Yesterday, the electorate ended its 12-year love affair with the Republican Majority. The American people broke up with the Republican Party via ballot, and their message was clear: it's not you, it's
me.
It wasn't just that the voters were angry and wanted out. It's not just that these bad boy Republicans didn't work out and some other "good" Republican will do. It's not just that conservatives have failed to govern properly (a statement, I believe, both sides of the aisle can agree on). It's that the governing ideology of conservatism is slipping out of favor with the American people. The decisive Democratic victory was a rejection of the conservativism peddled by this Republican Party.
But in denial, defeated Republicans just aren't picking up what the American people are putting down. From Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ):
"Last night's election was NOT a revolution, nor was it an endorsement of a true or real Democrat alternative. It was a rebuke of the way Washington has conducted itself as of late.
Mitt Romey (R-MA) is also in denial:
Americans spoke last night and Republicans are listening. Americans have not become less conservative, but they believe some Republicans have. [...]
We didn't hear a mandate for a more liberal direction because the Democrats didn't present one. Americans don't share those liberal ideas.
What voters told us is that America is stuck and Washington is broken. Voters told us to move forward by embracing our conservative convictions that Americans agree with and value - and we will.
Mitt, Mitt, Mitt. Let me gently break the news to you. When you can't get an abortion ban passed in freakin' South Dakota, America isn't trending conservative. When you can't get a gay marriage ban passed in Arizona, America isn't trending conservative. When opposition to gay marriage bans was more than 40% in 5 of the 8 bans that passed, America isn't trending conservative. When a majority of Americans choose Democrats to represent them, America isn't trending conservative.
America has changed a lot since the days of Reagan. It's changed even more since the GOP's Contract with America. Simply put, what Americans want is incompatible with what the GOP stands for today. America's appetite for the rapid, selfish conservatism of the last 12 years is waning, and the progressive ideology is becoming more attractive to more and more of its citizens.
Accordingly, Americans ended the dead-end, one-side political relationship of the past and embraced the Democratic Party in the hopes that this political relationship proves to be mutually beneficial, that this party proves to be an (almost) perfect fit.
And as for Republicans? Judging from the numbers last night, I don't think they'll be winning back the hearts of the American electorate anytime soon.