When did the Reagan revolution actually end?  I believe it ended in 1995-6 when Bill Clinton beat Newt Gingrich in the budget showdown.

            After the 1994 Congressional sweep, the Republicans and conservatives were in control of congress.  Emboldened by a mandate with the Contract with America, the Republicans were ready for battle, to finally cut spending and shrink and end some of the harmful New Deal/Great Society programs we have never been able to get rid of.  A balanced budget was part of the Contract with America.  We went nose to nose with President Clinton.   President Clinton won.

            Clinton out maneuvered us and won the public relations battle.  Obviously since Clinton won, the country wanted big government and spending.  Then Clinton won re-election in 1996 by a healthy margin and the R's lost most of their ability to say "no" to big spending.  There was still some restraint, but courage was now gone.  That's when the Reagan revolution ended and Republicans lost their name brand.

            As time went on, the Republican congress voted for even more spending.  After all, in the late 1990s we were in a surplus.  Then George Bush was elected in 2000 by the narrowest of margins.  We lost the Senate for a few years, and when we came back in 2002 all restraint on spending was at an end.  The Reagan legacy was a memory and as a result, the public no longer thinks of us as competent, prudent, thrifty spenders.  The Republican congress voted to spend even more than the Democrats proposed.  We either were now true spenders or so scared of criticism we'd out spend the D's.  The country simply can not afford things like the Medicare drug program and all the other insane spending, like the "bridge to nowhere." 

            This all comes to bear in the election of 2006, when our Congressional majorities were wiped out.  How to get it back?  It's pretty obvious to me.

Mark R. Hanson is the President of the Arlington Republican Club.

            While watching the HBO series, John Adams, a docudrama based on the life of the second President of the United States, I began thinking about what the world would be like today if the revolution had been lost and England had triumphed over the colonists. What if America did not exist?  I then recalled a blog by Edward Hudgins, the Washington Director of The Objectivist Center (an institute dedicated to the promotion of reason, individualism and freedom) where he eloquently puts forth the concept of a world without America, which serves as the basis for this article.

            Think what would have happened if our brave Minutemen had not fought so valiantly at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. What if George Washington had decided to give up rather than brave the cold winter at Valley Forge? What would have been the result if Thomas Jefferson, with the help of John Adams, had not written the Declaration of Independence and his words were lost because England had triumphed?

            The real heart and soul of our country is the freedom outlined in that Declaration, written in the hot summer of 1776-that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator, "with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed." 

            Without that powerful affirmation of the rights of the individual, perhaps the Minutemen and other colonists would not have fought for their independence. Maybe the colonists would not have been able to understand the future benefits that would result from a resounding victory over the British. Without those words, would the nation be willing to spill the blood of thousands in order to eradicate the stain of slavery a generation later?

            Without victory in the Revolution, North America would look totally different. Perhaps a few million of the colonists in a British America would have remained but they would likely have been confined to the East Coast, with the French, Russians, Spanish, to the south occupying the rest. Without America, many of these European powers might have spent endless years in wars in North America, fighting wars like the wars they had fought for years in Europe.

            However, what did happen-in only two plus centuries-is that the U.S. expanded from east to west, north to south. Those three million colonists have turned into over 300 million freedom-loving citizens who have together created the most productive country in the world. These proud citizens have built homes and towns, farmed the land, raised livestock, mined for gold and other metals, established means of trade and seaports, and built railroads, highways, river systems, and airways to move the goods. They built steel and textile mills, along with other factories and created shining cities bustling with commerce during the Industrial Revolution, a revolution not yet ended.   These productive American citizens explored space and put a man on the moon, and built a healthcare system that is second to none. 

            Without America, there would have been no capitalistic society to create the largest economy in the world. This economic powerhouse is able to produce enough food to more than feed itself, but also the entire world. There would have been no Thomas Edison and General Electric to light up the world, no Wright Brothers and Boeing to put planes in the skies; no Alexander Graham Bell, Microsoft, or Apple Computer to make the entire world communicate instantaneously. There would be no General Motors and no Ford Motor Company that created a society that is constantly on the move.

