These days Mike, the Republican Political Warrior, has the blues. In three short years he’s witnessed a political meltdown, which he expressed this way the other day in an email: I always reckoned the end would come. I just didn’t expect it to come in my lifetime.

Eight years ago, Mike had high hopes for Bush the Younger. Then came Iraq. Mike was prepared to fight the war. But he hadn’t counted on it lasting longer than World War II. So he was already worried when Bush’s unpopularity hit a level comparable to Jimmy Carter’s in the 1970s. But what took him by surprise was the political forces Bush’s collapse unleashed. Republicans not only lost the 2006 election; they got savaged again in 2008.

Then, suddenly, the economy folded like a house of cards and, now, the way Mike sees it, Obama is using the economic panic to pass the Democrats’ dream spending bill, clothed in the rubric of an ‘Economic Stimulus.’ Government is spreading its tentacles in every direction. A trillion dollars worth.

Mike isn’t troubled, per se, by having our first African-American president. But part of him can’t help worrying that this change is part and parcel of a bigger change he can’t quite get his arms around. And he’s got Pat Buchanan, the old culture warrior, telling him it’s going to get worse: That the Reagan Coalition (Republicans, Conservative Democrats and blue-collar Catholics) which dominated politics for a generation is kaput. Finis. And that demographic shifts are saying Obama’s new coalition (young people, Hispanics, African-Americans and women) may prevail for the next generation.

Mike’s looking at a long cold winter: Not only has North Carolina gone blue, it may stay blue a generation.

So, politically, Mike needs hope. In part, he’s telling himself Obama – as president – may turn out to be as unpopular as George Bush or Jimmy Carter. But that’s not much comfort. Because Mike also believes we’re on the precipice of another Great Depression and the last thing the country needs is a nudge in the wrong direction from the White House.

Worst of all, Mike doesn’t see a champion on the horizon to lead conservatives out of the wilderness. And not just a champion. Political movements have voices. The importance of that voice is hard to grasp because it’s intangible. But Mike is discovering the hard way that for a political movement, not having a voice is a conundrum. And that’s a riddle the leaders of the Republican Party have to solve. Part of the problem, it seems, is we Republicans have mislaid two gifts we were once very good at. Polling (which is another story). And the importance of political speech.

Here’s an example: The other morning I received – over the Internet – a joint press release from House and Senate Republican Leaders Skip Stam and Phil Berger about education reform. It’s articulate. Well thought out. And makes a lot of sense.

But it doesn’t mention a single Democrat. There’s no villain. It’s a fine policy statement advocating ‘consistency in measuring academic progress.’ But it isn’t a debate. Republicans criticizing Democrats for standing in the way of academic progress is a debate. That’s political speech.

The John Locke Foundation works 24 hours a day, doing a fine job articulating policies. But that doesn’t move votes. Republican elected officials need to draw a bead – with razor-like precision – on the business of politics. Because it does move voters.

To give Republican Senate Leader Phil Berger credit he did just that in his response to Marc Basnight’s speech on opening day. He made the point Senator Basnight – and the Democrats – mean to go on running the Senate the way they always have: As a sort of political fiefdom. And a pretty secretive fiefdom at that.

Now, that has the makings of a debate. And that’s what folks like Mike need.

I expect there are those who will say, Well, the blunt truth is resources (cash money) are slender and we have to save them for our campaigns. But campaigns (and political movements) without a voice fall on fallow ground. And whither. And a rip-roaring debate is also a key to raising money. Jesse didn’t raise millions because he was the world’s more diligent legislator – he raised money because he was a voice and he was almost always fighting with someone. And what he found out was a lot of like-minded people didn’t mind pitching in to help.

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