The Republican Party is at a crossroads.

Republicans in Congress are in the process of deciding who they will support to replace Tom Delay as the Majority Leader. The insiders in DC are betting on Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt -- who is currently serving as Acting Majority Leader since Tom Delay stepped down.

Also interested in the job is Education Committee Chairman John Boehner of Ohio, who guided through “The No Child Left Behind” legislation for the Bush Administration.” A late entry in the race is Congressman John Shadegg of Arizona, who represents many of the insurgent “Class of 94.”

The outcome of this election may well be a harbinger of the direction of the Republican Party for years to come. It could determine whether Republicans are willing to hold on to power for “powers sake” at the expense of the principals that initially brought them to the majority in ‘94.

Reform is the operative word of the day in Washington – the question is “Will Republicans truly embrace a reformer?” Is “big government conservatism” what the party of Reagan wants to stand for?

Since being elected President in 2000, President Bush has yet to veto one single spending bill and -- either by design or by default -- both Bush and the Republican Congress are to a degree complicit in the record deficits that now confront our country.

Are Republicans so addicted to power that they will march in lock-step for any program or earmark that is put in front of them? Do we truly believe that education policy can be dictated to the states by an all-knowing “federal nanny?” Is supporting the Prescription Drug Bill good policy for seniors and good politics for the GOP?

Many conservatives in Congress held their nose and voted a for the Prescription Drug Bill and other big government pork-laden legislation that was an anathema to their principals of limited government in part, to help Bush win reelection in 2004. That concern no longer exists. Bush is not running again.

Now may be the time for Republicans to look past the Bush Presidency and to their own identity and their party’s future.

It may be instructive for Republicans to remember that they did not achieve majority status in Congress after four decades of Democratic control by a presidential victory -- but by articulating a clear vision about what the size, scope and mission of government should be.

In 1994 under the “revolutionary” leadership of Newt Gingrich, Republicans stood for a bold conservative agenda that included; smaller federal government, returning power to the states, lower taxes, greater individual freedom and above all, reform.

And, it should be pointed out, that for six years after the ‘94” the Republican majority victories were not followed by a presidential victory.

It is not clear who will succeed Delay. What is clear is that the 2006 mid term elections are fast approaching. The direction the new Republican leadership team takes will have a significant impact on the party. The Republican majority is a stake.

It is time for our conservative leaders to reassert themselves and truly take on the “reform mantle” that brought them to power. It is the only way to reinvigorate their base and help define the 2008 presidential race.

Marc Rotterman is a Senior Fellow at the John Locke Foundation and Treasurer of the American Conservative Union.

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