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Article: Republicans on a roll
- Article from:
- The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee, WI)
- Article date:
- December 2, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2003 The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Republicans on a roll
By DAVID BROOKS
Tuesday, December 2, 2003
The history of American conservatism is an exodus tale. It begins
in the wilderness, in the early 1950s, with Russell Kirk, Milton
Friedman and William F. Buckley Jr. writing tracts for small bands of
true believers.
Conservatives crashed into the walls of power during the Barry
Goldwater debacle of 1964, then breached those walls with Ronald
Reagan's triumph 16 years later. But even with Reagan as president,
Republicans were not the majority party. Democrats controlled the
House, and few Reaganites actually knew how to run a government.
In 1994, with the Newt Gingrich revolution, the conservatives
strode closer to the center of ...