There is a wind blowing throughout American politics and that wind is indicative of a shift in the prevailing wisdom of how to win in DC. The good news is that this burst of fresh air is coming in with new blood behind it, the bad news is that the establishment of the GOP has every reason to want to bar it’s door against it. Why you ask? Because it would require them to do something that they consider dirty-to embrace the concept of compromise. Now before start screaming at me through your monitor, hear me out.

The wind of change that I see taking place in Washington is a unification of the establishment GOP and the Tea Party. This is something that needs to happen and should have happened prior to the 2012 election-maybe if it had we could have been proceeding towards a real economic turnaround over the coming five years instead of the current death spiral we are in. This does not have to mean that we compromise on the core principles that we as Republicans and many of the Independents in the Tea Party’s ranks share. Valuing freedom, constitutional controls on government and personal responsibility are things that Republicans, Indepdents and Libertarians can all agree on.

Today’s establishment GOP is far from those principles-many of them vote themselves pork every chance they get (yes Mitch McConnell I am referring to you), as many Democrats do. So far one candidate seems to embody the unification trend very well. He is from Nebraska and his name is Ben Sasse. He is a former Bush appointee who should know a thing or two about overspending since he worked in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) which is the country’s largest federal agency. He also crusaded against overspending when he was there and fought against false promises in government.

He also understands the importance of bringing the two sides of the party together to create a unified, and unstoppable, force. Imagine if we could unite the passion of the Tea Party and their understanding of how to build an effective grassroots movement and the establishment GOP’s fundraising prowess and connections. WOW. We could get so much done. If we simply listened to what Barry Goldwater cautioned us against back in the 1960’s about the rise of the social conservatives in the GOP:

“And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of “conservatism.”
~Barry Goldwater

Now before you think I am aiming to get all the social conservatives out of the GOP, let me explain that is not my point at all. I simply crave the day when all Republicans, Independents and Libertarians can find their happy medium and decide to unite and win in the name of freedom. Imagine what an incredible force that would create! This doesn’t require anyone to sacrifice their convictions, merely to stop screaming at people who don’t share them and find the common ground that they share. What a concept. Perhaps we should all look into it.