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The Republican Revolution is Dead
CFP ^ | May 13, 2005 | Alan Caruba

Posted on 05/13/2005 8:02:45 AM PDT by MikeEdwards

Back in 1994 when the famed Republican "Contract with America" captured control of Congress for the party, Newt Gingrich, one of its authors, noted that, "Washington is like a sponge. It absorbs waves of change, and it slows them down, and it softens them, and then one morning they cease to exist."

The Republican Party regained power in the House of Representatives after forty years of Democrat domination. They had a margin of 54 House seats. It had been the largest party swing since 1948. In the Senate, they gained control with the addition of eight seats, and added a ninth when Richard Shelby of Alabama switched parties. Like many Republicans, I can recall thinking that we could now look forward to changes in domestic and foreign policies that conservatives had yearned for throughout the Reagan years.

Even Bill Clinton thought so as well. In his 1996, State of the Union address, he said, "The era of big government is over." Perhaps he was thinking about the Contract with America because the newly elected Republican majority, in the first hundred days in office, passed legislation that did make changes.

They introduced real welfare reform and the first major tax cut in sixteen years. The Contract produced the first four consecutive balanced budgets since the 1920s and the first independent financial audit of the House. The Contract resulted in House committee meetings to be open to the public, required a three-fifths majority vote to pass tax increases, and a time limit on the terms of all committee chairs. The Contract’s broad promise was to "end…government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public’s money." But that was a decade ago. . . . .

(Excerpt) Read more at canadafreepress.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: america; contract; contractwithamerica; republican; with
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1 posted on 05/13/2005 8:02:45 AM PDT by MikeEdwards
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To: MikeEdwards

Thats what happens when you have a bunch of limp wristed people with no backbone.


2 posted on 05/13/2005 8:05:06 AM PDT by Piquaboy (22 year veteran of the Army, Air Force and Navy, Pray for all our military .)
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To: Piquaboy
Thats what happens when you have a bunch of limp wristed people with no backbone.

That's what happens when people who run on a platform of devolving away federal power gain the reigns of federal power. All of a sudden they ain't so interested in getting rid of what they just obtained.

3 posted on 05/13/2005 8:06:21 AM PDT by dirtboy (Drooling moron since 1998...)
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To: MikeEdwards

Did I miss the last election or something?


4 posted on 05/13/2005 8:07:10 AM PDT by funkywbr
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To: dirtboy

Good point...we are stuck between a rock and a hard place...we vote them out, and we get a party that is running on a platform of bigger government....


5 posted on 05/13/2005 8:08:03 AM PDT by Tulane
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To: MikeEdwards

As I recall it, I knew it was over when the introduced about 9 different bills regarding Term Limits so none of them would get a majority support.

All talk.


6 posted on 05/13/2005 8:14:07 AM PDT by scfirewall
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To: Piquaboy
That's what happens when the populace is dumbed down and hand fed at the goverment trough.


The pols are just giving the addicted, "we the people", what we want. More.

7 posted on 05/13/2005 8:14:20 AM PDT by G.Mason ( Save the Republic from the shallow, demagogic sectarians.)
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To: MikeEdwards

It sure is. These days a Republican is a watered-down Democrat.


8 posted on 05/13/2005 8:20:29 AM PDT by FreedomAvatar (Gravity is only a theory, too)
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To: scfirewall

It was all over when the part about being "fiscal conservative" got all shot to hell. I feel like I have this huge knife, in the shape of a rolled up 1040, sticking in the middle of my back.

I'm going to puke when the Dems lead the charge back claiming "fiscal responsibility", and then do the same thing the GOP did once they got there - take a Mr. Burns/Scrooge McDuck/etc... bath in all the money they are fleecing from us.


9 posted on 05/13/2005 8:24:31 AM PDT by SengirV
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To: G.Mason
At my age, my main concern besides breathing in after I breath out, is what kind of country I am leaving for my grandchildren. Will I leave them saddled with a large debt, a debased dollar, and a national culture that is not in the American tradition?

There does not seem to be a major political party on the horizon that stands for these factors. The minority parties, probably will never be in the majority because of the large dependent population that we have created.

