The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.

The GOP is the party of smaller government. The Democrats are the party of bigger government. But often the issues & messaging highlighted by Republican candidates and party leaders doesn’t reflect this. This is why the GOP lost in Wisconsin and around the nation. These are the issues and messaging problems that resulted in a Democrat landslide.

Socialism:  This word socialism has two meanings. Soft socialism means redistribution of wealth, so it includes democratic socialism and social security. Hard socialism means the government owns the means of production. The Democrats are funded by giant corporations that obviously don’t want to be owned by the government. The socialism card failed for the GOP in 2026 because “socialism” is a vague term.

Abortion: If the government bans abortion or tells you how many weeks it is legal, that is big government. If the government defunds abortion and makes you pay for it, that is small government. Republicans should be pushing to defund abortion.

Crime:  I live in Dane County. You can’t drive from A to B without seeing police cars. I don’t know if “Defund the police” means Democrats want to reduce spending on police or eliminate police entirely. That needs to be clarified because the “defund the police” card didn’t work in 2026.

More on Crime: 2026 has the lowest national crime rate since before Alcohol Prohibition because President Trump deported violent illegal aliens. Way too much time was wasted by the GOP complaining about crime, so most voters don’t even know about the low crime rates.

Even More on Crime: If you went into the inner city and told people to vote Republican because they are tough on crime, that wouldn’t work. People in high crime areas are more afraid of police than crime. They vote Democrat.

Still More on Crime: We hear endlessly about liberal judges who let out criminals early. What we don’t hear is that most of these people are government informants, or let out because jails & prisons are overcrowded with regulatory crime, or both.

Marijuana: People who smoke marijuana are generally too lazy to commit crimes. Banning marijuana requires big government, undercutting the message of smaller government proposed by Republicans. Marijuana prohibition started in 1937 as a big government program of New Deal Democrats. 

Tariffs: Tariffs mean higher taxes. If President Trump is using tariffs to negotiate great trade deals, that is good. But do voters know much about these trade deals? I don’t think so.

Robin Vos: Robin Vos was great at winning elections but not good at cutting the size or scope of government. Without much success at cutting government, GOP voters weren’t inspired to vote. Without Vos running elections in 2026 (he is retiring), we lost.

The Constitution: Most Republican candidates claim they defend the Constitution, and Democrats don’t. However, this is almost always left as a generalized statement, and specifics are needed to convince voters. 

Iran War: The Iran War is big government and unconstitutional per the text of the US Constitution. It was a rare mistake by President Trump. War requires a debate in Congress and then a vote on what to do. The Iran War undermined GOP messaging in 2026.

Radio Hosts: Our conservative radio hosts spent way too much time complaining about crime and transgender people and not enough time promoting smaller government. 

Consultants: Our Republican campaign consultants should be blamed for losses because they choose the issues and strategy. They often remind me of really bad generals from WWI and WWII who were fighting “the last war.”

A good general rule for Republicans is to push for smaller government when such proposals are popular. When big government programs are popular, leave them as is. That’s my advice for 2028.

Rolf Lindgren is the Pints and Politics Director of the Republican Party of Dane County. He is also a singer known as Wisco Rolf and his website is WiscoRolf.com – The Badger State’s Musical Maverick & Liberty’s Voice