Friday marked the end of era, and today we start anew. With the retirement of Rep. Tom DeLay, we've lost one of our most effective leaders in the House of Representatives.

It's a sad day. Not just for our party, but for the whole country. Perhaps across the aisle we won't see any frowns or tears, but circumstances that lead to Tom DeLay's forced retirement were shameful, and will be a permanent stain on our Republic... a stain that may fade with time, but will always be there, constantly reminding us of the deterioration of political discourse. In his farewell speech, DeLay praised partisanship, calling it "not a symptom of a democracy's weakness, but of its health and strength." To some extent, he may be right, but the Democrats have done everything they can to make that strength our democracy's greatness weakness.

With a new era in the House of Representatives, it's time regain that strength. Tom DeLay warned us that "[i]f conservatives don't stand up to liberalism, no one will!" We need to stand up. We need get back to the issues. A partisan ethics war will do nothing to keep our economy strong, lower the cost of energy, protect the unborn, make healthcare affordable an accessible, save Social Security, or win the war on terror.

The reason why Republicans win elections is because of when we debate the issues we win. We won in 1994 because Americans responded to our agenda by returning power to the Republican Party. In 2002, America defied precedent and strengthened our majority in the House, and gave us back our majority in the Senate. We won again in 2004, and we will win again in 2006 if we stick to the issues. Democrats have regularly been running from the issues as they've learned time and time again that the issues do not win them elections. So, they resort to scandalmongering and a bitter, one-sided ethics war.

When Newt Gingrich successfully engineered the Republican victories in 1994 that brought a Republican majority, the Democrats responded with scandalmongering, and forced Gingrich out of Congress. Since George W. Bush has been president, they have constantly tried to scandalize his presidency to no avail. Tom DeLay and Bob Ney were other targets of the Democrats. With the media on their side, their latest attempts to force Republicans out in shame has yielded some results. Tom DeLay had to step down from his leadership position, and ultimately retire. Bob Ney has temporarily relinquished his committee chairmanship, and his Democrat challenger in this year's election is running a campaign, not on the issues, but on a phony ethics pledge.

The difference between Republicans and Democrats today is clear: Republicans are agenda-driven, and Democrats are power-driven. As the Democrats' ethics war resulted in exposing their party to similar scrutiny, the actions of their party's members speaks volumes. Tom DeLay took one for the team and left Congress. Bob Ney temporarily stepped down from his chairmanship until he gets cleared of the allegations made against him... But what about the other side of the aisle? Sen. Ted Kennedy killed a woman, and still serves today as one of the most powerful in his party. Rep. Jim McDermott still serves today despite enormous ethics lapses. Jon Corzine had a few ethical complaints filed against him in the Senate, and still managed to be elected governor of New Jersey. Rep. Alan Mollohan strongly resisted stepping down from the ethics committee despite ethics complaints against him. Byron Dorgan refused to recuse himself from the investigation into Jack Abramoff's tribal dealings despite his own connections to the embattled lobbyist. Most recently, Rep. William Jefferson has strongly resisted giving up his committee position despite bribery allegations and calls from his party's leaders to step down.

I can almost understand why, despite mounds of evidence against him, Jefferson refuses to step down. He's seen time and time again members of his party getting away with their crimes and ethical lapses. Democrats have avoided having to take responsibility for their actions and cling to power with the tightest grip possible. Republicans like Tom DeLay and Bob Ney, however, put their country and party before them, and do the right thing.

There are many battles left to be fought. We will win some and we'll lose some, but we should never lose our way. Greatness is not measured by what we say, but what we do. On Friday, we said goodbye to a great leader in the Republican Party, but the battle for America's greatness continues. If conservatives don't stand up to liberalism, no one will.

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