As much as I admire and respect Karl Rove, I have to agree with Mark Tapscott. Without a replacement of leadership the GOP will not actually show that it has learned its lesson and even then, it actually is going to need to deliver on smaller government.
Again though, I think we need to change the message. It's not about smaller government any more, it is about choices. The Democrats want you in the government program. We want to let you pick your own program in the free market.
One of the great failures of the Bush administration is that it failed to do anything with the concept of the "ownership society." The GOP and the nation would be better off had it.