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It’s moral absolutism in the party’s planks that kills it. At its core, people don’t like government or for others tot tell them what to do. the GOP has got to return to fiscal responsibility as a primary tactic and deemphasize all of the social issues.

Stand for the 10th Amendment and limited government. Basically, go back to what this country was founded upon.

This country was also founded on certain moral principles and absolutes which also cannot be ignored or swept under an imaginary rug. Fiscal responsibility is fine but let's remember those two pesky moral absolutes life and liberty, too. Life being the one that the Democrats have abandoned and the GOP must embrace to survive. Liberty is the one that the Democrats are trying to abandon...

They've already tried this and it failed. Arnold was elected as a fiscal conservative who wasn't interested in those divisive conservative stances on social issues. He's turned out to be a fiscal liberal, and the GOP in California is dead in the water. The same thing happened in the Northeast. There are few Republicans left there, but one of them, Olympia Snowe, recently lectured us on how we need to jettison the social issues and concentrate on fiscal conservatism. She wrote this shortly after voting for the Obama stimulus atrocity.

Social liberalism always leads to fiscal liberalism (i.e., socialism) because it creates a weak and dependent attitude among the populace.

"At its core, people don’t like government or for others to tell them what to do."

I think you have identified the core issue. The left, the communists, have been promoting this "it's all about me" attitude for a very long time. They've been leveraging and promoting youth's disrespect of leadership to destroy our culture. Telling the selfish, immature part of us that it has an unquestionable right to deny the wisdom of age and reflection on history for how to best order our lives.

I remember, as a child in the car with my family, expressing my fear and alienation when I saw a policeman and thought he might accost us for no reason. My mother admonished me that I should be proud when I see a policeman. Sadly, that thought has not been reinforced by anyone since then. I now recognize that as part of our lost culture.

I have doubt that it will be rebuilt in my lifetime, especially with the left's ownership of all the propaganda machines (e.g., education, MSM) and their willingness to lie about, and do anything to win).

Adult leadership, wisdom and the promotion of good husbandry is what is needed. Without authority, convincing the 'children' of our culture will have to take the long road of example and elders' advice as opposed to the authority and force of will of the parent.

We must persevere, for the benefit of our children.