The Democratic Party is busy trying to figure out what went wrong and attempting to pick up the pieces, and that's something they can afford to do. But, as I mentioned in another thread, the Republican Party has been handed a challenge by the American people to LEAD. Over the past year or so, we Republicans have been asking the American people to give us a chance and promising them that we'll do the right thing and make America better. Well, they called us on it and the result was a sweeping victory in both the White House and Congress. In terms of sheer numbers, Republicans are more powerful right now than at any time in my lifetime, and remember, I'm a pretty old guy. This is our chance to shine.

So, what should be our agenda for the next two years? Obviously the war on terror is paramount, but what about other things? Social Security reform? Medicare reform? Tax reform? An Energy policy? How about Tort reform? Education? Abortion? Lots of issues out there, and we aren't going to be able to accomplish everything all at once. So, as a member of the Republican Party and I realize there are very few professed members that post here, what would you like to see done? What should be the priorities?

Well, here are some ideas that might catch on...or might not...

Foreign Policy:

1. Continue our course in Iraq. Destroy the militant insurgency and Zarqawi. Work with the Iraqis and get the hell out when the time calls for it.

2. Put the squueze on Iran, but keep Israel from attacking nuke sites. The last thing we need is to be pulled into another war this soon.

3. Push through the multilateral North Korean nuke talks. Let's cross that bridge before we seek military action.

4. Talk with Palestinian and Israeli leaders about a Palestinian state. Compromises must be made but at the same time, if the Palestinians want a state of their own, they had better act like they can run one.

5. Evaluate how our business practices are effecting other nation's economies. Canadians in British Columbia, for example, are suffering because of a lack of control on our part. American fisherman are taking too much more than their share leaving Canadians out of luck. Softwood tariffs are also shutting down timber mills because they cant afford our tarriffs.

Domesticaly:

1. Back off the Gay Marriage issue. If you want to gain support from moderates, let it alone. The fact that 1 in every 2 hetero marriages end in divorce, while the religious right looks the other way shatters any of the religious right's claim to "protecting the sanctity of marriage".

2. Alternative energy plans. If my memory serves me, our national reserves are dried up in 2012, so we had better find another source to start using so we can conserve petroleum for things like plastics. Not to mention this will decrease our dependency on foreign sources.

(This will also help us in the auto industry if we start competing with the Japanese in the hybrid/alt source auto market)

This is just to start....