I remember 1994 being a good year to be a Republican. The situation was dire, but it was a year of hope and idealism. During the previous 25 years, government spending had spiraled out of control.

The public debt was soaring, and the nation had not been in the black since the 1950s. It was from this cancerous situation that the Republicans came to the nation’s aid with a plan that would set things straight and make our nation great again.

But now, barely 10 years after the Republican Revolution of 1994, the Republicans have lost sight of the vision that thrust them to power, and our nation has lost sight of the values that made the 1990s so great.

The Republican strategy was brilliant. A deal was made with the people, a contract with America signed by prominent Republican statesmen.

In it was promised a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, line-item veto power so that the President could cut runaway spending, and term limits to limit the undo influence of career politicians.

The contract detailed how the Republican Party was going to return our nation to greatness, if only the people would grant them the power to do so. They promised a swift end to bloated, overly expansive government. During the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, they made good on their promise.

In 1994 more freshmen Congressmen were elected than at any time since the Revolution. Fresh blood led to fresh ideas as Republicans controlled Congress for the first time in four decades.

The next four years saw the least government expansion in decades. Budgets were slashed and deficits turned into surpluses. Deregulation led to business expansion, more jobs, and the lowest unemployment rate since World War II. The Republicans had pulled it off. They had saved the day and made our nation strong again.

Then, not six years after pulling off the biggest upset in politics since Truman defeating Dewey, they blew it. In fact, they blew it worse than the Democrats they had ousted.

Since taking control of the legislative and executive branches of government, the Republicans have been engaged in a spending frenzy. The Washington Times reported last year that, since President Bush took office, the budget has soared from $1.79 trillion to over $2.2 trillion, consuming a whopping 20 percent of the gross domestic product.

And while many will be quick to blame the war on terror for these budget increases, it should be noted that 60 percent of these spending increases have been in non-military, discretionary sectors of the budget — a 15 percent increase in 2002 alone.

The Bush budget lays out pork better than Oscar Meyer, with more than $16 billion in subsidies to the polluting oil and coal industries; the top 10 percent wealthiest farmers taking home nearly 70 percent of the billions laid out in farm subsidies; with enough left over to make a down payment on a rain forest in Iowa.

It is sad to think that millions of Americans who embrace the ideals of smaller, more responsible government think that the Republican Party is their only representative when there are true conservatives, like the Libertarians, and certainly no less than a few Republicans, such as U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who are true advocates for limited government.

The Republican Party has changed to say the least. This ain’t your father’s Republican Party, or even your older sibling’s — those Republicans knew how to balance a budget.

No, this is a Republican Party blinded and corrupted by power not held by one party since the 1960s.

It is often said that power corrupts, and Republicans happen to be a case in point, by neglecting the values that propelled them to power.

Instead, they embraced the spending habits of the party they replaced.