Free Republic

THE PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE W. Bush has three years yet to run, but this season of scandal and disillusionment is an opportune moment for conservatives to start thinking seriously about the post-Bush era--and particularly how to fashion a domestic policy from the wreckage of Bush-style, big-government conservatism. Thanks to the abiding weakness of the Democratic party, Republicans haven't yet paid a political price for insider-friendly appropriation bills, Medicare boondoggles, or the smog of semi-corruption rising from the party's cozy relationship with KStreet. But even if the GOP's majority survives the next election cycle, conservatives shouldn't kid themselves: President Bush's domestic...

To some analysts, Bush has now staked out the goal of completing the conservative revolution that Reagan launched in the 1980 election — and perhaps going further. Bush sometimes appears "less pragmatic" than Reagan was, the former Reagan administration official said. "Reagan worked in a Democratic-majority era, and had to compromise to get 80% of what he wanted," he said. Bush holds out for more, he said, and now with stronger Republican majorities in Congress he may succeed more often. "This goes beyond the Reagan agenda, considerably beyond it," said professor Walter Dean Burnham, a longtime Bush-watcher at the University...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Contending Americans have embraced his conservative agenda, President Bush pledged Thursday to aggressively pursue major changes in Social Security, the tax code and medical malpractice awards, working with Democrats if they are receptive and leaving them behind if they're not. "I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it," Bush said a day after a decisive victory that made him the first president in 68 years to win re-election and gain seats in both the House and Senate. "I'll reach out to everyone who shares our goals," said Bush, who 24...