There was this rumor going around once that the Bush administration was conservative. I'm a conservative, and I just don't see it. We were promised we wouldn't nation-build, yet here we are in Iraq with that as our only justification, absent WMDs and an Al Qaeda smoking gun (both of dubious existence). Back in '94 as part of the Contract with America, we promised a balanced budget. Yet here we are, with a deficit well beyond any demands homeland security could justify.

Now I betcha George Bush is going to lose us the presidency, and you'll never guess why: it's the economy, Stupid. For those with a short or convenient memory, deficits were projected even before 9/11 (Sept 4, 01 - CBO). What's the matter here? With control of every major branch of government, it seems our national leadership just coudn't resist the tonic of power.

The GOP has slipped into the quagmire of Rockefeller Republicanism so deplored by the Goldwater- Reagan revolution. We cannot become the party of government-by-deficit to the Democrat government-by-tax. Both are economic and moral evils of equal weight. Recall that this was the issue Perot stung us with, causing the rise of Clinton. Unless we wish to decay into European Socialist malaise, we must have government that can say 'No.'

Herein lies the essence of progressive Republicanism, not the crumbs of a meager tax cut. Enough of Congressmen who can explain. I didn't buy it from the Democrats, either.

Certainly someone will question my commitment to the party if I'm slamming the national leadership. It's a fair question- whose side am I on, anyway? I'm a Republican because I'm attached to a set of principles, not to a personality or family. Republicanism is not about whose snout is in the public trough- ours or theirs. It is largely about responsibility and accountability. Being the party in power, we can no longer pass the buck, but it seems we sure can spend it.