As evidenced by by this silly Washington Post commentary titled “McCain’s Problem isn’t his Tactics. It’s GOP Ideas,” the left (joined by their big government allies in the GOP) will do their best to portray Republican electoral failures as evidence of the failure of limited government conservatism.

As Matt Welch observes: “This critique requires a significant leap of logic − that George W. Bush, and his would-be GOP successor John McCain, practice and/or believe in limited government principles.”

But just because the argument is dead wrong, doesn’t mean it isn’t still very dangerous.

Left unanswered, the argument could mark the extinction of the limited-government torch that has been carried by elements of the GOP since at least Barry Goldwater’s run for President. (Sure, the torch for limited-government hasn’t necessarily been burning brightly, but its very existence gives the GOP a potential for conservative/libertarian policy-making that is wholly absent from the Democratic Party.)

That’s where Ron Paul comes in. When McCain fails to beat Obama (something I believe is very likely to happen) and Republicans lose seats in both the House and Senate (something I’m certain will happen), Republicans will ask themselves the obvious question: Why?

If they decide that a decade of abandoned limited-government principles is responsible, there may be hope yet for the Grand Old Party. Otherwise, we’ll see a self-fulfilling prophecy of two permanent parties of big government, where one will always win.

If there is one thing the Campaign for Liberty, and the greater Ron Paul movement should focus on between now and November it should be showing that not only has the Republican party abandoned its limited government principles, but that the betrayal of those principles is the largest reason for the party’s demise.