Re-branding Republicans

One of the main problems confronting the Republican Party during my lifetime has been attracting new voters to it. If the majority of the country identifies itself as center-right, how in the heck did we wind up with a Marxist in the White House, backed by liberal Democrats controlling the entire Congress???

It's a matter of branding.

We have allowed the Left to control the conversation for far too long, using pretty labels (e.g., 'pro-choice' - sounds so much better than 'pro-abortion', doesn't it?) and meaningless tripe (i.e., 'open space' - who could be against that???).

What we lack, and have lacked since President Reagan, is a communicator. Newt Gingrich came pretty close, and perhaps a few other "lower-level" Republicans, as well. But until Governor Palin came along, we lacked a loud, clear, honest voice, and we desperately need one. Or two. Or forty.

Loud.
Clear.
Honest.

We're so afraid to tell the American public WHY we should be drilling in the ANWR - along with the ancillary information, like how much it will actually hurt the caribou, how long it will take to get the oil from the ground to our cars, and so on. We don't tell the American public the FACTS, we sugarcoat them because we've allowed the Left to dictate the terms of the debate, when what we should be doing is ignoring their rules utterly.

If we have the most strict environmental controls in the world (and witness how many oil spills we experienced during the last few hurricanes in the Gulf), why does it make more environmental sense to allow Venezuela to drill our oil for us - when they have horrid environmental controls? Aren't we just causing more harm to the environment, on a global scale, by letting them do for us what we could do for ourselves better, cleaner, and quicker?

That's the kind of argument I want to hear.

I want to hear how not only does the 2nd Amendment 'allow' us to own and carry weapons for our protection, and the protection of others, but that EVERY statistic from EVERY state supports the fact that: More carry permits = less violent crime.

I hear and read these things from secondary sources, but not from those we elect, or ask to lead our party. And it's high time we did.