The results of the past election continue to swirl in the minds of the GOP faithful as we strive to move forward and find new ways to advance the ball of conservatism. One thing that continues to stick in the mind of yours truly is what sort of folks the two major parties tend to attract.

The Democrat Party has become an unholy alliance of two disparate classes: the upper class and the lower class. This party attracts the well-to-do – the majority of them, at least – and the Great Unwashed for very different reasons. Concerning the latter, the reason is rather obvious. The Great Unwashed feel as though they are entitled to every government hand-out under the sun, and view the politicians that bring them such hand-outs as having sympathy to their plight. Most people with a modicum of ambition would look at themselves in the mirror and try to figure out how to end such a plight. Not the Great Unwashed. Theirs is largely a self-inflicted predicament, mostly due to lack of faith in their own abilities, and often combined with a lack of discipline to overcome one’s own character flaws. In short, they see no reason to improve themselves – a direct contradiction to the American Way of life-long self-improvement – and expect everyone else to subsidize their self-indulgence in their own poverty. Government to them is a permanent safety net, coming at our expense in the form of higher taxes and empowering Democrats to encroach on more of our liberties. Given the current political climate and lax standards in our education system, empowering such people with the right to vote is like letting the inmates run the asylum. In earlier times, you had to hold property in order to be allowed to vote. Thanks to Andrew Jackson, that horse left the barn a long time ago, and more the pity.

The saving grace concerning the Great Unwashed when it comes to the political threat they continue to pose to those of us who are industrious is thus: they are, at best, a static (if not shrinking) demographic, and their voter turnout rate is inconsistent. True, within the lower class swath, some sub-groups turn out in droves – black trash, for example, have an historically higher turnout rate than white trash, since identity politics is a cornerstone of black trash culture(hence its inherent defectiveness). The GOP could try to attract them with the right message of preserving individual liberties, but in order for that message to become attractive, these people will have to learn to have faith in themselves and in their own potential. Ultimately, motivation comes from within, something that no politician of any party can change.

A bigger head-scratcher to the politically engaged industrious folk is, what attracts the well-to-do to the Democrats? There are actually four major reasons.

One reason: Many in the well-to-do love the idea of government subsidizing boutique social spending. It’s their way of acting like they’re compassionate to the rest of society – compassionate with other people’s money, mind you, but let’s not confuse these poor rich people with facts.

Another reason: the well-to-do are, by and large, wealthy. The fundamental difference between wealth and earnings is wealth is what you already have accumulated, whereas earnings are what you make in terms of being paid for your productivity. The general idea behind building wealth is to methodically save and invest your earnings. The greatest entry barrier to wealth is high taxes – the more the government takes away from you, the less you have left over to build your own wealth. Translation: I have mine, screw the rest of you.

The third reason why the upper class tends to side with the Dems has to do with the most fundamental impetus that animates liberalism, that being the foolish notion that “we know what is best for you.” Many of the well-to-do have, over time, erroneously concluded that just because they’re adept at making money – assuming they didn’t inherit it, which is often the case – they are therefore wise enough to make broad-sweeping decisions for everybody else in society.

The fourth reason is perhaps the most telling. Part of being liberal is being detached from reality. To quote Dr. Thomas Sowell, among the many luxuries wealth can afford is insulation from reality, which is perhaps the most dangerous reality of them all.

So if the Dems are largely composed of the two economic extremes – the well-to-do and life’s losers – then where does that leave Republicans? Easy: the Republicans are indeed the Party of the Middle. No, not necessarily of middle-of-the-road politics (moderate politics means you don’t really stand for anything, one of the big reasons we’ve lost badly in 2006 and ’08), but of the Middle Class.

What are Middle Class values? There are many, but the big ones include being accountable for your actions, be hard-working, work to make something of yourself, obey the law, have faith in yourself, delay gratification, don’t have kids out of wedlock…you get the idea.

Therefore, whereas the well-to-do are insulated from reality with wealth, accountability and delayed gratification become low priorities. On the other side of the coin, the Great Unwashed are such because delayed gratification is a foreign concept – which is why these people account for such large percentages of lottery ticket sales, and they perpetuate their own poverty in-part with having children outside the bonds of marriage.

Whereas the Great Unwashed lack faith in themselves and ultimately have little if any direction in life, the Middle Class all strive to methodically build wealth, to raise their standards of living, give their children better lives than they themselves had, all the while maintain a sound, civil society. Because their ticket to building wealth is making and saving as much money as possible, the Middle Class has a vested interest in keeping taxes as low as possible. The well-to-do, however, already have substantial amounts of wealth, and as such, high income taxes are not an issue, since they already have lots of money. But, as mentioned previously, those same high taxes will crush the dreams of those who work hard in order to improve their lot in life. B. Hussein Obama threatens to crush those “animal spirits” with his flurry of new regulations and calls for more taxes.

This same vested interest in high taxes spills directly over into a vested interest in minimized government regulation. Many in the Middle Class have concluded that the way to a better life is though ardent, earnest entrepreneurship. Heavy government regulation is the main barrier to being successful in this critical arena, and those who don’t “get it” – namely High Queen Hillary -- deride the idea of an “ownership society” as an “on-your-own society.” Indeed, those who are well-to-do and are conservative usually are because they started out lower or middle class, and became wealthy through their own hard work, and, at the same time, kept in mind the values that got them there, realizing that other people becoming wealthy does not detract from their own wealth.

That same entrepreneurship mentality can be extrapolated to entire metropolitan areas. Raise your hand if you think you have a better chance of “making it” as an entrepreneur in one of these cities: New York or Dallas? If you chose the latter city, go to the head of the class. Indeed, the best cities for corporate growth and business in general are all cities in the Sun Belt, and in “Red States,” including Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston and Phoenix.

By that same token, one of the many reasons that California has one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country (about 10.5% at last count) is that regulations and taxes are so crushing, businesses have been leaving the state in droves. Add in ungodly mandatory workman’s comp “benefits,” and you’ve got Small Business Hell in the Once-Golden State.

So if the GOP is indeed the “Party of the Middle,” how can the party leverage this position for future success? The most concise answer is to be more vigilant and eloquent in our message of why people can benefit with lower taxes and less government regulation, in direct contrast to B. Hussein Obama’s “Shock and Awe Statism,” to quote Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana. John McCain was, to be perfectly frank, lacking in eloquence and in credibility in delivering such a critical message. To move forward, we will need a standard-bearer who has the eloquence to connect more strongly with Middle Class America.