As a conservative Republican, I believe that Hillary Clinton needs to be defeated in November. Her lengthy record is inconsistent with the principles of limited government and economic freedom that Republicans hold dear, and it begs to be seriously challenged. Whether it is her extreme naiveté in initiating the Russian “reset” that has only emboldened Russian adventurism, her cheerleading for the Obama administration’s ill fated Libya intervention, her embrace of Obamacare just as health care providers are abandoning the program in droves, her penchant for overregulation that is stifling wage and job growth, her campaign-induced flip-flopping on issues such as Keystone and trade policy, the absence of meaningful thought about reining in our deficit and paying down our debt — not to mention the careless and cavalier manner in which she treated classified information as Secretary of State. These are just a few items from a lengthy list Hillary Clinton’s vulnerabilities.

But one thing is certain, Republicans are not going to defeat Hillary Clinton in November by insisting that she belongs in prison any more than we defeated Barack Obama by pretending that he was born in Kenya. So let’s drop the references to orange pant suits and chants of “lock her up.” These jokes and bromides may play well in rare venues and limited circles, but they cheapen the very real arguments that need to be made to the broader public against a Hillary Clinton presidency.