"Until someone is prepared to lay out the systemic problem, we will simply go through cycles of finding corruption, finding a scapegoat, and eliminating the scapegoat." – Newt Gingrich

Bill Clinton's first term is office marked the beginning of the Republican Revolution. His promise to reform health care was soundly defeated. His executive order lifting the ban against gays in the military failed to energize leftist activists. And a barrage of political and personal scandals plagued the Clintons during his first term. The most deleterious scandal was that Clinton illegally profited from a back door involvement in a failed savings and loan on the Whitewater River in Arkansas.

But none was more injurious to Clinton than the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

NAFTA created a common market for goods, services and investments with Canada and Mexico. U.S. workers were forced to compete with global competition for jobs that hurt their standard of living and threatened their future. This ill-fated agreement angered the unions and labor friendly Democrats who needed union support. And America turned to the GOP to right the sinking ship.

Prior to 1994, Democrats controlled the House for 40 consecutive years, with a coalition of liberals in the north and east with southern blue-dogs. Since Democrats held the House for 58 of the last 62 years and the Senate for 34 out of 40 years, they had no fear of Republicans in the 1994 midterms.

According to University of Colorado's Paul Teske, both Bill and Hillary Clinton were easy campaign targets for the GOP. From Hillary Clinton's failed health care bill, to numerous corruption cases in Congress, and Bill Clinton's foray into NAFTA, America was ripe for the GOP revolution.

"Every revolution seems impossible at the beginning, and after it happens, it was inevitable." – Bill Ayers

It was obvious America needed a change. Liberal Democrats in the north and the good-ol-boy-left in the south had dictated Congressional policy for almost five decades – which wasn't working. They were about to be reminded that the "political pendulum always swings both ways if it is balanced."
 

The late senator Bob Dole reminded Republicans that they had been the minority in Congress for so long that they had forgotten how to take charge and govern. He said in order to win they needed a platform that had national appeal with universal solutions for all Americans, not just Republicans.

In an effort to unite Americans under a common goal, six weeks before the 1994 midterm elections, House Reps. Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey introduced a "Contract with America." As ballots were cast, this not only gave Republicans control of Congress, it would also save the Clinton presidency.

The Contract with America was a legislative agenda by the Republican Party for all of America. It detailed the actions the GOP promised to take – if they became the majority in the U.S. House for the first time in four decades. This was a true bipartisan effort to solve major problems confronting our nation.

"We are in a struggle over whether or not we are going to save America." – Newt Gingrich

The contract's text included eight reforms the GOP promised to enact, and 10 bills they committed to bring to floor if they took over the House. It included issues that had been polled during the first years of the Clinton administration that 60% of the American voters collectively wanted remedied.

The text of the proposed bills included in the Contract was released before the election. They represented significant changes in federal policy that included a balanced budget requirement, and tax cuts for businesses, families and seniors. It also included term limits, reforms to Social Security, and tort and welfare reform. It avoided controversial matters such as abortion and school prayer.