Republicans have long been the party of brutal primary elections, with the only way to out-compete your opponent is to move so far to the right that you can kiss the General Election goodbye, or get involved in despicable personal attacks that have nothing to do with policy and everything to do with privacy.

Our Republican brand, especially in New Hampshire, is broken.  We Republicans need to realize that.  We have been going on the last few years as a Party narrowing its view and keying in on certain issues.  While not necessarily a problem, the Democrats have been spending those same years backing away from specific views and allowing more Democrats to differ from Party ranks.

I am not suggesting, nor have I ever, that Republicans need to become Democrats to win.  There is a need for two seperate parties, not two clones of eachother.  What we need is to realize what fundamentally makes a Republican a Republican.  It is not a social or fiscal issue, but rather the idea that we can influence our own lives.  We believe that individuals are best suited to solve their problems, and their communities, not Concord or Washington Bureaucrats, can best help someone when they are down. 

We are the Party so opposed to Class Warfare, not only because it divides our country so much, but because it perpetuates the idea that the class you are born in is the class you a stuck in.  Republicans believe firmly that you possess social mobility and become more successful than those that followed you.  To Republicans, people are not defined by their class; classes are defined by the people in them.  Our nation’s problem is not with the “1%” that we heard so much about, but rather the policies that stop an entrepreneurial citizen from becoming a member of that percentage. 

Republicans need to unite around the fundamental belief that you are the master of your own fate, and that nobody, no government or individual, can stop you from achieving your goal.  It is an uplifting message that we need to rely more on.  We must take to heart President Reagan’s 11^th Commandment, and always realize that when a State allows its people to do more and be more, that State achieves more.