A Party Of Great Opportunities

Diversity: Women, Hispanics and two African-American congressmen-elect rode the GOP wave to victory. Sorry, Mr. President, these Republicans will not ride in the back of the bus. They intend to drive it.

During the campaign, Col. Allen West speculated on the possibility of joining the Congressional Black Caucus. "I think I have every right to. I would be in Congress, and I would be black and so I should be able to sit with them and, again, bring a different perspective," he said in an interview with the Daily Caller.

Congressman-elect West will get that chance now that the Sarah Palin-backed Afghan War veteran has emerged victorious in Florida's 22nd Congressional District, ousting two-term Democratic incumbent Ron Klein.

"Now, I really presume that the CBC will just change their name to preclude me from joining it," he said. "But that's OK; I'll start my own caucus."

The Congressional Black Caucus is a living stereotype perpetuating the myth that being black and being Democrat are synonymous and that the GOP is the party of angry white males.

The Republican Party has shown that it can broaden its base and that blacks and other minorities have options. They've been taken for granted by the Democrats, but that will change.

West won't be alone, with insurance company owner and 45-year-old state Rep. Tim Scott becoming the first black Republican congressman from South Carolina since Reconstruction.

Scott is a self-described "bleeding heart conservative" of the Jack Kemp school, and the champion of an economic program he describes as "under the umbrella of fiscal sanity."

There hasn't been a black Republican in Congress since J.C. Watts retired from the House in 2003. More are coming. Fourteen black Republicans, 12 men and two women, ran for Congress in this cycle. You didn't hear much about them, because that would conflict with the liberal mantra that Republicans are racists.

What makes the victories of West and Scott especially impressive is that they came in white-majority districts. All but two black Democratic congressmen come from black-majority districts gerrymandered to ensure their longevity in Congress. In this election, it was Republicans reaching across racial lines.

Tuesday also saw the election of Tea Party Republican Nikki Haley, whose parents were born in India, as the first female governor of South Carolina. She'll join fellow Indian-American Bobby Jindal of Louisiana at the next Republican governors conference.

The biggest win for the racist, anti-immigrant Tea Party was in Florida with the election of Marco Rubio to the Senate. He was asked during a debate by a clueless moderator how it felt to be anti-Latino — as if to demand equal treatment under the law, and to demand that the federal government fulfill one of its Constitutional duties in securing the nation's borders, made one a self-loathing bigot.

While Sen. Harry Reid remained the big fish in a somewhat smaller pond, his son Rory lost to Republican Brian Sandoval, who becomes Nevada's first Hispanic governor.

In New Mexico, Susana Martinez was elected as the nation's first female Hispanic governor.

Several Hispanic Republicans defeated incumbent House Democrats. In Texas, Bill Flores defeated 20-year incumbent Chet Edwards, and Francisco Canseco beat Rep. Ciro Rodriguez. Jaime Herrera became the first Latina elected to the House from Washington state.

All preached a message that appeals to all Americans: a less-intrusive government with lower taxes and less regulation that reward job creators, risk takers and entrepreneurs.

Theirs is a government that allows the creation of wealth rather than the redistribution of it, one that promises a better life for our children rather than an unconscionable burden of debt.

It's a message that all races, ethnicities and genders respond to, as they did Tuesday.