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The end-of-year break from daily preoccupations, as well as from the larger issues of war, peace and national security, gave me the opportunity to ruminate on what some are calling, perhaps too optimistically, the "decline of liberalism." Education and health care are two of government's most important and most expensive responsibilities. Those whose unbounded belief in the capabilities of government and whose basic convictions oppose turning to the private sector or any other alternative to …

…ly thing "liberalism" now stands for is enlarging the power and cost of government, which in turn reduces our freedom. Republican successes in the 2002 election are directly traceable to the people's distrust of larger, more costly and more powerful government. But there is yet another reason for the decline of liberalism: Security. Voters have given the GOP a clear margin over the Democrats as the party best suited to preserve our safety and our freedom.