Rebuild the Party - A Plan for the Future

redistricting is front and center - hope we have our spokespersons front and center to plead our cases.

Local control of all government!

No moar federalistas!

They are stoopid!

We are teh RIGHT wing, no moar free ridez for the WRONG wing!

Dr. Ron Paul/Sarah Palin FTW 2012!

And Truck Nutz for every F150, like it or not!

My sentiments exactly! Well said!. Obama didn't appear out of thin air. He came from the State Legislature of Illinois. We need to run good state candidates and they need the help of the RNC. We need to "get them early" and hold them accountable. It's easier to get candidates to listen to us at the local level than at the federal level.

Excellent idea! Not only state legislatures, but also you local county commissions & city aldermen, mayors, etc... This is what we have done in TN, & on Nov. 4 the Republicans took over the state house of representatives for the first time since Reconstruction. Our Republicans won by running as all-round conservatives - especially limited government & fiscally responsible conservatives.

This is incredibly important. As Mayhem pointed out, we need a "trickle up" mentality, where we realize that State legislators can become the future of the GOP. Look no further than the President-elect to realize how true that can be.

In order to do this, state and local parties need to be rebuilt. The focus of the next chairmen should be regional and local parties. The focus of those parties will be to win their state leg races. This ensures that we have good candidates who are connected to the principles of their locality and stay true to keeping the Federal government away from destroying those principles in congress.

I agree here. I think State politics are something that is overlooked by many voters and when considering the original role of the Federal Government it is the State where laws that really impact peoples daily life should be made. The Federal Government has overstepped their bounds in many cases in my opinion and I think an emphasis on local government including State Legislators is a great idea.

This is something that the RNC was really created to do. We get lost sometimes focusing on the big ticket races but true change does come from the bottom up. It is also where the future leaders of our party will get their experience and mature into effective leaders. Great suggestion!

I'm all for this. But this means we have to be flexible in our ideology, and we need to come up with policies that address popular concerns but are undergirded by conservative principles.

We have to research the policies of our local politicians, and then help promote the GOP people who are really working for the people instead of themselves. We could also promote term limits of no more than 3 terms, to prevent the corruption of power.

GREAT idea

The Libs have taken over this site. They are loggin in multiple times as different users to tilt leftist votes to the top. This is a tactic we should duplicate on leftie web sites as well. I suggest every conservative use multiple log-ons to boost the conservative suggestions as they are doing now!

YES! All elections are local! Get control of your area, and the three houses follow.
THAT MEANS GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSE AND WORK! Win your neighborhood and make calls. Conservatives are JUST THAT... conservative! :) they like to not get radical, but that is what it is going to take.

Yes

I live in California and the GOP was decimated election night. Obama ALMOST WON Orange County! That is pathetic! We need to rebuild our California GOP. We have to learn how to articulate conservative principles and in two ways. Never keeping ANYONE out, and having people believe in the conservative message. There are a lot of people out there. We need to encourage those people to get engaged.

Trickle Up !! Yes !11 BRilliant!!!

I agree. Let's build up experience and credibility in local offices.

Winning the redistricting fights in 2011 and 2012 will critical to the future of the GOP. But I would like to point out there are many outstanding conservatives that never served in a state legislature before joining Congress. Jim DeMint, Mike Pence, Jeb Hensarling are just a few that come to mind.

Legislatures are the "incubators" of future Congressional candidates. We need to recruit quality conservatives for legislative races, so they can be put up in House and Senate races later on. The current party make-up of Legislatures is very bad for the GOP. We have to stop the bleeding locally before we can expect real change federally. Perhaps a "trickle up" mentality would actually work here.