Well, the biggest election in the history of elections is over.  I’ve always been a bit of a political junkie but, towards the end there, even I was getting tired of it. 

After the dust settles somewhat the next phase will begin for the Republican party: the search for where we went wrong.  Did Mac get too centrist or too conservative?  Did he abandon core principles?  Was Palin the problem? 

The answers that we end up with will determine the relevancy of the Republicans for the foreseeable future.  History suggests that Republicans will regain some strength on the Hill in 2 years but beyond that, little is certain.  I believe that an over reaction is certaily possible – the repubican muckity mucks could decide that we went wrong by minimizing the role of the social warrior.  It’s also possible this won’t happen but it is a strong possibility.  With a pro-choice President appointing judges who are pro-choice I believe the role of the social warrior, in combination with Sarah Palin, will be an irresistable target for the republican establishment.

For most people I expect that they feel like we have always been at war with that particular social Oceania and they are tired of it.  Social issues are important to people but, at the national level, the principles that we have abandoned are not social, they are financial.  In the final analysis, social issues are not what got Obama elected.

The Republicans are supposed to be for reasonable government and fiscal respobsibility.  We haven’t just handed those tenets away, we’ve piled them in the street and set fire to them.  The growth of government is incredible.  We have an $11 trillion dollar debt, most of which was run up under Republican administrations, and are borrowing money from abroad as fast as they are willing to give it to us. 

I believe that if we are to regain our former glory, we need to get back to governing in a fiscally responsible way.  We need to get back to that core belief that the role of the Federal government is limited and states rights matter.  The first step in reaffirming this belief is to get spending under control and start to pay off our debts.