Cantor to GOP Ranks: Government Can Be Good, Too

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor apparently wants his Republican colleagues to pursue a “government can be good” approach to their politics rather than focusing so much on the size and voracious spending appetite of Washington.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Virginian will lay out some of his new ideas on how Republicans can soften their tone a bit in a wide-ranging policy speech at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Citing an unidentified congressional aide as its source, the Journal said Cantor plans to touch on a host of existing policies and initiatives, from school choice to tax reform, to show how families nationwide would benefit more from Republican ideas rather than those offered by Democrats.

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Cantor will suggest, the aide told the newspaper, that the party must soften its tone and broaden its appeal to women, Hispanics, and young voters if it wants to avoid the kind of defeats it has suffered at the presidential level the past two elections.

Cantor is expected to tell his conservative audience that Republicans don't have to stop talking about the size of government, but should focus more on how government can work better for the American people.

The speech by the majority leader comes as polls show the public blames Republicans more than Democrats, or President Barack Obama, for the country's fiscal woes. His planned remarks, the Journal reported, have apparently been cleared by House Speaker John Boehner.

Cantor joins a growing number of influential GOP leaders and thinkers who are calling for a seismic shift in the party's approach to not only election politics, but also governing.