Yuval Levin and Peter Wehner, scholars at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, have an excellent article in today's New York Sun that you can read here. They write:
On what issues can conservative principles point to popular reforms today? The most prominent domestic policy concerns of the day would seem, at first glance, to favor the left. Health care, income inequality, and the environment, among other issues, have long been identified with American liberals, and conservatives have been uncomfortable taking them up. But the notion that the left owns these issues is not a fact inherent in the problems themselves; rather, it is a failure of conservative imagination. In fact, it is precisely these kinds of issues that should now be front and center on the conservative agenda, not only because the public cares about them, but also because the left is far more vulnerable on them than it seems. Conservatives should fight precisely on what is perceived to be liberal turf, as they have done successfully before.
This is precisely what an earlier generation of conservatives accomplished, Levin and Wehner note, with regard to crime, welfare, and taxes. The problem, as David Brooks points out today, is that so far the GOP presidential candidates haven't engaged on such policy turf. Now, I think Brooks is too charitable towards Hillary Clinton's latest middle class subsidy proposal, and neglects Mitt Romney's policy heft. But the problem to which he points is real. On the other hand, most voters judge candidates on matters that have almost nothing to do with policy. They look at things like character, likability, and moral seriousness on the great issues of war and peace. The policy stuff, while important for intellectuals, comes into play only when a new president is inaugurated.