The Republican Party does not need to be re-branded as pundits claim, it simply needs to return to the core values that make it great-a commitment to personal freedom, individual integrity, and global American leadership. Oh yeah, and it would be nice if someone besides Democrats defined it.
SF Chronicle political writer Carla Marinucci describes how Schwarzenegger and McCain are striving to rebrand the GOP to be seen as the party of the center (click here to read her article). The GOP IS and always has been the party of the middle- the middle class. THAT is where it needs to return.
The last 20 years since President Reagan have been about helping elites reshape and redefine America. Whether Hillary's health plan, the Kyoto protocol, the UN determination of Middle East policy, it has all been about elites telling Americans what is right for us to do.
The American people, and especially the middle class, are tired of hearing about this crisis or that and what government needs to do. They are willing to work and work hard, but they need to know with certainty that they will reap the fruits of their labors-NOT that they will be frivolously taken away to fund a new government program.
Middle-class Americans will also step forward and handle the hard work of addressing important problems-if given the chance. They do NOT believe that the elites in Washington (or even Sacramento) have the answers, though, and they want to see an America that allows innovation and markets to be opened to address our problems, not more government programs.
Republicans need to return to personal freedom, opportunity and responsibility as the hallmark of what the big "R" stands for in Republican. This is not a new brand-it is the old brand that launched Ronald Reagan into the White House and can land John McCain there as well.
Schwarzenegger is wrong about one really important thing. Republicans are not "stuck with just the right wing." Rather it is those middle-class people of faith who represent the heart of the center in America that he so wistfully covets. And they will be the difference in November's election-so Republicans better figure out how to reach them and soon...
We also must not let Democrats set the agenda by taking "their" issues. Let the Dems have global warming, spending and immigration reform. Republicans should be about environmental stewardship, fiscal responsibility, individual freedom and accountability and the special meaning of what it is to be American.
Finally, if Republicans can sucessfully explain this vision of America to Americans, not only will they prevail, but our stature as the leading democracy in the world will once more reflect what has made us the great nation we are-the land of opportunity that always strives to stand for what is right in the world and to stand up to evil and tyranny. But it all starts in the middle...
