REPUBLICANS: THE PLIGHT OF THE G.O.P.

For the Grand Old Party, these should be the good new days. Republicans control the White House, as they have for 16 of the past 24 years. Under their grow-slow policies, the economy has been rebounding for 16 months, and inflation has been brought down to the second-lowest rate (after Switzerland) in the Western world. Not only has prosperity been restored, but the nation is at peace, and the cities and campuses are cool. The pollsters report that public confidence is on the rise and that Americans are becoming more conservative—suspicious of Big Government and the big-spending programs fashioned by...