Originally posted at 73wire.com

What a difference eighteen months makes. In November, 2008, the Republican Party was left for dead at the side of the road with mainstream press organs pontificating about the causes of its permanent demise.

Today?

Even the LeftStreamMedia is acknowledging that a Republican takeover of the House isn’t just a possibility, it’s a likelihood and the latest LSM meme is that the Senate might just be in play as well. Why? Because the American people have seen up close and personal what an unvarnished Marxist, socialistic economic program looks like and they’re not buying it.

Not only are the Dems on the run, but conservatives are nigh unto giddy as, one after another, Establishment candidates in GOP Primaries are defeated by Movement conservatives. The outpouring of conservative activism the likes of which hasn’t been seen in my lifetime has propelled conservatives into the ranks of the Party. There is a palpable excitement growing on the Right that we might actually be able to stop this headlong careening into socialistic irrelevancy.

And then comes this article from The Hill with the somewhat stunning title “Centrist Republicans Pin Their Political Hopes on the Class of ’10″.

Say what? I thought this was the year of the conservative? Let these money quotes serve as a cold splash of water in the face:

But if centrists such as Reps. Mike Castle (Del.) and Mark Kirk (Ill.) win their races, it might soften the influence of conservatives in the 112th Congress. Congressional experts and lawmakers say a strong class of centrists could blunt the influence of conservative freshmen sent to Washington by Tea Party voters.

and,

The goal of anybody who wants to solve a problem is to create some momentum for other people to join in,” said Graham who added that centrists such as Castle and Kirk would be more likely to join bipartisan talks.

Castle and Kirk, for example, were helpful allies to Democrats after they captured control of the House in 2006. They both voted for several proposals of the legislative agenda Democrats campaigned on to oust Republicans from power.

That’s right. The “centrists” in the Republican Party are already licking their chops at the prospect of enacting “meaningful” legislation (one of the “successes” of “bipartisanship” mentioned in the article was the passage of the $787,000,000,000 stimulus package). If this sounds eerily familiar, it’s because it is.

In 1994, after 40 years in the minority in the House, conservatives took over the agenda and rode the Contract with America to one of the most resounding triumphs in American electoral history. So, of course, on the heels of this great success of conservatism, a group of “centrists” formed what they called the Republican Main Street Partnership dedicated to, well, undoing and blocking the conservative agenda.

In 2008, we reaped the harvest of that Partnership.

What does this mean? It means that the work of conservative activists is not complete. It’s not even close to complete. There still lurk among us those who not only aren’t committed to the cause of Constitutional freedom, they are openly hostile to it. They place a higher value on “accomplishing something” than they do adhering to the wisdom of the Founders.

There is much work left to be done to retake our Party; to become the Party. There are thousands of Precinct Committeemen slots to be filled. GOTV tasks to be completed. Educational efforts in which to engage. Volunteer campaign activities to finish. And, in the case of Mike Castle, there’s an alternative to be had by the name of Christine O’Donnell who would deny the Quislings yet another voice and vote.

We can’t elect a Jim DeMint conservative in every state of the Union (yet). But American’s in every state are starting to feel the effects of liberal/social policies in every aspect of their lives. They fear it. They’re weary of it. Conservatism works every time it’s tried. You know that. I know that. It’s time to let the country know that.

In 2004, countless conservatives (myself included) surveyed the political scene and concluded that we had reached the pinnacle for which we had worked so many years. Well, as Thomas Jefferson stated: “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”

We are not at the end, fellow conservatives. We are not even at the beginning of the end of this war to rescue our country from those who wish to remake it. We made that mistake between 1994 and 2008. Let’s not make it again.

Let’s Roll!