10 posted on 05/13/2005 8:24:45 AM PDT by Citizen Tom Paine (A old sailor sends- coming ahead slowly against head seas.)
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To: MikeEdwards
Here is an interesting exchange I overheard between two democrats when they didn't know I was a die-hard Republican:


11 posted on 05/13/2005 8:25:04 AM PDT by Slyfox
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To: MikeEdwards

The Republican Revolution is dead because they decided to turn their back on us and do what they always do, which is kiss the asses of the RATS.


12 posted on 05/13/2005 8:30:54 AM PDT by Houmatt (Jeb Bush is a moron. Tracking devices on sex offenders? Give me a break!)
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To: G.Mason

People are just so overwhelmed these days - many folks are working 2-3 jobs and many households have both parents working. People are just exhausted between working, commuting, raising kids - where do we find time to control these yahoos as well? Most of them have betrayed us and revealed their true colors, especiallly in regards to immigration issues. The sight of Gingrich sucking up to the Hildebeest is nauseating.


13 posted on 05/13/2005 8:33:52 AM PDT by blueblazes
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To: MikeEdwards
"The sight of Gingrich sucking up to the Hildebeest is nauseating." Boy, you got that right. What in the heck is Gingrich thinking I'll never know. Really puzzled.
14 posted on 05/13/2005 8:41:00 AM PDT by Logical me (Oh, well!!!)
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To: MikeEdwards
The so-called Republican Revolution of the 1990`s was based on a conservative policy agenda that championed the idea of limited government. Too bad the effort was so short lived. The tax cuts pushed into law by PresBush and the GOP majority were the right thing to do, but Republicans have not addressed the expansive growth of the federal bureaucracy early in the new century. The American taxpayer is still being forced to pay for a bloated bureaucracy of liberal programs that continues to suck the life out of hard working people.

Sadly, big government Republicanism rules.

15 posted on 05/13/2005 8:41:22 AM PDT by Reagan Man ("Don't let the bastards grind you down." General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell)
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To: Citizen Tom Paine
This lament has been going on, at least since Davy Crockett was in Congress. (1827)


No one listened to him then. No one, or very few, are listening now.

Anyone who dares to openly state that the government of the United States has no right to use monies of the U.S.Treasury for welfare, or social programs is immediately drummed out of town.


Yes. You will leave your grandchildren "saddled with a large debt, a debased dollar, and a national culture that is not in the American tradition.". But therein does not lie the problem.

You will leave them totally dependent on the government for their very survival as they slide down the slope into third world status.

They won't mind. They are being prepared for it in the public school system and we have allowed it.

16 posted on 05/13/2005 8:45:39 AM PDT by G.Mason ( Save the Republic from the shallow, demagogic sectarians.)
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To: MikeEdwards

What happened in November, 2004?


17 posted on 05/13/2005 8:47:40 AM PDT by Dallas59 (" I have a great team that is going to beat George W. Bush" John Kerry -2004)
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To: dirtboy

Bump, you nailed it.


18 posted on 05/13/2005 8:50:59 AM PDT by jpsb (I already know I am a terrible speller)
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To: scfirewall

Exactly Right! I have yet to see any idiot news media report on what you point out, though I'm sure politicians do this on other matters. In this case, practically every Republican could claim he voted FOR term limits, but with a wink and nod because there were so many bills, as planned, everybody knew none of them would win.

Then Bushie decided he wanted to outspend every Democrat president in history, mental health screen all kids, destroy the culture with illegal aliens....A Kerry presidency would have been better because the Republicans would have stiffed him and held back spending. Frist, who was originally a real conservative, seems more like a Trent Lott today. I guess I could only vote for a Ron Paul.


19 posted on 05/13/2005 8:54:44 AM PDT by Charlesj (I'd gladly fire Drier.)
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To: Dallas59
A liberal, globalist, big spending government growing president was reelected. Which kind of reinforces the point of the article that conservatism is all but dead in the usa.
20 posted on 05/13/2005 8:55:07 AM PDT by jpsb (I already know I am a terrible speller)
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