Rep. John Shadegg on the Republican Party
November 15th, 2006 by Brendan SteinhauserRep. John Shadegg has a great piece in NRO on the Republican Party.
What happened to our promises? Huge government entitlements threaten to bankrupt the federal budget, earmarks exploded and often appeared corrupt and self-serving even if they weren’t, and the budget process has not been reformed. Still, some Republicans were surprised when some of the American people gave up on us and dealt us a decisive blow that quite frankly, could have been much worse.
Yet, in defeat there is a real opportunity for Republicans. We now have an opportunity to evaluate, unite, and change course. We must learn from the mistakes of the Democrats after their loss in 1994, and not spend the next 12 years in the minority. They kept the same leaders and not until they made the necessary changes eight years later did they begin to find a road toward success. If we want to return to the majority soon, we must take corrective action now. We cannot, as they did, count on the others side to make mistakes.
