Newt Gingrich (yeah that guy) wrote an interesting article last week about what he says Republicans should be running on. He specifies these 11 because they have popular support. You can read the whole article here, but I'll give you the rundown:
1. Make English the Official language.
2. Control the Borders.
3. Keep God in the Pledge of Allegiance.
4. Require a Voter ID card.
5. Abolish the Death Tax.
6. Protect Property Rights.
7. Become Energy Independent.
8. Control Spending/Balance the Budget.
9. Make Teachers Accountable.
10. Defend America from Terrorism.
11. Focus on Iran/North Korea.
I can't say that I agree with his reasoning on every point, but overall I see a lot of wisdom here. The one item that I think would have the largest and most immediate impact is the Voter ID card. It would put a serious dent in voter fraud and allow our system to work effectively. The other items might actually happen if our elections are not tampered with (which I suspect might be happening with illegal aliens, felons, dead people, pets, etc. all being reported voting, not to mention the people who get bussed from poll to poll voting repeatedly).
The teacher accountability issue, in my opinion, is only part of the problem. Do teachers need to be competent and accountable? Sure. But a lot of qualified teachers do the best job they can do. It's the administration, the school board, and the system in general that need to be challenged. Let the money follow the student (in the form of vouchers) and let parents choose and plain old competition will fix a lot of problems that bureaucracy could never fix. Incompetent teachers would be weeded out naturally and good teachers would be in high demand and merit more pay because their performance would be directly connected to the school's success as in institution. True, the old socialists won't like it very much – "it's too capitalistic and we're trying to inculcate Marxism here!" – but it would work.
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