Three Steps To Reviving The GOP

Mark Sanford outlines his recipe for a rejuvenated Republican Party in an article at the Politico.
He's big on returning to core principles, then actually paying attention to them as you make decisions. Here's the start:

First, let’s go back to the principle of saying what you mean and meaning what you say. A political party is much like a brand, and brands thrive or wither based on how consistently they deliver on what they promise. Along those same lines, it’s important for brands to stick to their knitting. If John Deere’s tractor sales are declining, they don’t say, “Tell you what, let’s make cars and airplanes, too.” Instead, they focus on producing better tractors.

I make that point because there’s a real temptation in Republican circles right now to try and be all things to all people. We tried that already — it was called “compassionate conservatism,” and it got us nowhere.

Gov. Sanford goes on from there to implore us to respect ideas over personalities and to look to the states rather than Washington for our examples.

He's right in that the future of the party lies with governors rather than senators. We should be trying to make government not only smaller, but closer to the people.

An individual can look after his needs on the local or county level much more effectively than at the national level. I think this is an easy argument to make and could help us gain some credibility with younger and more libertarian-minded voters.