Conservatism wins big (1980,1994) nonconservatism loses or wins barely (1996,2000,2004) but with that said, it has to be done in a way that appeals to the individualistic nature of the American people.
You generalize big-time and I think gloss over the zeit geist of these elections. In 1980 Reagan won because any Bozo who offered a positive message would have beaten Carter's disastrous 4 years and pessimistic view of America. The economy was in the tank and Carter said it was our fault. The New Morning in America was a winner. Further, Reagan did have his list of "non-conservative" actions as well but he did run on conservative ideals even if all his actions as President didn't follow all those ideals. Then in 1994 I believe we benefited from Clinton remorse as well as the Contract with America. Clinton's first big issue was gays in the military and the socialization and intrusion into the health care system. There was plenty of Democrat corruptions from being the party in charge to sweeten the election too. Again, 1994 was a mid-term election and the usual voter impatience was easily capitalized on by Newt.
Let's just take this as the pause that refreshes and find our identity again.
Agreed. What to do about Iraq? Do we support privatizing Social Security? What will we counter the Dems push for nationalized health care with? When families have to pay hundreds of dollars a week for coverage will we succeed with a message of "tough it out"? When ridiculously priced college tuition costs bankrupt graduates and families, do we give them the "tough it out" message again? What's our identity on these specific middle class pocketbook issues? How do we avoid the Democratic lure of socialism? To quote Bush, "A litany of complaints is not a plan"
Someone is going to need to level with American people.
We are 9 trillion in debt, with another 60 trillion in unfunded liabilities (Soc. Security, and Medicare) this means we can not afford the entitlements we have today without doubling taxes. So, we certainly can not afford more entitlements.
After the honesty we appeal to their optimism and their individualism that their futures are in their hands and that they can make it on thier own and they are going to have to because the American government is essentially bankrupt.
This may not be the message they want, but it's the truth.
Once socialism starts, there is no stopping it. Government shouldn't even be in the healthcare or college tuition business. There's the key. But since some politian at some point chose to make it a government issue, now its thought of as a government problem. Its not! We need to somehow figure out a way to start moving these issues back to the people. First you have to educate the people that getting out of these issues means smaller government and that the prices would drop drastically if you go back to paying for your own healthcare and college tuition. Its the only way but it would be very hard.