By now we're all familiar with the fact that Republican victories on Election Day led to massive gains in Congress. Of course this puts the GOP in a much stronger position to advance its agenda - or at least thwart the Obama agenda for the next two years. Both are crucially important to be sure, but as most of us spend the weekend exchanging gifts, we should stop and consider a few of the other 2010 election "gifts" that are just as important for the long term.

Conservatives are more excited

The election validated over a year's worth of polls suggesting that conservatives were much more excited about casting their ballots than liberals or even independents were. The result was not only an overwhelming victory for Republicans, but an eight percent increase in voter turnout over the last midterm election in 2006.

This excitement demonstrated itself not only in results and turnout, but also in the candidates that were on the ballot to begin with. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, there were 6,115 state legislative seats up for grabs, and over 11,000 candidates running. Of those, Republicans ran 822 more than in 2008, while Democrats ran 50 less. In other words, excited conservatives translated into more Republican candidates.

The State House Revolutions

Despite all of the national attention that was focused on the battle for control of Congress, another (and perhaps more important) battle was playing out down the ballot all across the country. Specifically, the battle to control state legislatures. The result was the biggest win for Republicans since 1928.  read more »

It’s that time of year again when we as a nation take some time to stop and consider all of the things that we have to be thankful for.  And in light of the recent elections, one item that is often overlooked is this: our government is slow.

For all of our justifiable complaints about our elected officials, and even our system of government, the fact that it is slow is a gift from our country’s founding fathers for which we can all be truly thankful.

To say that the founders were suspicious of power, government and human nature would be an understatement.  And considering that self-government has to be administered by flawed individuals, they purposed to spread power as far, wide and thin as possible, reducing the potential for mischief that couldn’t be quickly checked by either competing interests or the voters themselves.

Not only did they provide us with the world’s first written constitution, a separation of executive, legislative and judicial power, and a division of legislative power, but they also had the presence of mind to stagger elections for representatives, president and senators every two, four and six years respectively. 

It was a conscious choice to design a system that would make rapid and radical change extremely difficult.  The end result being that Americans have to feel really, really strongly about something for an extended period of time in order to impact the election of enough officials to make substantial changes.  read more »

Now that the 2010 mid-term elections are over and (most of) the ballots have been counted, it’s worth a look to see what issues played the greatest role in the election and what that may tell us about 2012.

Of course there are a lot of issues, but from a conservative Republican standpoint, the most important ones to identify are those which played the greatest role in motivating voters to support massive Republican gains at all levels of governance – and what might do so again the next time they head to the polls.

The Economy

For good or ill, the economy is always an issue in any election. And when it’s bad, it hurts the party in power. The further we’ve come since the 2008 election, the more the economy is seen as being the responsibility of Democrats. The fact that unemployment has steadily increased for the two years they’ve been in power, (and after passage of their signature “stimulus” bills), puts them on the wrong side of public opinion.

Growth of government

Since taking power, Democrats have been on a steady quest (as usual) to increase the power and scope of government. From proposals to nationalize private enterprises to increased regulation and diminishment of consumer choices, people see the government getting bigger (faster) and their own control over their lives and their country getting smaller.

Of course the signature item in this category is ObamaCare. It is the prototypical liberal program: it’s massive, expensive and takes power away from individuals and state governments, in addition to being so large as to be completely opaque before it becomes law (and even well after). The result was a massive and sustained public rejection. Given that its size and scope ensures that it will have a personal impact on each and every American, it was taken as a personal assault to their control over their own lives and pocket-books. On Election Day, they reacted accordingly.  read more »

Time for all Americans to be Americans

What does it mean to you to be an American? Perhaps that is a very broad question and no doubt there are as many answers as there are citizens of this great country.

And speaking of our great country, let’s suggest a few things that have formed the foundation of this greatness. First of all, we began as one nation under God. Yes the phrase is actually still in our Pledge of Allegiance. Secondly, there is the Constitution of the United States developed by our founding fathers and empowered into being by the States. And thirdly, the frameworks of a unique government like none other before it that provides checks and balances to assure that the citizen class is never ignored in order to carry out the will of the people.

With the above foundations in place, guess what happens next? This country grows faster and stronger and freer than any other before it. And in just over 200 years we have been

transformed from small colonies of people to the greatest nation in the world. So what has happened? Why does it seem we are in meltdown?

Now if you are like me, you probably have lived all your life in this country characterized as one of the most affluent, industrious, militarily strong and free nations on all the earth. Has anything happened in these United States that you would consider threatening to any of those characteristics? Yes perhaps it is a baited question. But stop and consider how long it has taken for the majority of the populace to “wake up” and see that the threat is indeed very real and the times are dire for a return to what made this country great.  read more »