Government is mirroring business and the similarities are shocking.    It started with Obama’s logo and the new Pepsi logo… an odd similarity in style.   But it has not ended there.

Just like Pepsi convinced Coke during the “New Generation” campaign, the GOP is now convinced that being a cheap copy of the other product is the best answer to compete.   They tried it with John McCain and they lost.   I would argue they tried it with “Compassionate Conservatism” and hurt their brand.  No one wants or needs two of the same product.    If I want a Pepsi, I would drink a Pepsi.   If I want a Democrat I will vote for a Democrat. What I want is a choice between different products.

Coke learned relatively quickly that they has made a huge mistake with New Coke.  Less than three months later Coke was re-released under the Classic label.   There were those internally (high ranking, as well) that were sure that New Coke was the right answer.    They did not give up their new product right away.   They believed the Pepsi marketing, the focus groups and what they polls were saying.   They believed that only a vocal minority really wanted the old Coke back.     But in the end and through the lens of history we know that New Coke became Coke II, faded away, and has been mostly forgotten and Coke Classic is once again the dominant force.

The GOP is following the same program. They tried to be the Democrats and lost. They talk about being even more inclusive to those alternative views and continue to move away from their original product. There are voice, loud voices within the Tea Parties, Talk Radio and the GOP itself that are screaming that the old product is being missed. That “tasting” more like a Democrat is not the right answer to a country that is craving the missing “flavor” of the GOP. Let me add myself to those voices.

I want Classic GOP.   The GOP before it chased away the Libertarians and embraced the Democrats.   The GOP when it really was for smaller government and constitutional limitations.   It may not attract a lot of hard-core Democrats.  It will attract a lot of Americans that have been largely forgotten in those polls.  And like Coke it will find that all of the marketing and polling cannot fully understand the underlying fever and energy that lies latent in the American people, just waiting for a reason to buy rise up.

It is time to stop worrying about picking up 3-4% by appealing the drinkers of the Democrat’s Kool-Aid and time to engage some of the 55% of the American voters that did not vote for either party.   Give them a product to believe in, an America to dream of and some on the other side might just listen as well.