That should be the GOP’s theme for 2008. Think of what’s happened each time we enunciated a forward-looking, pro-growth vision. That’s what Ronald Reagan did in 1984 when he told us he’d cut taxes, defeat the Commies and appoint strict constructionist judges. In 1994, Newt’s revolution was made complete with the unveiling of the GOP’s vision for America. George Bush got 23 percent more votes in 2004 than he won in 2000 because he painted a vision of what he wanted to accomplish in his second term by filling his stump speech with things like appointing strict constructionist judges, fighting terrorists, reforming Social Security while keeping taxes low.

Part of why we got whipped in 2006 is because every other GOP commercial only talked about how America wouldn’t like Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco values agenda. The GOP’s message didn’t inspire people to vote for GOP candidates. That’s also why funds trickled into the RNC, the NRSC and the NRCC in 2006. People were fed up with Republicans who didn’t act like Republicans. This year, the funds are trickling in again. The cure is in Republicans acting like Republicans. It’s also about them not worrying about tailoring their message to appeal to moderates. Let me explain.

If we put together a coherent agenda that keeps taxes low, that prioritizes how we’re spending the taxpayers’ money, we win because Democrats don’t believe in prioritizing. Their core belief is summarized in one word: MORE!!! More spending. More taxes. More regulations. More restrictions. The only places where MORE isn’t their mantra is more troops to kill jihadists, more freedom from government and more money in people’s pockets. The bad news for Democrats is that the last three issues are the highest priority items on the American voter’s wish list.

Despite all these facts, some of the highest profile pundits say that the GOP faces an uphill fight this election. I don’t agree. Eight months ago, I would’ve wholeheartedly agreed.

That’s a political eternity. In this instance, eight months made an incredible difference. Eight months ago, Speaker-elect Maggie Kelliher told Minnesotans that the House DFL caucus was a moderate bunch. Three months later, that myth had vanished in an unprecedented flurry of major tax and spending increases. Voters knew it because they were bombarded daily with a new tax increase and a new spending increase. Voters knew that the House and Senate DFL didn’t stop pressing that agenda until the last frantic moments of the session.

Eight months ago, the scene in Washington was dramatically different, too. In an attempt to appeal to moderates, Washington Democrats said that they wouldn’t cut off funds to the troops. They used that message last fall to get several ‘moderates’ elected in southern swing districts. That myth has vanished because they’re following MoveOn’org’s orders like a puppet follows his master’s dancing hands. It isn’t arguable that Democrats are now the mouthpiece of the Incoherent Left.

It’s also time to recognize two things about the Iraq war: (a) it isn’t popular and (b) it isn’t the drag that it was six months ago.

Again, eight months made a huge difference. In those eight months, President Bush implemented a new counterinsurgency plan led by David Petraeus. People were initially hesitant to trust President Bush. They were justified in doing so.

Eight months later, the military results are undeniable. People are rallying to David Petraeus because his plan is working. People’s opinions have changed because they trust Gen. Petraeus. People’s opinions have changed because there’s too much undeniable proof that Gen. Petraeus’ plan is working brilliantly. The nation’s opinions have shifted so much that Democrats are in full retreat mode.

This is best illustrated with the Democrats’ hopes in late July that the voters would deliver a stinging rebuke of the war to GOP wobblies so that they’d abandon President Bush about the war. Those GOP wobblies got some stinging rebukes…for not fighting for victory. When the Senate reconvened, the GOP wobblies’ resolve had stiffened considerably. Democrats, meanwhile, noticed. Suddenly, Democrats were the tentative ones. Nowadays, they’re the ones caving into President Bush’s wishes.

Minnesotans have noticed the DFL’s indifference to their needs. Independents are looking for an uplifting message to rally around. They’re looking for a shelter from the DFL’s tax increase storm. That’s why they’re open to hearing sensible ideas about taxes and spending restraint. It’s no different on the national scale.

Here’s the plan going forward. Our highest priority should be that, eight months from now, every GOP activist knows the GOP agenda frontwards and backwards, inside and out. Our second agenda should be that the GOP’s activists believe in that agenda with every fiber of their being. If these activists know the agenda and passionately believe in that agenda, they’ll be able to articulate that agenda. If that happens, they’ll be the most effective GOTV team in GOP history. That’s when the candidates and incumbents should start contrasting their pro-growth, pro life agendas, highly-prioritized spending agenda with their opponents’ records of fiscal irresponsibility, higher taxes and irresponsible national security policy.

By the way, another benefit of adhering to a clearly defined, appealing agenda is that the activists then become the most articulate editorial writers come election season. (BTW, election season started two months ago.)

It’s important to remember that it wasn’t that people got fed up with low taxes, sensible spending priorities and a government that protected them from terrorists.

They got fed up with a spineless GOP that piled up earmarks at a rate that would’ve almost made Robert Byrd and John Murtha blush. They got fed up with a spineless GOP that teamed up with Ted Kennedy on a sham wrongfully titled ‘immigration reform’. Voters knew that it wasn’t a reform. They got fed up with a spineless GOP that didn’t fight for low tax burdens for Americans, whether they were factory workers or small business owners, single mothers or college graduates.

If we follow the blueprint of low taxes, sensible spending priorities and protecting Americans from terrorist attacks from neighborhood to neighborhood,from city to city, one state to the next, election victories will be plentiful for the GOP in 2008. You can take that to the bank.

Technorati: Election 2008, GOP, Ronald Reagan, President Bush, Newt Gingrich, Tax Cuts, SCOTUS, David Petraeus, National Security, Iraq, Terrorism, Democrats, John Murtha, Ted Kennedy, Illegal Immigration

Cross-posted at California Conservative