The thing republicans have to remember is that federal spending is currently titled towards republican constituencies such as the wealthy, retirees and rural/suburbanites.
The republicans need to represent their own voters economic interest better, and that means they need to not only stop trying to implement draconian cuts to entitlements but also stop trying to radically rewrite the tax code and curtail deductions such as the mortgage interest deduction and the employer provided tax subsidy that their own voters rely on.
Their best strategy is present themselves as the defenders of the current amount of spending and oppose the democrats attempts to expand the welfare state that would benefit the democrats constituencies, instead of trying radically alter the current American fiscal system in a way that angers their own constituents.
Republicans have to realize that economic policy is driven by political realism, which is turn driven by partisan demographics.
That is why Trump got elected by abandoning neo-liberal orthodoxy on trade and immigration.
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I would like to see the GOP resemble a more "competent" argument that defined them during the New Deal Era. Not necessarily "me tooism" of the Rockefeller Republicans, but I would be fine with them being associated with the status quo. The top tax rates are fine right now. Be the party that doesn't want to raise them further, not the party that wants them recklessly low. That's just one example, but we used to have a reputation as the "smarter governing party," IMO, and it is easier to convince people that your way actually will benefit them (aka respond to a charge of a lack of empathy, a traditional criticism of "the right") than it is to convince them that you're, well, not crazy.
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