GOP must regain principles

Dallas Morning News: Elections have consequences. Republicans can choose theirs.

They can make excuses. They can blame outsiders: the “liberal media,” duped youths or identity politics. They can continue the fratricide that boiled up as the diminishing McCain campaign ran out of straws to grasp.

Or, they can stand up and be the adults they always insist they are and take a hard look at themselves. What they see should not please them, but it could encourage them.

Coalition parties

A two-party nation with dozens of strains of political philosophy naturally necessitates coalition parties that make room for dissenting views while organizing around a set of core beliefs.

In happier times, Republicans understood that. They roared back from far bleaker days to regain the White House and Congress.

Each time they then lost their way. They allowed the exercise of power to exceed their reliance on the principles that got them there. When they asked voters for one more chance, they were given President-elect Barack Obama and stronger Democratic majorities in Congress.

They have an opportunity to regroup as the loyal opposition to a Democratic Party in charge of every lever of elected federal government.