While many have focused on Republicans’ electoral defeats at the national level earlier this month, little attention is being given to the party’s smashing success at the state level, says Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR).
“Once again, the collective wisdom among the talking heads on TV, editorial boards across the country, and the consultant class on both the right and the left is that the Republican Party is on the ropes and basically needs to become more like the Democratic Party if it wants to survive,” he and Patrick Gleason, ATR’s director of state affairs, write on
Politico.
“While Democrats had a good day at the federal level, Americans just reaffirmed the decision they made two years ago to put a majority of state legislative chambers in Republican control.”
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The GOP will emerge from this election with combined control of the governor’s mansion and state legislature in 25 states, up one from the total standing after 2010’s whopping gains. Democrats will have total control of just 13 states next year.
This matters because while the federal government is in gridlock, “the states, over three-quarters of which are completely controlled by Republicans or Democrats, are unobstructed from moving in whichever direction the party in power chooses,” Norquist and Gleason say.
Democratic-controlled states are going for higher taxes and spending, while GOP-controlled states are going in the opposite direction, they write.
“Democrat-controlled states like California, Illinois, Connecticut and New York will spend the next two years becoming more like Greece,” the duo states. “If Republican-controlled states continue stoking economic growth and job creation through free-market reforms and limited government policies, the choice of which party is best suited to fix Washington will be crystal clear in 2014 and 2016.”
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