OPINION:
To borrow a 1984 phrase from the Gipper, it’s morning in America.
With the GOP sweeping the Fedzillacrats from the political battlefield last night, there is real hope once again for the shining city on a hill.
The message from sea to shining sea is wonderfully clear: Americans are fed up and angry with the big-government, central-planning, out-of-touch, fiscally irresponsible Fedzillacrats from both parties.
The Washington swamp was drained last night. There was a thorough housecleaning. Nancy Pelosi will no longer be speaker of the House. Many new faces with new ideas are thundering into the city. Good. That’s healthy for our republic.
A historic, tectonic shift in American politics happened last night that caused a massive GOP landslide. The GOP picked up at least 61 seats in the House and at least six seats in the Senate. The Obama Socialism Express was derailed.
The political minutemen and -women known as the Tea Party and those other re-engaged, disgusted and angry Americans are responsible for this political earthquake. Once marginalized and made fun of by media pundits and discounted by out-of-touch politicians, the grass-roots Tea Party was an unstoppable political juggernaut in 2010.
Spearheaded by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, radio talk-show host Glenn Beck and others, ordinary Americans flocked to the Tea Party armed with a healthy disgust and deep suspicion of all things Washington-status-quo. The election of 2010 will go down in history as the Great Tea Party Massacre. The Founding Fathers would smile with pride at Sarah, Glenn and many other patriots.
Not only was a message sent to the president and the Fedzillacrats, but the Tea Party fired a broadside “less government, lower taxes” salvo at the GOP, too.
That message is this: Americans want much less spending and borrowing, more fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, fewer regulatory controls and a lot less ineffective and unaccountable Fedzilla. Most important, Americans want their message acted upon.
Working-hard Americans understand that we cannot be pulled from the financial quicksand we find ourselves in by giving Fedzillacrats more power and more of our paychecks. Instead of pulling us out of the quicksand, Washington Fedzillacrats will pour concrete on our heads and claim they are helping us. The way out of this deep hole is to get Washington out of the way.
This GOP landslide victory will not instantly make things better, but it’s the first step in the right direction. Reversing the damage done to America by both Republicans and Democrats will not be easy, cheap or fast.
We have some very difficult decisions to make, and those decisions require our politicians, especially in the GOP, to have a bold and honest conversation with the American people about our condition and how to claw ourselves out of this deep and dark hole.
America could not afford to continue down the socialism path advocated by the president and his fellow Fedzillacrats in Congress. Regardless of the relentless political spin, the American people know in their guts that being in debt for trillions and trillions of dollars does not bode well for the future of America. They know that more borrowing and spending will not create long-lasting, good jobs.
The GOP must not make the same mistake that President Obama made in 2008, thinking he had received a mandate. Big mistake. What the GOP must do is lead from the front by embracing much less government and lowering taxes - that will put Americans back to work again. It worked for President Kennedy and President Reagan, and it can work now.
There is no time to hold grudges or enmity toward the Democrats. There is too much to be done. It may be morning in America, but the GOP must not burn any daylight singing requiems for the Democrats. Get cracking, GOP. It’s now or never.
This election was historic, one for the ages. But that’s not what’s important. What matters is what the GOP does with this new power, and that remains to be seen. America will be watching closely.
Ted Nugent is an unstoppable American rock ’n’ roll, sporting and political activist icon. He is author of “Ted, White and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto” and “God, Guns & Rock ’N’ Roll” (Regnery Publishing).
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