We are a nation of consumers. Every day we make choices: what outfits to wear, which route to take to work, should I call that person back or wait until tomorrow? These are the mundane freedoms of our daily life; each choice is made freely and can have a variety of effects. One year ago, voters across the country made a choice for new leadership in Washington. Last week, voters in Virginia and New Jersey did the same but for opposite reasons.

For the past year, our government has dramatically changed its perception of its role in society. From Wall Street and the auto industry to healthcare and energy, our entire lives are now being governed by a select few. Policy makers in Washington viewed last year’s election as a mandate for change- dramatic, ideological change- that has already alienated the country.

Buyer’s remorse has set in quickly.

Last week on Capitol Hill, thousands of Americans from across the country descended on Washington to bring their frustrations to their representatives’ door step. Last Tuesday, voters in Virginia and New Jersey ousted the incumbent party in two states that had been steadily moving to the left. Charles Krauthammer diagnosed this as a “natural reaction…a return to the norm…of a center-right country to a governing party seeking to rush through a left-wing agenda.”

This “natural reaction” occurred because stampeding government intervention is so alien to our culture and our values. Americans know their history and what makes this country unique. Our Founders knew that our freedoms must be protected and our government must be limited if progress and prosperity were ever to take hold and last from one generation to the next. Every generation has dramatic moments that test the foundation of these freedoms. And leaders who see these episodes as opportunities for the government to impose their initiatives suffer the backlash of the public.

The American consumer is fed-up, and they want their money back.

Write to tdoheny@afphq.org

For more on this, see Friday’s columns from Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal, David Brooks of the New York Times, and Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post.