If political scientists could invent a seismograph so sensitive that it could detect the shifting of a nation's heart, we would see on the streaming output the evidence of the rumbles and quaking of a jubilant bare majority, the disbelief of a bare minority, and the lurching of a country so far to the left that it has nearly departed the page.

In vast swaths of territory Republicans have ceased to factor. Try to name a single urban congressional seat in Republican hands after Tuesday.

In all of New England remains not a single elected Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives. The party of Lincoln, the party that drew so heavily on New England for the men the Union required to fight an unpopular Civil War, has been thoroughly rejected by New England.

While this may be a cause for celebration for many throughout the country, I caution those who have labored for the ascendency of Democratic ideals that the supremacy of one party has never boded well for the country.

Balance is required. But Republicans do not expect charity. That is for those who hope that the change this election has wrought will unburden them of their own responsibilities. And though I do not speak for the party but only for myself, I believe that the party would agree that compromise of values is not called for simply for the sake of victory.

What is required of an opposition? For that is the status to which this party has been delivered. The nipping at heels of political foes is unseemly. Better must be expected of those Republicans who were strong enough to withstand the tide that overtook the nation.

Scheming and wound licking must not be our occupation. A void has been created by the success of the nationwide Democratic campaign, the gap between expectation and reality. It remains for us to fill this void.

The elation of this election will subside as the multitude that balloted for change realize that the rate of change is inconsistent with their expectations.

The hands of the change they hoped for will not extend to the paying of their mortgages, the filling of their gas tanks or of their bellies. And how disappointing to find that even Democrats must contend with security issues; that even Democrats must occasionally fight wars.

And when change comes it might not be of the character hoped for. And what will be required of those who try to maintain the balance necessary for a stable democracy?

The minority party must not merely expose and contest the shortcomings and consequences of each new handout, but must offer alternative proposals that are consistent with our nation's historical character. Republicans must have a disposition that calls us to independence of thought and action, that impels us to abnegate dependence on government programs ostensibly proffered to save us from ourselves.

So much will be offered by those who know the strings to play, so tempting the choice to accept. Government-run health care, severe regulation of firearms, open borders for no-longer-illegal aliens, the denial of Israel, all the panaceas and bromides one could hope for, and all paid for by the so-called rich.

Someone must stand up to strenuously express that such lurches as accompany the national obsession with "Change" must be moderated, that the desire for change for its own sake is evidence of intellectual childishness.

There are many who, while pleased, are short of ecstasy from the election results. They see reason in the need to stem unrestrained free-for-all of government handouts and the associated limitations on our freedoms and forcible confiscation of our daily bread.

These Obama voters do not find joy in the apparent knell of conservatism as do those who longed and labored for the day of its demise. But conservatives are merely sleeping, and not all of us.

Voegeli, of Sun Prairie, is a certified public accountant and a former Republican candidate for lieutenant governor.