By Rick Manning – At this time of year, it is traditional to look back on stories and actions that got our nation to where it is at the beginning of a new year. These five stories either changed the way we look at our government, or the world in such a way, that they will likely have a profound [...]

By Howard Rich – At long last there are finally signs that the American Republic’s breakneck descent into full-blown socialist madness — which was fast approaching terminal velocity prior to November’s elections – could be leveling out. Does this mean our newly-elected leaders can pull America out of its precipitous fiscal nose dive before it’s too late? That remains to [...]

By Adam Bitely – The Tea Party is the “Person of the Year for 2010” and it isn’t even close. No single grassroots movement in modern politics has so rapidly developed while simultaneously influencing the U.S. political system as widely and deeply as the Tea Party Movement. The beginning of this movement can be traced back to late 2008 and [...]

By Howard Rich – While it lacks the panache of Patrick Henry’s impassioned “give me liberty” cry (which the Virginian borrowed from Cato, incidentally), the reality is that Republicans looking for a modus operandi in Washington next year could do a lot worse than “give us gridlock.” In fact gridlock is really all that they can promise voters — at [...]

By David Bozeman – Whenever the dominant political culture starts calling for moderation and a return to civility, it usually means that conservatives are exercising their Constitutional rights again. The recent Rally for Sanity on the national mall was reportedly tongue-in-cheek, but it underscored a mindset that regularly reminded us throughout the Bush years that dissent was not only proper, [...]

Conservative leaders sent a letter to John Boehner urging him to not grant Rep. Jerry Lewis a waiver to serve as Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Lewis was term-limited out from serving as Chair but was  seeking a waiver to maintain control of the committee. Here is the letter that was sent to Boehner: The Honorable John A. Boehner [...]

In Virginia, Delegate John O’Bannon is sponsoring legislation that could bring a “Don’t Tread On Me” license plate to the roads in the Old Dominion. This seems like a pretty cool idea. There is some irony in the license plate though. As Bearing Drift’s Brian Kirwin noted, “I don’t mind if the Tea Party gets their own license plates. I [...]

By Rebekah Rast – Not all Republicans are the same. Some Republicans in the House of Representatives favor a more moderate approach when voting on big-ticket items like health care, cap-and-trade and stimulus bills.  Others stick to fiscally conservative values and shrink away from voting “yea” on anything that would add additional debt to the nation or grow government power. [...]

There is no question that the tea party movement has dramatically contributed to the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives and narrowing the margin in the Senate. In addition to providing boosted turnout — it helped raise turnout to an estimated 41.5 percent (some 90 million) — since early 2009, the tea parties and other citizen activists have helped [...]

As congressional Republicans bask in their historic rout of Democrats, taking the House of Representatives and closing the margin in the Senate, the survivors left in Washington, D.C. have a clear message from the American people: “You could be next.” The fact is, nobody in the Washington establishment thought it was possible. Obama was too popular. Republicans needed to compromise [...]