It’s tough to avoid the political gloating going on in the country.

Although I can’t call myself either a Republican or a Democrat, I’m certainly nowhere near the left.

So you can imagine my pleasure at the results of the recent mid-term elections.

All across the board Republicans came away as winners. America showed that what it really wants is conservative policy-making.

Tom Daschle, soon to be the Senate minority leader, predicted huge Democratic wins just the day before the elections.

What went wrong? It turns out that liberals, are, well, too liberal.

In a CNN poll conducted last week, more than 50 percent of those asked said that the Democrats were too weak in the war on terror.

The next two years aren’t going to be the golden age of democracy, but they’re going to be much better without Democrats running amok on Capitol Hill.

This is going to be the true test of the Bush presidency.

Personally, I think he’s an incredible president, but it’s all about the next two years now.

So what can we expect? Here’s what I see happening.

Tax cuts. I wouldn’t rule out tax cuts as a means to jumpstart the economy.

Our economic troubles can no longer be blamed on Clinton. This is the George W. Bush show.

Republicans correctly realize that letting people keep the money they earn is not only morally correct, but increases economic productivity.

Second, Republican Sen. Trent Lott is pushing for a ban on partial-birth abortions.

Granted it is a very rarely used procedure, but it is still one that Republicans feel shouldn’t be on the books.

Democrats are already threatening to filibuster the bill.

As columnist Ann Coulter put it, Democrats won’t pick up weapons for anything other than defense of Roe v. Wade.

I try to remain neutral on abortion, but I think most people would be willing to agree that partial-birth abortions cross the line.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a piece of God-forsaken land in Northern Alaska. It’s so cold there that the caribou leave for big chunks of the year. It’s flat and miserable.

The only redeeming feature is the estimated 16 billion barrels of oil waiting to be drilled.

But last year Democrats fought tooth and nail to protect this area, eventually road-blocking it in the Senate.

Now I could understand if several Democratic senators had summer homes in the area, but this is a place most people will never ever visit. The truth is that this oil would only reduce our dependence on nasty Middle Eastern countries and provide jobs for Alaskans.

But for some reason we have to protect only 2,000 acres in the least desirable part of the world.

So what are the Democrats going to do for the next two years?

Probably just grow more and more distanced from the issues.

For example, Nancy Pelosi will replace Dick Gephardt as House Minority leader. Gephardt is a moderate Democrat, and Pelosi is a San Francisco bleeding-heart liberal.

They lost the election because they were too soft on the issues, so they replace the person in one of the most important positions with an even more liberal politician?

If the Democrats keep this up, Republican gloating will just seem cruel.