The critical consideration isn't particular issues. Nor is it the newly revealed willingness of the electorate to "trust" the GOP with federal power. It's something simpler and more ominous, with very long term implications.
The Democrats are the masters of a political tactic against which even unshakeable facts and evidence will always fight an uphill struggle. That tactic is special-interest coalition building.
To build coalitions of special interests, one looks for groups that vote as a bloc around single issues, and promises them what they want. Look at the Democratic base. Its members don't agree on anything! It fragments into special interests as soon as you focus on it. Their common thread is that they all believe that Democratic officeholders will support their special interests. And how diverse those interests are:
I could go on, of course, but there's no real need. Noteworthily, the Democrats managed to tick off a critical special interest group -- firearms enthusiasts -- in 2000 and thus made George Bush President of the United States. It was their one really important error.
The central question for conservatives is how to counter this tactic. Conservatives can't use the tactic; it involves promising to pay Peter out of Paul's pocket, which is antithetical to the principles of individual liberty and limited government. But it is axiomatic that the Left will continue to use the tactic. As Boortz notes above, 97% of all federal revenue is generated by the upper 50% of the economy. Peter is indeed paying Paul for the privilege of remaining out of jail.
There remains much work to be done. Let the new GOP majorities in Congress set to their tasks, and let us set to ours -- finding a true counter-agent to the politics of plunder that the Democrats and the special interests to which they pander have wielded so sucessfully for so long.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
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