The Republican Party is at a crossroads.
As I write this column, Republicans in Congress are in the process of deciding whom they will support to replace Tom Delay as majority leader.
Washington insiders are betting on Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt, who has been acting majority leader since Delay stepped down.
Also interested in the job is Education Committee Chairman John Boehner of Ohio, who guided through the No Child Left Behind legislation for the Bush administration.
A late entry in the race is Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona, who represents many of the insurgent Class of 1994.
The outcome of the election might be a harbinger of the direction of the Republican Party for years to come. It could determine whether Republicans are willing to hold on to power for power’s sake at the expense of the principals that initially brought them to the majority in ‘94.
Reform is the operative word of the day in Washington — the question is “Will Republicans truly embrace a reformer?” Is “big government conservatism” what the party of Reagan wants to stand for?
Since being elected president in 2000, President Bush has yet to veto a single spending bill and — either by design or by default — both Bush and the Republican Congress are to a degree complicit in the record deficits that confront our country.
Are Republicans so addicted to power that they will march in lockstep for any program or earmark that is put in front of them? Do we truly believe that education policy can be dictated to the states by an all-knowing federal nanny?
Is supporting the Prescription Drug Bill good policy for seniors and good politics for the GOP?
Many conservatives in Congress held their noses and voted for the Prescription Drug Bill and other big-government pork-laden legislation that was an anathema to their principals of limited government in part, to help Bush win re-election in 2004. That concern no longer exists. Bush is not running again.
Now might be the time for Republicans to look past the Bush presidency and to their own identity and their party’s future.
It may be instructive for Republicans to remember that they did not achieve majority status in Congress after four decades of Democratic control by a presidential victory — but by articulating a clear vision about what the size, scope, and mission of government should be.
In 1994 under the revolutionary leadership of Newt Gingrich, Republicans stood for a bold conservative agenda that included; smaller federal government, returning power to the states, lower taxes, greater individual freedom, and above all, reform.
And, it should be pointed out, that for six years after 1994 Republican majority victories were not followed by a presidential victory.
It is not clear who will succeed Delay. What is clear is that the 2006 mid-term elections are fast approaching. The direction the new Republican leadership team takes will have a significant impact on the party.
The Republican majority is a stake. It is time for conservative leaders to reassert themselves and truly take on the reform mantle that brought them to power. In doing so, they will reinvigorate their base and help define the 2008 presidential race.
Marc Rotterman is a senior fellow of the John Locke Foundation and treasurer of the American Conservative Union.