            "Without America, there would be no spirit of hope and optimism that contrasts with the pessimism and cynicism that can be found in even more developed countries," according to Edward Hudgins.  Hudgins goes on to explain the concept of freedom, that, "Without America there would be no land of endless opportunity that has attracted millions of immigrants-individuals who were poor in wealth but rich in the desire to work hard and take risks to ensure a better life for themselves and their families." Without the blood, sweat, and tears of our Founding Fathers, there would be no sanctuary for those suffering under political and religious persecution.

            Thank God there is an America-a land in which a person of any race, sex, or religion can live their lives with the chance at success and guaranteed freedom from fears of oppression and persecution. Yes, fortunately, our Founding Fathers, like John Adams, prevailed to establish here on Earth a blessed land of freedom that respects the equality of each and every human being.

Anne Coker is the 4^th Vice President of the Arlington Republican Club.

            I know none of you were surprised when a local Fort Worth Hillary Clinton supporter decided to challenge my re-election this year. In both of my past elections (2002 and 2004), the liberals of Tarrant County have tried to run against me and failed --- in both of these elections, you all helped me win with 59 percent of the vote!

            Now, I am being opposed by a former Fort Worth city councilwoman who quit her elected job to campaign for Hillary Clinton for President and to run against me for State Senate.  Like Hillary Clinton, my opponent is a tax and spend liberal; and like Hillary Clinton, my opponent's credibility is so poor, she was voted by the readership of one local TarrantCounty newspaper as the local politician "most likely to sell her own grandma!"  My opponent was also the only member of the Fort Worth City Council to vote against senior citizen property tax freezes! How cruel and insensitive!

            Additionally, my liberal Hillary Clinton want-a-be opponent abused local homeowner and neighborhood rights by sneaking public housing apartment projects into existing neighborhoods without proper public notice or hearings. The very neighborhoods my opponent represented opposed these subsidized apartment projects!

            In stark contrast, I have strongly supported tax cuts, senior citizen property tax freezes and I have strongly supported private property owner rights. My opponent also voted for foreign company ownership of our local toll roads! Again, I strongly oppose this!  I've been intrigued how the news media has fallen head-over-heels in love with the liberal's rhetoric of "change." But we all know what the liberals mean with their code talk and sound bites of "change."

            TO THIS, I SAY: "NO WAY, NO HOW, NOT NOW AND NOT EVER!"

            I cannot stress how important it is that you get energized.  I need you and everyone you know, to get involved in this November's election to protect homeowner rights, safe streets, low taxes and the Texas conservative way of life. 

            I hope you and your family agree with my wife, Janna, and I and our children and grandchildren that liberal change is not a change for the better.  In fact, such liberal "change" is the kind of change Texas families don't want and can't afford!

            Your consideration of support in this election is appreciated!  My grandkids wanted me to add that your yard would certainly look great with a "Kim Brimer for State Senate" yard sign this fall.

            Thank you and God Bless.

Kim Brimer represents Texas's 10th district in the State Senate.

            May 22, ARC Meeting, guest Jonathan Saenz, Free Market Foundation at Cacharel
            June 12-14, State Republican Convention, Houston, TX

April 1, Brent Morrow
April 2, Kai Fleming Wood
April 3, Joy Sellers
April 4, Jane Burch
April 5, Jeremy Blosser
April 8, Ron Wright
April 11, Crystal Costible
April 14, George Brandsma
April 18, Connie Hanson and Dean Recine
April 26, Steve Irvin and Jamal Qaddura
April 30, Chip Pierce and Stephen Willing

May 1, Brian Smith and Vincent Galante
May 4, Brenda Dietrich and Sharon Durniakth
May 8, Jerry Pikulinski
May 9, Marti Van Ravensway and Nancy Tice
May 13, Carolyn Rhodes, Dan McClure, and Tom Corbin
May 14, Donna Korman
May 17, Ben Rhodes
May 18, Jane Berberich
May 29, Terry Niedecken
May 30, Linda Davis