The Return of Two-Party Rule
With the right GOP leadership, Election '06 may prove to be a boon for limited government.
Radley Balko | November 10, 2006

Perhaps I’m suffering from the pundit's fallacy, but I think libertarians and limited government advocates can take heart in Tuesday’s election results. Here’s why:

The number one issue most voters cited in exit polling Tuesday was terrorism. Half of those voters gave their votes to the Democrats, showing that even in what was thought to be the GOP’s strongest issue, President Bush’s expansionist, civil-liberties-be-damned approach to locking up the evildoers isn’t the sure thing the Republicans thought it was.

From there, Tuesday by most indications was a rejection of big government conservatism, not 1994-style limited government conservatism. The second issue most important to voters, for example, was corruption. The third was Iraq. Voters who cited each voted overwhelmingly for the Democrats. Nowhere in exit polling did voters say they were throwing the bums out because they spent too little, refused to raise the minimum wage, or because voters were clamoring for more regulation of business, or socialized health care.

Corruption is the result of a federal government too flush with money and too fat with influence. When billions of dollars are at stake -- either in the form of handouts and corporate welfare, or from the effects of regulation -- it only makes sense that corporations and special interests would spend millions to secure a spot at the trough, or to tweak regulations to their liking. The more influence wielded in Washington, the further corrupting forces will go to win a share of it...

http://www.reasonmag.com/news/show/116649.html