Instead Of Licking Wounds: Five Ways Forward, GOP

Fight for the things that you care about. But do it in a way that will lead others to join you. --Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The only people who see the Big Picture are the ones that step out of the frame. --Salman Rushdie

New Jersey's Democrats have scored their biggest win since Jim McGreevey was elected — and we all know how THAT turned out! 

But seriously, the Garden State's Republican Party has suffered a humiliating defeat -- a defeat that resonates up and down the ballot from the statehouse in Trenton to the county seat and right down to the local borough hall. This wipeout was of gargantuan proportions. What to do now? Here are five ideas:

1. Focus on the Big Picture. The Big Game of this political season is over. If you’re still lingering on the field examining  the debris from the loss, you’re wasting your time. Rise above it all, look down from from a higher level and you’ll  get a better idea of the scope and impact of what’s happened and what should follow. It’s like the great author Salman Rushdie said: “The only ones who see the Big Picture are the ones who step out of the frame.” Get out of your own shell and take a look at the Big Picture first. Then, you'll begin to get an idea of how move beyond it.
2. Let a million voices be heard — especially those of the rank and file; the people who actually make the party or the team work.. When you’ve lost as much as we have, you can’t be picky about who you’re listening to or including and who you’re not. We're suggesting three big town meetings for rank and file Republicans in north, central and south Jersey. Let's hear from everyone and let's include  everyone to build an agenda in a way that Justice Ginsburg suggested: Fight for the things that you care about. But do it in a way that will lead others to join you.
3. Welcome all ideas and suggestions no matter how unusual or unexpected or even crazy they might seem. Reject none out of hand! This means more than thinking outside the box; it means thinking and planning with imagination, guts and vision. Tinkering around the dges won't do now. Reimagining the NJ GOP beyond anything that is or may have been is what is needed.
4. Stay hungry — at least for awhile. It’s been said that “a lion runs the fastest when he is hungry.” It seems to defy logic but it’s probably true. We’re hungry now and we ought to stay that way for the time being because it will hopefully motivate us to run for the prize, the conquest, the kill. And let’s be honest, we’re not gonna win without a killer instinct.
5. Get over yourselves and your petty grievances. I don’t care who you like or don’t like or whose ideas you may prize or disdain or who you like to hang out with or ditch.  Politics is a TEAM sport, or at least it should be. We're not big enough to be picky about who we want on our side or who we don't. To win, we have to look beyond ourselves and we have to turn to others and work together not just for one play or one game but for the whole season. 

Finally, with regard to Sherrill: Do NOT underestimate this woman! Make no mistake about it -- she means to succeed and she's probably already running for president. She's got a super legislative majority in a solidly Democrat state; she's a new face and the media are overwhelmingly in her corner. She IS formidable!