Nevertheless, there's no denying that Republican morale is pretty low. And if the situation weren’t bad enough, Senator Arlen Specter goes and defects to the Democratic Party, bringing Democrats one step closer to a veto-proof majority in the Senate. Then Justice David Souter announces his retirement, giving Obama the opportunity to appoint an even more liberal person to the Supreme Court.

Die-hard Republicans, of course, do their best to look on the bright side. They point to the dark days following President Bill Clinton’s election in 1992 and how the party bounced back using the Contract with America to recapture the House in 1994. A 54-seat swing gave Republicans control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1954. The 2010 election, however, is still 18 months away. Anything can happen before then.

So what should Republicans do now? Some pundits argue that they just need to sit back and wait. Democrats will overreach, alienating voters with their march toward socialism. A Republican savior will come along to lead them out of the wilderness and back into majorities in the House and Senate in 2010 and into the White House in 2012.

It's understandable why some believe this. Democrats in Congress are spending the taxpayer’s money like there's no tomorrow. Obama is proposing spending on health care, energy, and education that, if enacted, will restructure America and create unsustainable deficits. And the tea-party movement demonstrated that public outrage is growing. The problem is, they’re as mad at Republicans as they are at Democrats. It doesn’t look like they are in the mood to sign anybody’s contract; and a Republican savior is nowhere in sight.

Others argue Republicans should use the same tactics Democrats have used on them. Nancy Pelosi used the “culture of corruption” label with great effectiveness to brand Republicans in the 2006 election and the label stuck. Now it’s mostly Democrats like Rod Blagojevich that are under investigation. Left-wing bloggers launch vicious personal attacks on Republicans everyday. But the left is much better at getting away with personal attacks than the right, just ask Sarah Palin, and Republicans can’t count on the mainstream media to go after wayward Democrats the same way they go after wayward Republicans.

Some even suggest going after the mainstream media. Then maybe they’ll stop fawning over President Obama, wake up, and remember the reason we have a free press in American is to keep an eye on government. But Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity are already doing that, and it’s not helping Republicans much. The mainstream media continues its positive coverage of Obama and his administration because they’re sympathetic with its goals and objectives and because they believe it sells newspapers and magazines and ups Neilson ratings. Nevermind that the New York Times is slowly going bankrupt and MSNBC’s ratings are in freefall. The mainstream media isn’t likely to change. They bought first class tickets for this cruise and they aren’t about to jump ship.

So what does that leave? What it leaves is for Republicans, and those hiding out as Independents, to remember why they were Republicans in the first place. Because they believed in lower taxes, smaller government, individual initiative, the capitalist free-market system, a strong defense, freedom, justice, and American exceptionalism, among other things. Those values aren’t dead, and they’re not out of date. They’ve just been temporarily subverted by individual greed, political opportunism, and those who want to micromanage other people's lives.

Today’s America is not the America of the founding fathers. We’ve come a long way since then, constantly evolving demographically and socially along the way. But the Republican, Democratic, Independent, and a hundred other political parties, except for the likes of the American Communist and Nazi parties, were established on the principles the founding fathers bequeathed them. They coalesced around different issues and different constituencies at different times, but at their core they shared that common bond.

Republicans shouldn’t wait for Democrats to self-implode or for a Republican savior to come along and tell them what values they need to shout and which ones they need to whisper. Rank and file Republicans need to remind Republican leaders what values they are supposed to represent and practice. They shouldn’t adopt tactics that are contrary to those values. And they shouldn’t expect to get an even shake from a liberal-leaning mainstream media.

Put the black suits and dresses away Republicans. There's not going to be any funeral for the Republican Party, not if you remember what this country is all about and remain true to the principles that made it great. Look at the current situation as an opportunity to reaffirm those principles and reach out to all Americans. In the words of Ronald Reagan, "This is not the time for political fun and games. This is the time for a new beginning."