The Moose avers that there is a growing opening for an innovative and insurgent political party.
There is no conservative party in America. The Republican Party has clearly betrayed its small government constituency. And by its obeisance to money power, it has clearly turned it back on the reform elements that supported the '94 Republican Party.
That means the donkey has an opportunity to both peal off key Republican constituencies in '06 and '08 and perhaps win back both Congress and the White House. Democrats must craft a "conservative" message that both appeals to GOP social moderates and limited government types. That message should embrace the themes of balanced budgets and restrained government intrusion into the lives of Americans.
The reform agenda must encompass the elimination of the money culture that has corrupted the legislative process. It must crack down on the "K Street" revolving door lobbying web. And it should embrace non partisan redistricting to appeal to independents who are sick and tired of the polarizing partisanship.
As one who participated in the '94 Republican Revolution, the Moose can attest that the GOP Congress increasingly has the odor of the old Democratic Congress before the fall - or as the Wall Street Journal described the Bug Man - "Smells Like Beltway." To the relief of the Moose, the denizens of the right are sticking with DeLay. The Washington Post reports,
"House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) challenged his liberal critics yesterday to "bring it on," as major conservative groups organized a formal defense against questions about DeLay's ethical conduct.
"The groups -- led by David A. Keene of the American Conservative Union and including the Heritage Foundation, Leadership Institute and Family Research Council -- met privately with DeLay last week and pledged to use their grass-roots databases and networks to try to mitigate the damage from news accounts of DeLay's travel and relationships with lobbyists."
By linking their fate to DeLay's, the right will soon share the stench of the Bug Man.
Democrats must now be the odor eaters. The Congressional Republicans are slavishly subservient to the special interests of corporate power and the religious right. Increasingly, the GOP appears to be shrill and extreme when they aren't busy shilling for big money.
The political Zeitgeist may be shifting. As the Washington Post indicated the other day, even the conservative egg heads are headed for the tall grass on social security privatization. The Moose is not saying that the day of doom is imminent for the elephant. Rather, he argues that there is a opportunity for a bold, visionary party that runs against the Washington establishment.
The Democrats must take to the hills and fight as insurgents. Think majority. -- | 
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