They may be right: Unless Republicans wake up and provide a palatable alternative, even a mistrusted, out-of-date, ideologically extreme Democratic Party will have no effective opposition. Only when Republicans move beyond "No" and offer an optimistic agenda of bottom-up growth and prosperity for all Americans, can they emerge from their visionless wandering. Are Republicans tired enough of losing to begin to rejuvenate themselves?

Marco Rubio will not just give the response to President Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night; he will give the nation its first glimpse of an alternative to the antiquated, top-down Democratic Party Barack Obama will leave us.

Tuesday night, we'll see the future. Let the best party and America win.

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