There is a critical issue that is central to the presidential campaign that neither Democrats nor Republicans have addressed, yet how it is handled could determine the outcome of the 2012 election.
It is the issue of personal freedom, liberty and opportunity in America.
Put simply, most Americans believe that their opportunity to get ahead has fundamentally been eroded, and that personal freedoms have been severely limited, if not eliminated entirely.
Recent public opinion polling data shows that most Americans think that American society has become increasingly rigged against their interests, against the interests of ordinary people like them, and in favor of financial elites, Washington insiders, special interests and the mainstream media.
This sentiment is part of a larger sense that the traditional expectation of being able to get ahead in America is gone. It is a sentiment that neither party fully understands.
Not President Obama -- who explicitly advocates bigger and more intrusive government, higher taxes on the rich and an expanded social safety net, irrespective of costs.
And not the Republicans, who have put forth a budget plan authored by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin that would replace Medicare with a voucher-based insurance program and Medicaid with a block-grant based initiative for the states -- a plan that Newt Gingrich has called "right-wing social engineering."
Both parties remain out of favor and continue to garner negative ratings in public opinion polls.
It is the reason why Donald Trump had emerged strongly, and why Herman Cain did so well at the little-known and little-watched GOP debate in South Carolina, advocating straight talk and standing up for ordinary people.
Put simply, the American people fundamentally want to be able to control their lives, a chance to get ahead and a government that will, at the very least, be a neutral arbiter that allows ordinary people to reach their full potential and maximize their opportunity for personal and professional growth and development.
This is a fundamental value the Obama administration doesn't seem to grasp as it sends some chilling signals lately with regard to personal freedoms.
On one hand, the president proclaimed during his speech on the Middle East that he stands for "a set of universal rights" which "includes free speech," while his actions of late include an initiative to limit free speech here at home by taxing 501(c)4 contributions both retrospectively and prospectively.
Similarly, the administration has proposed that any individual who seeks a federal contract will have to report his political contributions, a move that will also hinder free speech.
Furthermore, when these Democratic policies are tied into new initiatives by the National Labor Relations Board to control where firms like Boeing Co. locate, and what role unions play alongside management, it is clear that the Democrats are indeed offering an approach to government that is directly at variance with the themes the president struck in his Middle East speech.
The now abandoned "card check" initiative to enhance and protect the power of unions -- currently on the back burner -- is almost certainly going to be revived during the campaign as part of a larger agenda to remake American society and erode the fundamental right to free speech.
To be sure, unions are on the defensive because of national efforts to trim back their benefits in the wake of the fiscal crisis that has hit states and municipalities. But the larger point is clear -- and it is implicit in the fight over collective bargaining and over unfettered speech at the national level.
There needs to be a new narrative developed in America about what kind of a society we have, what we are trying to achieve and who we are as a people. In short, what makes America exceptional and unique. This, the Republicans have yet to do.
The American people now have more opportunities to participate in the political conversation with the advancement of the Internet. Americans have more opportunities to share and disseminate information, and more possibilities to speak directly to our leaders and those in positions of economic power than ever before. Yet people have never been more disenfranchised, disillusioned, or angry.
The Democrats have offered an answer that -- as the 2010 midterm "shellacking" made clear -- is largely antithetical to what the electorate is seeking.
The Republicans have yet to offer a coherent or consistent alternative or response to date.
Nothing at all.
They lack a commitment to promoting a free society, limited government, entrepreneurship and an optimistic vision of a future that sees America restored to its position of centrality in the world.
If the Republicans can offer such a vision and such a narrative, they can change American politics and indeed, alter our future fundamentally.
Douglas E. Schoen is a political strategist and Fox News contributor. His most recent book is "Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System" published by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins.
