We are all quite aware of how the President and Democrat Party misread the 2008 election and went on a leftist, hyper-partisan rampage in DC. Now some on the right are already misreading the 2010 election – and I can already hear the cries of “RINO” and “squishy centrist” coming.

Power corrupts, it’s one of humanity’s major dysfunctions. When given the opportunity to take on responsibility and lead, too many succumb to the desire to dictate their own limited view of how things should be on everyone else. It is always simpler to force others to do your bidding than it is to face up to giving ground to move forward at a slower pace than one wishes. But that is what sets leaders apart, the ability to keep a common principle in everyone’s sites while they work together making progress towards the goal adjusting the path and plan along the way through inputs and consensus.

The force behind this election was the independent center. The voters were not drawn to the right of the political spectrum. They gave conservatives an opportunity to propose – not dictate. The country was repulsed by the over-reaching of the liberals in DC. As we in President Obama’s morning after press conference, our young inexperienced president still has not figured this out, and I don’t think he ever will. The myths surrounding his personnel gift’s were greatly exaggerated.

The impetus behind the center’s rejection of the Democrats was about the massive deficit spending, high taxes, government over reach, government incompetence. The rallying flag for the Tea Party, the energy behind much of this election cycle, was “Don’t Tread On Me” – something the new GOP better understand and appreciate:

The Tea Party movement attracted a lot of people from the left of center to the far right. But now, some on the far right are assuming this was all about ‘true conservatism’, not about fiscal responsibility through minimal government, low taxes and personal responsibility. For example:

The Brody File has coined a new phrase: The “Teavangelical Party.” The polling from the 2010 Midterm Elections proves it.

According to a Public Opinion Strategies poll that has assessed the Midterm Election results from Tuesday, (conducted for the Faith and Freedom Coalition) 52 percent of all people who identified themselves as part of the Tea Party movement are also conservative Evangelicals.

If 52% are evangelicals (give or take a few percent) then the other half are not. This is not the Teavangelical Party or movement. The quickest way to screw up like Obama and the liberals is to run out and claim a turn at telling the nation how to live their lives.

Coherence seems to be in short supply all around these days. If Obamacare is the epitome of government invasion into the privacy between a citizen and their doctor, what is the demand to ban contraceptives by the same government (a tenant of the hyper right to life wing of the conservative movement)? If Obama telling us what our health insurance must be is too much government, why is the government telling a woman or a family how to deal with a pregnancy not too much government?

In my view, we need to demonstrate scientifically and legally conception creates the instance of a human being – because that is the fact of life. There is no scientific ambiguity here, and the DNA tests used in courtrooms across this nation prove this without any doubt. But proving pregnancy creates a human life does not give license to one group of individuals over others to determine how to deal with that situation. As with all things in life, we need to leave the judgment of determining the course of that life to the parents, as we do throughout their journey to adulthood. We either believe in the individual or we don’t.

I for one am all for educating, counseling, supporting a new mother to avoid a tragic decision. I have promoted before the idea of having women who have faced both situations (birth and abortion) be the voices of reason and hope for those simply afraid of the responsibilities. But in the end, there are situations were decisions have to be made, and they can only be made by the family or mother. I am pro life and against abortion for convenience, but I am not for government rule here.

Let me give another example of how this new partnership can turn into disaster. Most people are religious in some manner, and most of us abhor the liberal efforts to wipe religious expression from the public square. This year in Loudon County, VA the spot usually occupied by the images of the birth of Christ will be replaced with what is, for all intents and purposes, a billboard from Atheists:

That organization’s display will be a banner in an 8×8 freestanding wooden frame, with the top reading “Greetings from your friendly Loudoun County Atheists” and the lower portion reading, “Solstice is the Reason for the Season.” The main body of the banner will include language recognizing the principle of separation of church and state, and text that reads, “Religion is the business of churches, not of government. This is not a church.” The display will be up from Dec. 16 to Jan. 1.

Dipstick bureaucratic rules led to this insanity and intolerance. The Atheists are not forced to believe, but they can neither force others to be silent. The common ground that could be achieved in the next Congress is to unshackle freedom of religious expression by individuals. Allow voluntary prayer back in school. Put limits on what whiny Atheist can do to religious expression. This is all fair game and would not meet much resistance. No more bands of citizens misusing courts to silence others. That is not the reason government was created. It was created to protect rights.

