.....The national debt now nears $9 trillion. Rathere than curb entitilement program's growth, Republicans created a new one-- Medicare's prescription-drug benefit--and rejected President Bush's call to overhaul Social Security. Their original vow to kick the pork barrel has given way to gorging on "earmarks"--funds lawmakers specifically set aside for special projects--in the annual appropriations bills. There have been a number of corruption probes.
"You saw the idealism, and then you saw people lose a little focus, and you saw the corrupt influences of power affect Republicans," says Rep. John Shadegg, a congressman frrom Phoenix and member of the Republican class of 1994.
Among those who lament that the movement has gone astray is Newt Gingrich, the general behind the 1994 Revolution, who became House Speaker but was forced out four years later. "This is a center-right country with a willingness to tolerate a little bit of incompetence. But it's ceertainly getting more than it needs," said Mr. Gingrich, in an interview this summer. "The Republican Party drifted away from reform and changed back to a standard political party."......