Hey GOP - What Are You Going to Do if You Win?

Andy McCarthy makes some good points in this Corner post:

The best thing about Mark Steyn's guest host stint on Hannity last night — other than Jonah's joining him on the panel — was that Mark asked some pointed questions of two brilliant political strategists, Dick Morris and Karl Rove, that seemed rooted in Mark's theory that, on healthcare and all it entails, "The Dems are thinking strategically; the Republicans are all tactics." For my money, I think the theory is being borne out: Democrats have their eyes on a different end-game than our guys do: namely, the establishment of permanent, European-style socialism in the U.S. Our guys are focused on converting Obama radicalism into big-time electoral success in the next election cycle. The Dems have already factored in that likelihood and are betting — over the long haul — that even if the GOP cuts deeply into Dem majorities or takes over Congress (and even takes over the White House in 2012), Republicans will lack the commitment (and perhaps the numbers) to roll back what the Left is accomplishing now.

That is, our guys are focused miopically on a battle the Democrats have already figured they can afford to lose. The real battle is: What do you do when you get back in power? Do you have a plan for how we undo what is being done? Do you frame the coming elections in a way that converts victory into a mandate not only to stop what Obama is doing but to undo what he has done?

I'm hearing a lot from our side about making big gains in the upcoming elections. That's not strategy or victory. You have to have a plan for what those gains would translate into. Democrats, by contrast, have a real plan for how what they're doing today will sustain Big Government, and themselves, in the long term, regardless of occasional electoral losses.

When the GOP came up with the "Contract With America" they offered a legislative plan for the new Congress and were able to nationalize the election. The GOP swept the Democrats out of power in both Houses of Congress.

It won't be enough to say "vote for us because we're not them" in 2010. They need to say specifically what they would do better, and what Dem legislation they would plan to undo. They also need to better explain why their ideas are better, not to mention teaching voters about freedom versus big government. If we don't do a better job of that soon, we'll have lost entire generations to the idea of self-sufficiency.