I think an important other to-do to add (and lefties should definitely think of their own parallel version of it for the Dems!), is to ask yourself, "Under what circumstances would I consider voting for the other party and/or making a third party protest vote and/or simply skipping an election?" As long as your party knows that they can take your vote for granted, they will. (And, again, that applies to liberals as well.)

I would also add (though if you're a liberal reading this you've already done it): find a sensible media outlet or two from 'the other side' and read it regularly. This is a sort of more proactive version of Zach's #2. I try to read this blog and volokh multiple times a day, for example, and check in on "The Corner" as well; I think of andrewsullivan.com as moderately conservative, too, but I guess a lot of folks here wouldn't share that assessment. (I used to read the Hoosier Review, too, but the last year or so it hasn't generally counted as "sensible".) So, if you're a GOP-oriented person, and aren't regularly reading (e.g.) Kevin Drum, Matthew Yglesias, and/or the crew at Crooked Timber, you might want to think about doing so.

Here's my contribution to the day's efforts-We Need a Kosher President; one that can't stand any pork.

I used to be a Republican. Went so far as to volunteer to work the polls for the Republicans and Bush/Quayle in the '88 election. But, my primary reason for being a Republican is that I viewed them as the party of fiscal responsibility which, to me, means first and foremost balancing the budget.

With the help of Perot's agitation, it became clear to me in '92 that Republican presidents can't or won't see that the budget is balanced. In '96, I still couldn't bring myself to vote for a Democrat, so I voted Perot again. But, in '00, I saw that a Democratic President and a Republican Congress could lead to a balanced budget. And, during the campaign, Bush was talking tax cuts even though we still had a huge national debt. So, I voted for Gore. (It didn't hurt that I also felt Republicans had been very irresponsible in their capricious use of the impeachment power in '98.)

Although most voters agreed with me (for reasons of their own, obviously) in voting for Gore, the electoral college has the final word in our Republic, so the minority candidate became President. Lo & behold, massive deficits erupted once again. My distrust of Republican Presidents' ability to preside over a balanced budget seems to be well placed.

I've heard various excuses for why Reagan (81-89), Bush I (89-93), and Bush II (2001-05) haven't been able to produce a balanced budget in their collective 17 years and for why no Republican President has balanced a budget in the last 30 years, but when you're talking about 3 decades, it's not bad luck, it's a pattern.

So, that's what it took for me to jump ship. Bush's, in my opinion, disastrous foreign policy has just pushed me further over the edge.

#3 is probably the most important, for either party. I've endured way too many people complaining about how they barely want to vote for their party's nominee, and proceed to nitpick. These same people would never think about voting in a primary, let alone the most important duty: campaigning or canvassing in a primary. If you want to influence the formation of your party and decide on the candidates to represent you, the primaries are your real opportunity to do that. After that, your right to vote has basically been taken anyway.

I was on the phone with my father last night and told him about what we were doing today here. He's a lifelong Republican (my earliest political memory is the election of 1976, where he and my mother wanted Reagan rather than Ford) and he just unloaded when I mentioned it. He thinks President Bush is a crook and a liar and he thinks he should be impeached. He also said that in the last election he didn't cast a vote for President because he couldn't stomach either Bush or Kerry.

My contribution to the Breaking the 11th Day touches on three areas where Republicans have let me down over the past three years. Our leaders have erred by not limiting the size of government, by not fully liberalizing the economy, and by blurring the line between Church and State. To read more please click here.

I've always considered myself a "good" Republican (Reagan, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Dole, Bush, Bush) but this takeover of the Party by Religious Right WingNuts is on the verge of making me throw my vote away on the Libertarians. I'd gladly vote for Bill Richardson if the Democrats would wake up and go with a moderate.

I read a comment a few days ago on a conservative blog that "Barry Goldwater was not conservative enough." Give me a break! I believe in teaching Science. I'd sacrifice a stem cell (which is headed for the lab sink anyway) if it would save the life or health of a real, living, human being. I want the plug pulled if I ever lie not knowing I exist and only taking resources that could build our nation up or help someone else enjoy themselves. I don't worry about what other people do in their bedrooms. I just think government should protect our person and property and otherwise butt out of our lives. If only we could clone Goldwater and Reagan!

Didn't exactly get the kind of comments you might have been looking for, didja Skippy? Do any of you think Clinton could have produced a balanced budget without the dot.com fluketacular revenue bubble? Don't make me laugh.

I'm registered GOP because of the primary season. Unfortunately, none of my guys have made the cut.

I cringe every time I see the phrase "Republican control." It suggests a) a unified GOP, and b) control in the true sense of the word. Someone who has control does nto have to wait four freakin' years for appointments to be voted on.

One major pet peeve is that we don't have a fiscal conservative majority in the House and Senate. Too many RINOs, too many statist Democrats. I've speculated that Bush might not be so spendthrift if Congress had an anti-spendthrift majority, that his spending policy stems from that old advice from the book Winning Through Intimidation - that one should pursue only the makeable deals. How does one solve this problem?

When will Arizona wake up and smell the First Amendment and finally vote out McCain?

I don't think Ford ever balanced a budget. The Reagan years ballooned the deficit. Bush I did the same. Bush II did the same.

There's always an excuse. Reagan had to deal with a Republican Congress. Bush I had a recession and a Democratic Congress. Bush II had 9/11 and a war to fight. It's always something. Clinton got lucky. It was the Republican Congress that balanced the budget during the Clinton years. But, after 30 years, Republican Presidents just haven't gotten it done. Not one year.

Would Clinton have gotten it done without the Republican Congress? I doubt it. I think the best combination for fiscal responsibility is Democratic President + Republican Congress. All one party makes it too easy to spend. Republican President + Democratic Congress apparently makes it easy to spend as well. The veto power also seems to serve as a nice check on religious wingnuttery. The '94-'00 status quo is looking awfully good to me from this vantage point.

I think you meant to say that Reagan had a *Democrat* Congress.

Clinton didn't get lucky. He had a Republican Congress that had a spine for a moment and pressed for some actual reforms.

Clinton also shaved off some bughet dollars by locking the debt into short-term instruments. (Recalling from memory.) He got a lower interest rate that way, thus reducing annual spending on interest. There's a risk involved: interest rates might not still be low when the short term is up, and having locked into the long-term interest rate might have saved more money. The short term is longer than anyone's presidency, so there was no risk to Clinton.

Then there's the long-term effects of the Reagan tax cuts, and the short-term effect of Clinton's Gingrich-induced reduction of the capital gains tax rate. (I recall that CGT revenue dropped like a rock when Reagan agreed to a rate hike with that weird 1986 tax compromise with Congress. Reagan and Clinton illustrating the Laffer Curve by acting like each other - heh.) Sadly, the long-term effects of the Bush 41/Clinton tax hikes finally set in in 2000.

"I think you meant to say that Reagan had a *Democrat* Congress."

Creepy.

Holy cow. Other Republicans who are not batsh*t crazy. And I thought I was the only one! :-)

If Ronald Reagan tells us that allowing another Republican to keep face is better than doing the right thing, then it is.

If you want to disagree with the GOP leadership, than by all means, go join Michael Moore and Nancy Pelosi and the Dems.

Re-reading my post, I think I need to point out that it was tongue-in-cheek before someone agrees with me ;)