From the ashes of this election, a new conservative insurgency will arise

William F. Buckley, the architect of modern conservatism, died this year. After the Republicans' shellacking at the polls on Tuesday, many may be tempted to write an obituary for the conservative movement itself. In this electoral climate, anyone with a "D" after his name - even a potty-mouthed comedian - could be competitive in a race for high elective office.

Some conservatives worry that this election may signal a tipping point for America's free market economic system, the engine of our unprecedented prosperity. With Obama at the helm, they fear a slide into a highly regulated, European-style economy - aimed not so much at creating prosperity as funding a welfare state.

Hold up, folks. We're not headed into uncharted territory here. Over the years, America has experienced countless zigs and zags in economic and social policy, but has repeatedly proven its ability to right itself and avoid long-term damage. When liberal politicians in power over-reach, as they usually do, we can count on common sense to provide a corrective.

Take the 1930s, when the nation -- buffeted by the Depression -- seemed ripe for a lurch toward socialism. Franklin Roosevelt's "New Deal" strategy for recovery was grounded in a vision of big government as savior.

The New Deal's centerpiece was the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), which became law in June 1933. Roosevelt lauded the act as "the most important and far-reaching legislation ever enacted by the American Congress."

The NIRA created a vast new bureaucracy to micro-manage the economy. Across the country, planners divided up markets -- and set prices, wages and production quotas or rules -- in sectors ranging from the steel industry to Mom and Pop grocery stores. Six months after the act's passage, the burdensome industrial "codes" it sanctioned already covered 60 percent of American workers.

An anxious nation initially cheered Roosevelt's plan. But the president and his "wise men" had overreached, as soon became clear. The NIRA raised prices, slowed recovery and stoked widespread resentment. By late 1934, many of Roosevelt's staunchest Democratic allies were denouncing it. The act stood no chance of reauthorization, and in 1935 the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.

Then, in the mid-1950s, an intellectual insurgency spearheaded by Buckley dared to speak truth to power. Buckley took on "a vast, complacent and apparently immovable status quo," according to his colleague John O'Sullivan. He used a wry smile, a capacious intellect and an "emperor has no clothes" attitude to challenge an entrenched liberal orthodoxy.

Buckley brought together a remarkable collection of thinkers who laid the philosophical groundwork for the modern conservative movement. Once it gained political momentum, it gave birth to the Reagan Revolution -- and an era of low taxes, free trade, enhanced competition and remarkable prosperity.

Yet conservative control didn't last forever. In 1992, the Left enjoyed a new burst of optimism when Bill Clinton took office and promptly proposed a massive government takeover of America's health care system. Once again, "big government" overreach provoked a reaction. In 1994, Republicans swept the U.S. House of Representatives.

Clinton spent his next six years in office accommodating his policies to America's free market vision. Under him, Reagan's legacy became entrenched in initiatives ranging from welfare reform to NAFTA.

We've just elected a Democratic Congress and a president whom the non-partisan National Journal has named as America's "most liberal senator." We can expect them to overreach, as their predecessors did. And in today's global economy, the harmful consequences of economic missteps will likely become apparent far more quickly than in the past.

The new insurgents, like Buckley, will smile broadly -- but won't hesitate to speak truth to power.