This Election Day, voters loudly turned away from the Republicans, but in doing so, they didn’t re-embrace the same tired big government policies whose failure vaulted the Republicans into the majority 12 years ago.

Across the nation, voters struck down ballot initiatives that called for higher taxes and more intrusive government power. In California, taxpayers went four-for-four by defeating a major tobacco tax hike, higher taxes on oil production, a per-parcel property tax, and increased corporate taxes; Californians also wisely curtailed state power to invoke imminent domain for public to private land transfers. Voters were in the mood for change, not higher taxes.

Even in Congressional races, Republicans who ran as fiscal conservatives won, while many of those who ran away from limited government lost. Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) and Representative Jim Leach (R-IA), two of the most liberal members of the GOP, both received “Ds� on our annual rating of Congress that tracks hundreds of votes each session that significantly affect federal spending, taxes, and debt. Advocating lots of taxpayer-funded spending didn’t help these politicians to escape defeat. Of the 26 confirmed GOP incumbents ousted on Election Day, only 2 achieved “A� grades on our latest annual rating.

The Democratic majority is here to stay in Washington for two years, but that doesn’t mean voters have abandoned their desire for fiscally conservative governance.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 10th, 2006 at 10:20 am and is filed under Politics, Economy/Budget, Campaign .