Republicans Abandoned Libertarian Principles… and Lost the Elections
Tuesday's midterm elections were a rout. Democrats picked up seven Senate seats, including Texas, Kansas, South Carolina, Iowa, and Ohio, and flipped more than forty House districts, some of which Donald Trump had carried by double digits only two years ago.
Commentators will blame candidate quality, redistricting, or the president's personality. The real lesson is simpler, and the Republican establishment will not like it. A party that claims to defend limited government but chooses to tax imports, run two-trillion-dollar deficits, and fund expensive wars ends up judged on what big government delivers. This week voters judged it, and they didn't like what they got.
A party that trades liberalization for government intervention and adopts part of the left's populist agenda, including blaming businesses for price increases or promising money paid with more debt, immediately sees how voters shift to the radical left that promise 100% interventionism. It happened in Europe, and it is happening in America.
The exit polls make the point clearly. Nearly nine in ten voters said the cost of living was a crucial or major factor in their decision, and a majority believed the administration's policies, including the Iran war and tariffs, had made their economic situation worse. Seven in ten said they wanted Congress to place more checks and balances on the president. Voters were asking for
