NationRight

So, what do we do now?  President-Elect Obama whipped our candidate in the Presidential Race and his party gained on ours in both houses of Congress. 

Its a bad time to be a Republican, right?  I’m not so sure.  I think any true conservative has been less than thrilled with the general direction of the Republican Party over the past couple of years, culminating in this ridiculous bailout-mania that is sweeping the economy.  First this bank, then that, then AIG, then all the banks, now Detroit… give me a break.  President Bush, Secretary Paulson, and many other Republicans have abandoned their Conservative principles in the face of this so-called crisis.  So, not surprisingly, the voters have abandoned them, and the Democrats now have a mandate for change from the people.

However, I believe that it took a near-disaster like the recent election to wake up the Republican Party, to guide the party back to its roots in Conservatism.  So, in an effort to stay positive, I am glad that we lost.  I am certainly glad that John McCain is no longer the standard-bearer of the Conservative movement.  But, we do need a leader or, preferably, a group of leaders.  Who will they be?

The Republican Governors met this week (after a fairly successful election for them, by the way) and the headliners were:

• Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
• Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty
• Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal
• South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford
• Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour

All of these, particularly the first three, are intriguing choices, and are, for the most part, solid conservatives.

The Republican National Committee will meet in January.  Among the likely candidates for the chairmanship are sure to be:

• Former Maryland Leiutenant Governor Michael Steele
• Current RNC Chairman Mike Duncan
• Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich

Speaker Gingrich led the last “Republican Revolution” and I think he makes an intriguing choice as RNC Chairman.  I have great respect for Mike Duncan, but I cannot see re-electing him after what happened this year in the elections.

I think its important to recognize the true Conservatives that voted against the Socialist Bailout Plan.  The most interesting of these are Kansas Senator Sam Brownback and Louisiana Senator David Vitter.  Vitter, in particular, is interesting to me.  He is the first Republican to ever be elected Senator in the State of Louisiana.

Regardless of where the future leadership rests, the most improtant thing is that we don’t continue to abandon Conservatism.  We are Conservatives because we know that limited government, low taxes, strong families, and personal responsibility are the way to economic and social progress.  This election was not about America disagreeing with those ideals, it was about America disagreeing with our party’s abandonment of those ideals.