With the general election only months away, I've been getting more letters asking me to donate to the RNC. The problem is, they're all the same letters, beginning something like this:

Ultra-liberals in Congress...

The rest of letter does nothing but basically say "LIBERALS = BAD!" and then ends with something like "Donate $50,$75,$100 to help us defeat liberals today!"

These letters illustrate exactly what's wrong with the Republican party. There is no connection with the people and no idealogical drive. Instead of giving me a letter telling me what REPUBLICANS are going to DO, they've sent me a letter telling me what the other side will do. They like to throw out words like "liberal", "ultra-liberal", "progressive", etc. but they don't say that they're the idealogical opponents of this. Then like a door-to-door salesman, they hit me up for cash.

This lack of vision is exactly what Newt Gingrich called out recently in the Congressional Committee. Granted, I've gotten surveys from the Senatorial Committee asking my opinions on issues, but nothing from the House Committee or the National Committee. A lack of vision is exactly what lead us to Congressional defeat in 2006 and what will lead us to defeat this November.

But is conservatism the natural idealogical choice for Republicans? I don't think so. Federalism is the way to go. Take health care for instance- conservatives say "THAT'S NOT THE GOVERNMENT'S JOB!!!!11!", while Federalists say "If you want your state to have health care, then go to your state." Instead of trying to come up with a "free market solution" on a national level, Republicans should just start saying that these socialite packages don't belong on the federal dole. Not only are you taking the moral high ground, but you're encouraging the people to debate these issues on a local level that gets them involved in their own government. When you start enabling people to take part in the government and enact the change they want, it's game time.