Are the tides finally shifting for Republicans?  I think so.  Most analyst are turning to the New Jersey and Virginia governor’s races as a barometer for the mid-term elections.  In both those races, the Republican candidate holds a comfortable lead.  Other pundits turn toward Nevada where the Senate Majority Leader is in trouble. Democrat Senate Harry Reid loses by a significant margin against his potential Republican challengers in a hypothetical match up.

For me, races for Governor or Senate doesn’t indicate squat.  The late President Reagan would say that all races are local and it’s to the local races I look.  Last Tuesday, Wake County, here in North Carolina, had its races for school board.  While the races are said to be “non-partisan”, Republicans and Democrats each backed their candidates.  In the end, the Republican backed candidate won 3 out of the 4 school board seats by an average of a whopping 24% with the forth heading to run-off in November.  For Wake County, the Democrat loss was unusual.  And they didn’t stop there.  In the Raleigh City Council race, the Republican candidate unseated the incumbent Democrat.  Other Democrat City Council member did win reelection, however, their races were much closer than in previous years.  Raleigh  Mayor Meeker, who ran as a conservative Democrat, easily won his race for reelection.

So what’s causing the early shift in tides?  If you listen to Democrats, Americans voted overwhelmingly in 2008 for change- which they have interpreted as a rejection of conservative ideology.  Democrats would be naive to believe that.

In 2008, American grew tired of runaway spending and high deficits.  Americans wanted a balanced budget.  Americans were tired of the corruption that began to plague government and wanted to see accountability.  Americans were tired of seeing bailouts for large corporation who were unable to manage their businesses.  Americans did not go to the polls and vote to give up their freedoms or to vote themselves higher taxes.  Americans did not vote for redistribution of wealth guised as a Stimulus Bill. Americans did not vote to weaken our defenses in an effort to placate our adversaries. Americans did not vote for a socialized health-care system managed by the government.  Americans did not vote to lose the war in Afghanistan. Americans did not vote socialism over capitalism.  What Americans thought they were voting for was a government who would be accountable to the people and responsible with their tax dollars and using those tax dollars wisely and more efficiently to the betterment of all Americans and not a select few.  These local elections show that America may finally be awaking to find that they were lied to.

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