Cheer up, conservatives. Far from rejecting conservative principles, voters across America have resoundingly affirmed them.  And they sent a harsh admonition to those who choose to neglect them. 

Skeptical? If so, ask yourself this question:  were Republicans swept from power because they adhered to the Contract with America, which galvanized their majority in 1994?  Or is the opposite true – Republicans were swept from power because they disregarded those principles? 

The answer is obvious.  Republicans were disciplined because they neglected conservatism, not because they practiced it.  Quoting Congressman Mike Pence (R-Indiana), one of the most thoughtful and articulate conservative voices in Congress who announced his campaign for Republican Leader of the House of Representatives, "the American people didn't quit on the Contract with America, we did."

After winning the majority in 1994, Republicans balanced the budget, enacted revolutionary welfare reform, cut taxes, and advocated limited government.  They focused on their central message, and voters rewarded them in five consecutive elections. 

More recently, however, the majority bloated the federal budget and abused earmark spending.  Since 2001, Republicans increased domestic spending almost 50% and enacted a reckless Medicare expansion that constitutes the largest new entitlement in 40 years.  Republicans also oversaw a seven-fold increase in pork projects since 1998.  Several incumbents also acted unethically, others grotesquely abandoned limited-government principles. 

This behavior created a generalized, overriding sense among voters that many Republicans had simply abandoned the conservative principles that they were elected to implement. 

In contrast, Democrats finally won by nominating conservative candidates and advocating fiscal responsibility.  Nancy Pelosi's "New Direction for America," which alone would increase federal spending by $79 billion, was nowhere to be found. 

In North Carolina, for instance, Democrat challenger Heath Shuler won by declaring that "I strongly support the Second Amendment," that "I will never support using eminent domain to take away any individual's private property for the benefit of another individual or corporation," and that "we cannot leave a political vacuum in Iraq and threaten to further destabilize the entire region." 

A stronger commitment to those conservative principles is difficult to imagine. 

In Indiana, Democratic challenger Brad Ellsworth is a former county sheriff who boldly signed Americans for Tax Reform's famous anti-tax pledge.  And in Pennsylvania, Navy veteran and Democrat challenger Chris Carney stressed his Navy experience and committed to "winning" in Iraq, leading Richard Perle to support him. 

In Montana, Jon Tester won a razor-thin victory by expressly advocating Second Amendment rights, and Connecticut's Joe Lieberman crushed anti-war darling Ned Lamont, the quickly-discarded poster candidate of the radical Left.  In Virginia, recent Republican Jim Webb touted his military bona fides.  Furthermore, Senators Jon Kyl (R – Arizona) and John Ensign (R – Nevada), two unapologetic conservatives, scored two of the most impressive Senate victories, with Ensign vanquishing former President Jimmy Carter's son. 

Also consider voter initiatives.  On ballots across America, voters resoundingly implemented conservative principles. 

In Michigan, for instance, the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative passed by a 60% to 40% majority.  Voters thus eliminated race- and sex-based "affirmative action," despite being outspent by a three-to-one margin.  Considering that University of Michigan admissions policies led to the Supreme Court's outrageous 2003 decision upholding race-based preferences, this vote was particularly important. 

Other ballot initiatives provide additional reason for optimism.  In no fewer than nine states, for example, voters passed initiatives restricting eminent domain and regulatory abuse.  This resounding rejection of last year's abominable Kelo v. City of New London Supreme Court decision is a critical affirmation of conservative principles in states from Florida to Arizona to New Hampshire.  Similar property-rights initiatives will be introduced in upcoming elections. 

Thus, voters across America overwhelmingly reaffirmed their allegiance to conservative principles.  Incumbents who forgot these principles and failed to govern as conservatives therefore suffered a harsh lesson.  Stated simply, Americans demand fiscal responsibility, property rights, and ethical responsibility. 

Conservative Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) neatly summarizes the results.  "This election was not a rejection of conservative principles, but a rejection of corrupt, complacent and incompetent government.  Our short-term, politically-expedient, bread and circus governing philosophy has failed.  One of the great paradoxes in politics is that governing to maintain power is the surest way to lose it.  The Republican Party now has an opportunity to rediscover its identity as a party for limited government, free enterprise and individual responsibility." 

Opportunity knocks.  Will Republicans get the message?