The Party of Growth

By Tom Quiner

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt1fYSAChxs]

The time has come for the Republican Party to begin acting like Republicans again.

This week’s election is not a mandate for Republicans, but rather a mandate for Republican ideas. One of America’s best and brightest pundits is the Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Henninger. He talked about what Republicans need to do in today’s column:

“The simplest way for the Republican Party to free itself and the economy from this unending Beltway hell is by reviving a core belief of one of the country’s most successful presidents: If the government will get out of the way, Ronald Reagan argued, there’s no limit to what the American people can achieve.”

And there you have it. Democrats believe in the power of the government. Reagan Republicans believe in the power of the people and free markets. As I pointed out in my post yesterday, Republicans collaborated in the explosion of government spending under Bush II. Not to be undone, President Obama has left President Bush in the dust.

When President Bush II left office, the federal government controlled 35 percent of our economy. In two short years, Mr. Obama has increased the share to 44.7 percent, ahead of socialist-leaning democracies like Great Britain and Germany.

Do we want this much power, this much of our dwindling wealth, shipped into the beltway for bureaucrats to determine what’s best for America?

It’s time for Republicans to say no. As Mr. Henninger said:

“Congressional spending is the locus of Washington’s power. They decide who gets reprocessed taxpayer money and who doesn’t. This sustains the regulatory bureaucracies and all those orbiting Washington lobbyists. That is the solar system known as Inside the Beltway.”

Republicans need to listen to President Reagan. Let’s take back our country from the big spenders in Washington who are making our country worse, not better.

The chart below shows it all. Our government is out of control.

I encourage you to take the time to listen to Ronald Reagan’s 1964 speech above. It struck me how it is immediately fresh and relevant. His ideas are timeless. We need these ideas more than ever.

Republicans: it is time to start acting like Republicans again. America is hungry for you to once again be the party of growth. Ronald Reagan talked about it in 1964, and then he put his ideas into action when he became President. Guess what? They were wildly successful.

Let’s get to work!