I usually agree with the author, but I think he's tone deaf this time. The sequester was Obama's solution to the original fiscal cliff crisis in 2011. The GOP must allow Obama to come with concessions to avoid his own sequester. We can't lead, and can't force him. The DpD has already made adjustments to almost fit at sequester levels, so any pain will be on the discretionary domestic spending side. Just ALLOW Obama to make sweetening concessions to avoid his own sequester. Don't argue it, just quietly say, "We're in a spending and deficit crisis, so that's not enough." until he bows to the inevitable. That's how we managed to get the Bush tax cuts finally made permanent, except for the plus $450 K bracket. He preened; we pocketed!

". . . the simple reality is that millions of people who do, in fact, pay federal income taxes do not care about those tax dollars the same way. . ." That's the "beauty" of automatic withholding of income and social security taxes from paychecks. The taxpayer never actually sees the money slip thru his fingers the way he does with more local taxes.Since the money is invisible, it isn't examined or resented! With local taxes, the taxpayer has to write the check to the County or peel off the extra bills to pay the sales tax and sees every penny of it. He thus has the opportunity to determine whether he is getting value for what is paid and mindful of the boondoggles.

The delusion was that the GOP selected a candidate who was a difference maker. Romney is a good man, and would have been a superior manager. But he would not have been transformative. Quite the contrary, he too would have managed the decline and enlarged the State. The silver lining, admittedly a bittersweet irony, is that we still have an incompetent in the White House, unable to actually lead. Thus we have the new Hoover, which will lead to destruction of the Dem party AND the GOP. We will evolve to pure choices between European style statists and may perhaps be given the option of a constitutionalist. eventually.

In other words, the content of their character, not the color of their skin? Kind of has a ring to it. Maybe someone could use it in a speech someday!

I've read Brooks' book, and it is masterful. Twinned with Arnn's "The Founders Key" , you have the all-encompassing vision of an America triumphant with morally principled conservatives as the dominant leaders! The trick then will be to live up to our own principles, as the 2000s GOP failed to do, giving us this Obamanation!

Yes, Obama has IL, CA, & NY, but Romney that with TX and most of the South. The battle will be waged in the midwest, mid Atlantic states, CO, NV, NM, CT, NH, and FL. Obama can eke out a win, but Romney can create a wave election to give the nation truly transformative change to a pro-growth standing. The energy sector unleashed could produce a million high paying jobs fairly quickly, and dramatically lower costs to the population. Stabilizing tax rates permanently, even if undoing a lot of subsidies, while allowing the tax free repatriation of offshore profits would bring multiple trillion$ in new investment back within the domestic economy. We could be in boom times before the 2014 election cycle, and finishing the job on the Dem Senate.

That's why I said, "But the GOP cannot fail to DO IT this time!" I'm not kidding! It is now or never! An Article 5 Convention would never be authorized to restore Founding principles without elected officials leading the way first. I believe the Progressives control enough States outright to prevent such a call unless it is for their benefit, and clearly wouldn't pas any Amendments in the same way. So we must crawl before we walk. With leadership from the TEA Parties holding our Congress accountable, we can send proper legislation to Romney and he WILL sign it. I think the voting booths are the ONLY way to get it done. WE gave them 100 year head start. Won't you give us 12??

The politically viable promises of Obamacare repeal, competition inducing healthcare reforms, rollback of regulations, spurring of domestic energy production, and the general downsizing of government implied therein, when added to the vast amount of money now on the sidelines, can definitely cause a genuine recovery boom to start. Actually making these promises real creates a virtuous economic cycle. Adding government cost/benefit analysis will further savings and spur leveraged private growth and tax revenues. Yes, slowing down IS a step toward stopping and reversing the well-established, and potentially fatal trend. But the GOP cannot fail to DO IT this time! The debt overhang is too treacherous!