Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas An Open Letter to the gathering wave of new House Republicans: In a turbulent campaign year those who win the trust of voters on election night will do so because you are the people in touch with America. You are winning because you were honest with voters & cut through the smog of media skepticism and Democrats acrimony. I hope & expect you will bring to Washington a perspective thats been absent for too long plus the determination to make it stick.
Government runs on the money taken from their pockets and I hope you agree with me that issue No. 1 should be sticking with the tax cuts so that working families are able to decide how to spend more of their own money.
When you get here theres a fictional character that William Faulkner invented whom youll meet every day. He said
Only thank God men have done learned how to forget quick what they aint brave enough to cure."
Lots of people here in D.C. think like that.- Theyre the ones who walk the yellow lines in the middle of the highway & will tell you its okay to accept 8 unemployment because it beats 10.
- They urge you to embrace tax hikes that are only moderately destructive.
- They will advise government spending that only grows twice as fast and explain patiently that a deficit that swells by a trillion dollars is okay ... because after all it could be worse.
ts insidious and I hope you will reject the philosophy that tells us to forget what we aint brave enough to cure." Now is no time to compromise with failure.
Im sure the people of your district arent terribly different from those in mine. They tell me in the plainest possible way that they want less government and more freedom.
What that means to me is lower taxes a lot less waste greater energy security and enhanced worldwide competitiveness.
By electing you I think the people will be taking a big step at a crucial moment toward remaking their Congress into something that finally represents them and their neighbors.
Weve had some modest success against very long odds in Democrat-dominated Congresses over the last four years. Radical cap-and-trade legislation was shelved because the more people heard about it the more they disliked it. The objections to the vast new entitlements and health care mandates werent enough to stop ObamaCare altogether but they did chase universal health care off the table.
The fight has been uphill all the way so Im especially glad that because of the people of your districts the cavalry is riding to the rescue.
With your help the House will launch the new year by making it clear that were here to serve the people who work and pay taxes and who expect us to deliver on our commitment to their agenda.
Ending the presidents spending extravaganza in short order is a close second and a fine place to start is through real entitlement reform. 
Entitlement spending amounts to $1.4 trillion and is now more than half the federal budget.
Thanks to ObamaCare entitlement programs are growing like crazy. They were costing each American taxpayer $7698 a year even before the president decided that many more people needed a much larger share of other peoples earnings.
I think the wage earners need some help too and that Washington can get along on a smaller share of their money. Those who believe in the sunrise also believe in the sunset and it seems clear that the sun must set on some government spending.
The candidates Ive talked with tell me that their successes so far prove how much Americans want real leadership and that theyre fed up with liberal causes and with the sort of politics in which congressmen quietly trade freedom for bureaucracy one deal at a time.
When I look toward the 112th Congress I see what the man who first brought me to Washington Ronald Reagan called morning in America." It can be that all over again if you reinvigorate our policymaking with an 
application of old values and new thinking.
Nearly every analyst in the country now says that the people are about to go to the polls and invest their trust in us. If they do decide to give us the chance it will be because while Democrats were talking about the people you were listening to the people.
Its not over until its over but it sure looks like we Republicans are about to be afforded a unique opportunity to lead and thats because America wants you and me to succeed where the Democrats have failed.
Rep. Joe Barton represents Texas 6th Congressional District. He is the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
