Peggy Noonan argues that now is a time for Republicans to come up with new ideas -- not just new messaging, but new ideas. So let's try it (feel free to contribute in the comments!).
She advocates:
1. Breaking up the "too big to fail" banks;
2. Doing away with the carried interest deduction.
In a powerful piece yesterday, Victor Davis Hanson made some excellent suggestions, too (some presumably with tongue in cheek), but among them are:
1. Those who leave government and immediately make $1 million or more pay 50% in income taxes;
2. End state subsidies and tax breaks for film and TV production.
To these suggestions, I'd add the following:
1. Disbanding the public employee unions, which artificially inflate government worker wages relative to the private sector, and end up costing taxpayers more;
2. Finding constitutional ways to limit the power of government (not private sector) unions to contribute to political campaigns (thereby reducing the cycle of corruption in which government unions simply buy state & local government seats for those willing to vote them ever-bigger benefits, as they have in California).
3. Using government money for more gas and oil exploration on public land, rather than to subsidize "green" boondoggles;
4. Supporting innovative plans to reduce the cost of tuition at public and private universities -- like Rick Perry's $10,000 college education plan -- so that students can get the skills they need to succeed without being burdened with crushing debt, and so taxpayers are no longer subsidizing sky-high loans that have allowed costs to soar.
Other ideas?