However, if some on the right want to impose creationism or intelligent design into public schools – forget it. That would result in the current political alliance that swept the dems out of power to totally collapse. This country is not in the mood for minority views to be imposed on the general public in terms of mandates. Minority views of course can be held and expressed, but never mandated. It is a balance that has worked and it the foundation of this nation.

These are but two examples of where common ground exists, and where disaster looms. Outside that common ground is where people can produce nothing but an opening for the left to arise again. No more recklessnes, the nation’s patience has worn too thin. Sarah Palin said it well in her piece yesterday – almost:

The last, and possibly most important, lesson is that a winning conservative message must always be carefully crafted. If candidates are going to talk boldly on the campaign trail about entitlement reform and reducing the size of government, they must be prepared to word it in such a way as to minimize the inevitable fear-mongering accusations of “extremism.”

She is both right and wrong here. Governor Palin is beginning to become part of the Political Industrial Complex, she needs to tread carefully here (pun intended with respect to that flag above). This is not just a message crafting challenge. It requires making sure the proposed changes will stand up to scrutiny and be accepted. They must stand on and remain within the common ground of broad support. And since none will be perfect initially, they will need to be adjusted to gain acceptance to become law. Be prepared for reasonable adjustments. There is no consensus yet on what is the minimal size required, and how we can safely transition to it.

That is the right answer at this moment. We need the public debate on how to proceed – and it cannot be a stage show run by special interests and power players. The American people need real buy in, therefore real input. Some of us will smell a PR stunt a mile away. Don’t trip up over message management.

All this silly talk about ‘compromise’ in DC is missing the point. There is not a score card, where each side gives something on a basic screwed up approach. Some things are wrong and need to be taken off the table. The day of big government is over – that is not going to be negotiable. And the day of social conservatism has not arrived – that too is not negotiable. There is a center of mass the country agrees on and can be passed. Focus there and leave other fights for another day. For example:

(1) Taxes: Extend all the existing tax rates for two years. Make the middle class ones permanent, revisit the upper income ones in two years with the promise if taxes must be raised it will only be on the obscenely rich, not those just peaking out of the upper middle class. Ban the estate tax forever.

(2) Don’t extend unemployment – 2 years of safety net is enough for any person. We cannot afford people sitting around taking hand outs. Sorry to be hard about this, but personal responsibility made this country, not handouts.

(3) Cancel all non-essential stimulus projects. No more wasting money on dog runs, etc.

(4) Cut wasteful spending and begin the national debate on shrinking government down to a manageable size. Make sure there are ways to manage job cuts in the government sector. It can take a year to close up programs, facilities, etc – give people time to find new work as they are paid to close things down gracefully. The GOP does not have the votes to do too much, but it can engage the nation and make the case for actions after 2012.

(5) The government contains a wealth of assets and resources that can be privatized. As government shrinks it can sell a lot of its efforts and resources to the private sector – thus creating new business opportunities and kick starting this economy. Lower taxes and the selling of the wasteful and redundant aspects of government can provide a path out of this mess (just look to the examples of governors like Mitch Daniels and Chris Christie).

(6) Slow down Obamacare. Hold hearings on all its short comings and unintended consequences. Obama started giving out waivers to companies – make them permanent and universal (he cannot object to actions he has taken). It is trivial to suspend Obamacare if done right. There is no repealing Obamacare the next two years. But it can be suspended as it’s unintended consequences arise. Premiums are up, lots of policies are on the verge of being stopped, etc. Focus on the economy, and simply push to slow Obamacare down to stop the damage.

These are not carefully crafted messages, these are well founded strategies. Governor Palin needs to appreciate the difference. It will help her from making the same mistakes as we saw in this year’s Tea Party candidates. They all spouted great messages, but that is not sufficient. Not by a long shot. She enjoys a life far from DC, which means she is fairly naive to its pitfalls and landmines. She knew how to deal with Big Oil in Alaska because that was her home turf. To be a national force (instead of a farce) she is going to need to broaden out her pool of advisers and be prepared to make lots of real time adjustments.

Just ask Barak Obama, once he figures out what went wrong in his first two years attempting to lead.