I've started reading Ayn Rand's "Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution"...40 years ago, she nails the problems with the Republicans.
Conservatism is at it's best in times of crisis. We're the political religion of wars and balanced budgets. The great Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush rallied the country. But like it or not and fair or not, we are being blamed for what is wrong right now, and no amount of positive thinking can change that at the moment.