what he is.
The republican party returned to DC politics and forgot about the Contract.
Newt has a big character flaw, that doesn’t mean that his idea wasn’t a good one. He implemented it and it worked splendidly. trouble is the party could not keep it going after his demise. The same old moderates and CYA politicians drifted right back to their same old habits. And that’s how we got Bill Frist Trent Lot and the rest of the hide under the bed moderates.