A New Republican Majority

If the Republicans don't consider some serious changes they will be out in the cold after the 08 election. First and most importantly we need to invite new groups into the party. Many gay Americans feel the GOP is hostile to them and their interests, and to some extent they are right. Too much emphasis is placed on values issues like gay marriage which drive gays into the Democratic party. These issues should be dealt with at the state level and even then dealt with more sensitively as to not alienate gay voters.

Republicans also need know that excessive pandering to the religious right on church-state issues will drive secular minded voters away. Religion is very important to many Americans but not to everyone, and even to many that it is important, it is an issue that is personal and not public.

We also need to show that we will do what we say, Republicans who have claimed to stand for a smaller and more efficient government have given us neither these past few years which is part of why they lost the majority. That and the fact that they tolerated corruption. If we were to actually deliver on the promise of small government without slashing services, we could win and make America a better place at the same time. We also need to balance the budget and keep it balanced, make it the norm to have a balanced budget so that the American people will not tolerate it otherwise.

We also need to take back the issues of the environment and alternative energy from the democrats. Vow to the voters to address and solve serious environmental challenges and then do it; but do it without wrecking the economy. The same is true for alternative energy, put real investment into viable alternative energies, and in the mean time raise fuel efficiency standards and allow the building of more refineries, nuclear power plants, and allow more drilling with environmentally safe conditions. We should also push tecnologies that take care of two problems at once, like the Plasma Converter which can convert waste into energy.

Education is also an important issue, many schools (especially in the inner cities) are not performing well and badly need improvement. Commit to real reform of the public school system and do it once elected. Not reforms that are just band-aids but reforms that will put America's school system back on top.

The last issue is terrorism, we need a long term and multi-tiered strategy including: a larger army, a strategy of finding and eradicating terrorists wherever they are, and non military assistance to pro-democracy groups in Islamic countries like Iran. If more democracies emerge in the Islamic world, the breeding ground for terrorism will shrink.