And they came for the children

You cannot find a Republican source that isn't trying to define why they lost the 2012 presidential election. All logic dictates that with an 8% unemployment, Obama should have lost, except he didn't. The loss was an electoral landslide, while the popular vote was close.

The only thing that matters at this point is the loss. Romney was a weak candidate, but he was portrayed as the only man that could beat Obama. What republicans don't understand is it doesn't matter if the candidate is good or bad. Most people vote with their feelings.

After Sandy hit and we saw Governor Christie parading Obama around telling us what a fantastic job he was doing, people sitting on the fence fell to Obama's side. They felt he cared. It's not even important if he did care, it's the fact that he projected that image.

Republicans fail to see that politics is no different from American Idol. It doesn't matter how well you can sing, it's all about if you are liked and have some sob story. Romney grew up wealthy, while Obama grew up in perceived poverty. Obama's every word was about helping the poor and middle class. Romney's mistake was that he thought logically. He had the same concerns, but he was going about solving the problem logically. Most people are confused by a logical mind, it doesn't matter if you are on the left or the right.

The average person can't see that reducing regulations and lowering taxes for business will stimulate the economy and provide more jobs and a better life for the poor and middle class. We have educated democrats telling the people that supply-side economics can't work, when in fact it has worked everywhere it's been tried. If people took the time to study the history of Chile, or look at the real numbers of the Reagan era, they would see it works.

Most voters are not going to look at these things. They want to vote for the cutest or the one that can give them the warm fuzzies when they speak. Charisma will win over logic every time. Ronald Reagan didn't win because he had some great economic ideas. He won because he was more likeable than the other candidate.

Right now the Republican Party has a branding problem. Many people see this as the party for big business. They cannot fathom the economic principles on which its based. Republican candidates rarely defend themselves against the lies of the opponents. They seem to feel they can win on messaging alone. This just doesn't work.

Republicans have a firm foothold in the south, but even that is beginning to slip. If we look back a few short decades the south was predominately democrat. Until the 60's the southern people were still believers in the FDR myth. Some want to blame the shift on the civil rights movement. I have no doubt that played some part, but that wasn't the principle item. Things changed after Kennedy was killed. The Democratic party took a sharp left turn left with the seating of President Johnson.

In the south we have a distrust of government, especially the US government. Our ancestors watched their homes burned and neighbors imprisoned simply because of their political beliefs. Most southerners didn't care in which country they lived, they just wanted a chance to live free and without worry.

The point I'm making is that the democrats aren't controlling some states because of their actions, they are winning because of who they are perceived to be. The war on poverty is a good example. Unemployment and income levels of blacks is no different from the 70's when the war on poverty began. It's only the perception democrats care that matters and they will hand out free stuff.

Today our schools are mostly run by progressives. They take the minds of our young children and mold them into future progressives. Unless conservatives and libertarians want to become a thing of the past, they must take control of the education system. This cannot happen until we take back control of education from Washington DC.

Republicans must find a way to make people believe they don't want to imprison gays and adulterers. This sounds absurd, right? But this is the perception of many people. The left is controlling the message. Many republican voters are libertarian or Teatarian minded people. That is why it's going to be up to us to help take over the messaging. We must drag the social conservatives kicking and screaming to the side where people should be allowed to live their personal lives as they choose. We must make them understand that government has no business controlling marriage in any form. We must reduce the control of government in our lives, both financial and social.