California's Republican Party is vital to this state's future.

A party that stands for free enterprise, fiscal integrity and personal responsibility provides an essential balance in our state Capitol, where members of the Democratic majority too often want to overregulate, overspend and assume that government is the answer to every challenge.

The problem, however, is that the Republican Party has chosen not to be an effective force in recent years.

Its members have squabbled among themselves. It has been an inconsistent defender of individual liberties. In its efforts to regain market share, it has resorted to simplistic slogans and gimmicks such as no-tax pledges.

The party's diminished clout is best illustrated by this year's budget impasse, which has allowed the deficit to swell to $42 billion.

After Republicans refused to discuss higher taxes in exchange for deep cuts to state programs during a November special session, Democrats and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger got fed up. They then explored ways to outflank the Republicans and prevent the state from running out of money by February.

The result was a work of budgetary acrobatics, allowing higher fees and tax increases, along with $7 billion in additional cuts, to be enacted through a majority vote. Schwarzenegger ultimately rejected the final Democratic package, but not because it attempted an end run around the Republicans and the two-thirds vote requirement to raise taxes.

In an essay in today's Forum, GOP activist and blogger Jon Fleischman writes that Republicans "have abandoned the basic core principles that attracted votes to the party in the first place."

We agree with Fleischman on this statement, but we differ with him on his historical reading of those core principles.

The party of Abraham Lincoln has long cherished liberty, but has compromised this bedrock value with its opposition to gay marriage and abortion rights. It used to be a party of science and environmental protection, but now sides with coal companies that spread false claims about the peer-reviewed findings on global climate change.

The party of Ronald Reagan has made the fight against taxes its top priority and vilifies Schwarzenegger for not being resolute on this issue. Yet its leaders often forget that both Reagan and Pete Wilson supported tax increases while serving as governor, putting the state's interests above ideology.

Republicans make strong points that government on the federal and state level should be smaller, more efficient and more responsive to changing circumstances.

But smaller government doesn't mean the total shutting down of government. Newt Gingrich succeeded in this on the federal level during the Clinton years, to the detriment of his party. Some Republicans seem determined to repeat his mistake here.

California needs Republicans to be players. It needs GOP leaders who will raise alarm bells about the long-term costs of state employee health benefits and pension obligations. It needs Republicans to push a platform of public accountability and transparency.

It needs Republicans to lead an agenda of environmental protection that doesn't always rely on extra regulation. It needs Republicans who, in supporting public schools and higher education, are earnest about bringing manufacturing and high-paying jobs to this state.

Mostly, California needs Republicans to be relevant. To get there, its leaders will have to move beyond obstruction to an agenda of engagement.