Ron Paul: Republicans Need to Rediscover Roots

There's no doubt that a large majority of Americans believe we're on the wrong track. That's why the candidate demanding "change" won the election. It mattered not that the change offered was no change at all, only a change in the engineer of a runaway train.

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Limiting government power and size with less spending and a balanced budget as the goal used to be a "traditional" Republican value. This is what Goldwater and Reagan talked about. That is what the Contract with America stood for.

The opportunity finally came in 2000 to do something about the cancerous growth of government. This clear message led to the Republican success at the polls.

Once the Republicans were in power, though, the promises faded, and all policies were directed at maintaining or increasing power by trying to whittle away at Democratic strength by acting like big-spending Democrats.

CNN

He makes a very good point.

I'll take it further: this election is only partially about the economics of government.

For most normally-Republican voters, it's about preservation of values. The ability to raise families in safe places and, yes, associate with whom they want to associate. They may prefer to be among their own ethnic group and social class.

The liberal assault on values has angered many, but Republicans didn't do enough to counter it.