Word has spread of a meeting of Republican and conservative leaders following Tuesday’s election. Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. John McCain are spending election night as far away from one another as possible. Rumors of possible chiefs-of-staff in an Obama White House are abound. If victory had a scent, Obama aides would be awash in it. Pundits and analysts agree: The Republican Party is in for a whoopin’ on Tuesday.

Tuesday will mark the end of any semblance of Republican power at a federal level. The congressional victories for Democrats of 2006 will be a trickle to the flood that awaits Republicans on Tuesday.

But Republicans need not be dismayed by Tuesday’s impending defeat. A win would mean the GOP would go on for at least four more years thinking they had it right. Believing that the trickle-down economics of Reagan are best for America. Believing in the Rovian politics of division, the Atwater politics of race, the Palin politics of uneducated, ignorant naivete. A win would only perpetuate the misguided and harmful tactics and policies the Republican Party has pursued. They must lose, if only to purge themselves of such ideas.

Where many see an end for conservatism and Republican policies, a few may note this is the appropriate time for a new beginning.

The traditional two-party system in America has been dealt a great disservice. One of its parties offers so very little. The only choice this election is Sen. Barack Obama. I respect McCain’s ability to oppose his own party; his selection as nominee was timely. Now is not the time for a partisan Republican to run for office. I lived and worked in Washington D.C. during the summer he crafted and pushed for comprehensive immigration reform he earned my respect then. But his selection of Palin has Republicans from Gen. Colin Powell to President Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff jumping ship. These dissenters are emboldened by a brand that is in disrepute.

My colleague, Zach Shuster, wrote a masterful column on conservatism’s recent failings. One of the most cogent critiques of his argument and others like it is that President George W. Bush is hardly an apt representation of true conservatism. Yet who chose President Bush? Certainly not liberals. It was conservative Republicans, with help from independents. Conservatives are choosing their own leaders. And to hear them tell it, these leaders continue to represent them poorly.

Recent polling has indicated two of the largest drags on McCain’s candidacy are not policies, but people. Bush’s legacy and Palin’s inadequacy hamper his campaign. They represent, as New York Times columnist David Brooks pointed out, the Republican Party’s recent adoption of the oft-mentioned but never seen Joe Sixpack mentality, embodied as the true American who doesn’t do a lot of reading, can’t stand the media, eschews things like bachelor’s degrees and isn’t one for much schoolin’. Problem is the Joe Sixpacks are outnumbered by the Americans who do want a President who is an intellectual giant.

And these Americans, tired of Republican politics, don’t care about a candidate’s middle name and don’t mind if his heritage is a testimony to America‘s diversity and opportunity.

The leaders of the next Republican Party need to make clear that theirs is a new Republican Party. That it is a party that embraces the diversity inherent in our nation rather than one that seeks to divide it along those lines. Theirs must be a party that does not divide America into true Americans and un-Americans. Theirs must be a party that does not employ racial politics in Southern states or stigmatize Arab-Americans and their faith.

Theirs must be a party that appreciates the respective faiths of Americans, even one that seeks to incorporate the values espoused by them. But the Republican Party must reexamine its approach to social issues like same-sex unions and abortion. Instead of being the party that obstructs gay marriage, would it not be prudent to be considered the party that championed civil unions?

Lastly, the Republican Party must take back the nation’s universities. Their policies and continued quasi-war with intelligentsia has left their brand tarnished, abhorred and mocked in the halls of the institutions that form the nation’s next generations of leaders. It must disassociate itself with the Palin politics of ignorance and naivety. Naivety and ignorance may be refreshing in a pupil, but not in a teacher — and certainly not in a vice president. It must rebrand itself as a party of intellect, tolerance and forward thinking.

Its leaders are from a time long past. Its policies are as old as its presidential nominee. Pessimists may call Tuesday the end of conservatism, but optimists may see it as an opportunity for a beginning.

Gerald Cox ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in economics.