Voters spoke loud and clear last Tuesday for those willing to look and listen. Taxes are too high and the socialist agenda of the left is just wrong for the U.S.

Obama’s response was that Democrats were just “…so busy and so focused on getting a bunch of stuff done that, we stopped paying attention to the fact that leadership isn’t just legislation…That it’s a matter of persuading people.” In other words, it wasn’t that the policies were wrong. It was that Obama and the Democrats didn’t “sell” their ideas to the American people.

On Sunday’s talk shows liberals were nearly universal in their rationalization that voters were simply unhappy with the state of the economy and the new Republican majority would have to work with the Democrats if they wanted to get anything done for the American people.

Excuse me? Liberals still don’t get it. A good number of the Republicans who were elected were elected because voters were upset with the Democrat agenda not because they were enamored with Republicans.

The voters have spoken and the majority of Americans have said they do not like the direction the country has taken. They are unhappy about the out of control spending, class warfare, demonization of the private sector, and the divisive nature of the politics of personal destruction being waged by the “professional” politicians. Nearly a third of the incoming Republicans were “tea party” conservatives, a fact that should not be lost on establishment Republicans.

Democrats are already calling for Republicans to compromise in order to “move the country forward.” But such a call suggests that the Democrat agenda is fundamentally sound. Voters are rejecting that underlying assumption. If the Republicans want to sustain their victory they must not yield to the agenda of the left and continue the destructive Democrat policies that got them elected. In fact they must visibly and loudly reject that agenda. If that results in two years of gridlock in Washington then the President and Congressional Democrats are as responsible for the gridlock as the newly elected Republicans. And gridlock is preferable to a continuation of the leftist agenda we are being force fed by DC elitists.

It is true that Republicans will have difficulty getting their agenda through Congress and signed by President Obama. But that should not prevent them from taking a proactive approach to pushing an agenda to cut government spending and repeal health care. Failure to push that agenda will simply confirm voter opinion that there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats.

When confronted with expense cuts Democrats claim that there is nothing left to cut or provide a list of the most painful in order to scare voters. The issue is there are plenty of cuts that can be made with minimal impact on the effectiveness of government. Let’s just consider a few. The Department of Education and the Department of Energy were both made cabinet level departments during the Jimmy Carter Administration. Both have been ineffective in improving education or reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Eliminating these departments would significantly reduce the budget deficit. Too drastic? How about a 5-year phase out with half of the savings returned directly to the states? Department of Homeland Insecurity – has it increased our security or just reduced our freedom? The issue is we do not need to reduce the number of FBI agents in order to make significant cuts in the Federal budget. If all else fails how about just requiring all Federal employees it accept a 10 percent cut in their pay and contribute 25 percent to their health care. That would save billions.

Want a value added tax? I’ll agree if we eliminate the Federal Income tax. The problem is the Federal Income tax has contributed to class warfare. The reality is we all want to be wealthier than we are today so why do we allow our tax policy to work against us? A fair tax would be the best solution but we allow our politicians to use tax policy to divide us. We all know that we need government and we all need to share in the cost. But that cost is out of control and it is not providing value for the money expended.

It’s been said before. Government doesn’t have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem. We need to cut government spending.

That is true at all levels. Last week was a good beginning. But it is only a beginning.