THE ANSWER TO THE DEMOCRATS’ PROBLEMS???

Stung by this week’s pretty impressive defeat at the polls, Democrats on Capitol Hill have begun looking to their leaders to find a new direction to take in the next Congress. The party suffered a long and painful night Tuesday as what was a Republican wave, despite what Juan Williams would have us all believe, swept away its control of the Senate and carried Republicans to their largest majority in the House in almost a century.

But it’s really not all that difficult to come up with the answer to the Democrats’ current dilemma. You see the answer is a relatively simple one, although I’m not so sure I want to let the cat outta the bag. The answer, you see, would be for them to move a little more closer to the center and away from the extreme left which is where the modern day Democrat Party has come to call home. I mean, this ain’t rocket science, by any stretch.

I firmly believe that if the Democrats were only to become a little less hostile toward the very country that they wish to govern, their electoral fortunes might actually improve, and likely by quite a bit. But as long as they exude a level hatred for this country rarely seen in anyone but our most hostile of enemies, most patriotic Americans will simply chose someone else when at the ballot box. Democrats, you see, are their own worst enemy.

Fortunately for the rest of us, most Democrats either don’t view that as being the problem, or they simply refuse to except it. Instead, Democrat leaders have blamed the results on what’s been described as being a perfect storm of circumstances that somehow conspired to make this a historically tough election cycle. It can’t be their desire to kill off small businesses, their conspiring against fossil fuels or their desire to set the American people fighting with each other.

Meanwhile rank-and-file members, cite another factor, that being what they refer to as the timidity shown by Democrat leaders when it comes to confronting the Republicans. The agitated lawmakers have stopped short of calling for a new crop of leaders, so far, but they do want to see the party take a new, more aggressive tack in the next Congress and beyond. But is that what’s really needed? I doubt it, but if that’s their plan. Let ‘em go for it!

Rep. Raúl Grijalva, head of something called the Congressional Progressive Caucus, summed things up by saying, "We spent six years dancing in the middle and not providing an assertive contrast to the Republicans, and we’re paying the price for it." He went on to say, "There has to be an attitude change and a strategy change. I don’t know if that necessarily involves leadership." And then added, "We’re always playing on the defensive."

Tuesday’s election results seemed to catch even the most pessimistic Democrats by surprise. In the Senate, Democrats lost at least seven seats, with three others hanging in limbo Wednesday evening. In the House, Democrats fared better, relatively speaking. While they lost at least 13 seats — with several others still too close to call — that’s roughly half the average number (29) historically lost by the president’s party in a sixth-year midterm.

Still, House Democratic leaders had hoped to keep their losses in the single digits, and the GOP gains are on track to give the Republicans their largest numbers advantage since 1929. One former House Democrat said, Wednesday, that those blaming party leaders for Tuesday’s election results "misunderstand" the real reason behind the Democrats’ tough outing. This Democrat said, "We did as badly as we did yesterday because of where we had to run."

Thomas Mann, congressional expert at the nonpartisan Brookings Institution, said there’s "no gain" for the Democrats in replacing Reid and Pelosi just as the focus is shifting to the newly empowered Republicans. Still, a Democratic strategist said Wednesday that the window on the current crop of party leaders might be nearing a close, especially in the House, where a younger group of up-and-coming lawmakers is itching to get onto the leadership ladder.

But look, as much as Democrats enjoy calling those of us on the right, ‘extreme’, a majority of the American electorate, I think we can safely say, apparently view things a bit differently. Watch any ‘news’ show where you have someone from the right debating someone from the left and it’s within the first 10 seconds it becomes readily apparent which one is the more extreme, even radical, and it’s not the person representing the right.

Frankly I think we have little to fear when it comes to the Democrats’ being able to figure things out for themselves. What should be of more concern to those of us who call ourselves ‘conservative’ is making sure we are able to keep those on our side from wilting under the pressure. The task that lies ahead is not going to be an easy one, we cannot afford to have those on our side to go wobbly. And keeping our side on track will likely be a 24/7 job.