Giddy liberals are framing November 7th’s electoral outcome as a victory of progressives over conservatives in the ongoing battle of ideas. “The conservative tide is ebbing on all fronts,” wrote one liberal advocate. It’s a “big step in the nation’s march to the left,” wrote another activist. It is an end to the “permanent, Right-wing dominance of American politics,” quipped yet another. Or is it?

The Democratic team may have won the election but all evidence suggests that their players were coached by the Right wing, drawing their plays from the conservative handbook. The “liberal victory” achieved by Democratic candidates who embraced a staunchly conservative agenda as their own is not indicative of Right wing defeat but, rather, victory. The conservative ideology has invaded our culture so deeply that Democrats — once visionary reformers and guardians of democracy — now champion backwards limitations on freedom and equality, then call winning on that platform success.

For instance, many of the new Democrats in Congress are anti-choice. “As I read the polls showing our continuing unease with abortion,” Pennsylvania’s new Democratic Senator Bob Casey said, “nothing makes me more proud to call myself an American.” Casey supports overturning Roe v. Wade and banning life-saving stem cell research.

Similarly, many new Democrats oppose basic gun control. In a stump speech, Missouri’s new Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill said, “I’m not going to take away anybody’s gun. Can I repeat that? I’m not going to take away anybody’s gun.” To show his support for the gun lobby, North Carolina’s new congressional representative Heath Shuler frequently boasts about hunting. There’s a picture of Shuler on the front page of his website decked out in camouflage with patches of orange.

In Montana, Senator-elect Jon Tester vehemently opposes the estate tax. Representative-elect Brad Ellsworth from Indiana not only supports a federal, constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage but an amendment to ban flag burning as well. And notably, while many of these new Democrats campaigned against the Bush Administration’s handling of the war in Iraq, few if any actually campaigned against the war itself — against the doctrine of pre-emptive war or against the use of military might to impose America’s will, whether for democracy or oil.

These aren’t bold, alternative ideas for the future that break the mold of partisan ideology. These are extreme Right wing principles embraced by Democrats.

In this context, it’s not surprising to learn that many of these new Democrats are actually old Republicans. Just before filing his candidacy, Jim Webb changed his party affiliation in order to run against incumbent Republican Senator George Allen in Virginia. When Democrats like Webb won based on disapproval of Bush but general approval for a host of conservative policies and values, their victory may be a loss for Republican’s, but it’s a gain for conservatives more broadly.

“The switch of power in Congress does not represent a movement toward liberal ideology,” said Right wing strategist Grover Norquist, head of the Right wing group Americans for Tax Reform. He described the election as a bump on an otherwise smooth road to continued conservative dominance. “Far from a repudiation of conservativism, this election is proof that to win elections, candidates must promise to rule as conservatives,” Norquist said.

“There was no ideological rejection in this election,” said former American Conservative Union head Richard Lessner. In fact, as the New York Times noted, while several centrist Republican candidates were defeated, the conservative caucuses in Congress have remained about the same size — making the Republican party more conservative. At the same time, the Democrats, by electing candidates like McCaskill and Casey, shift their own ideological center of gravity further to the right. Doesn’t sound like a victory worth bragging about to me.

Not all the Democrats who won are blue dog conservatives. But enough are to reveal a dangerous trend in the rightward slide of American politics and our nation. Right wing ideology has become so influential in our society that Democrats, who once sought power to enact a progressive agenda for the future, now seek power at any cost, even if it means jumping on the conservative bandwagon and abandoning hope for a truly bold and positive vision for our future. As a result, the election reveals that the term “Democrat” is increasingly meaningless and indistinct. Party affiliation aside, in this election, conservative ideology really won.

Sally Kohn is director of the Movement Vision Project, which has interviewed more than 165 progressive leaders across the country to identify a long-term, positive vision for the future of the United States.

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