The American People Outright Rejected Modern GOP Philosphy..

[The Dude]

Okay, so the GOP lost a winnable election. The last 4 years the economy has been sluggish. Unemployment high. gridlock in Washington. Social Welfare increased. Etc etc. All of these things should have made it easy for a Republican to win the White House. Four years ago I assumed whoever won would be a 1 termer because the economy would not recover fast enough. I never thought the Republican philosophy would move so far to the right.

This isn't a thread to bash the GOP. But here is some truth. Mitt Romney lost badly among all minorities, single women, and single men. And all these voters are increasing while the others are decreasing. The old, married white vote cannot carry an election anymore.

Now, the GOP will still be relevant in local/state politics because they can cater to the constituency and same with the House. But their irrelevancy will grow among the Senate and the GOP without a major reform. Some have and will argue they need to move further right but that is actually their problem.

Anyway, IMO, this is what I believe the GOP will have to do to become a party of consequence again.

1. Stance on Homosexuals - 3 states just approved gay marriage and another denied a ban. That adds to the growing list. Newsflash: Gay Marriage is coming nationally and it's coming soon. The GOP is going to have to reform its position here because being gay is now in the mainstream. Maybe you don't have to accept gay marriage, but there should be a civil union movement at least nationally. And stop bashing them. You lost this battle.

2. Immigration - The GOP garnered 25% of the latino vote. Newsflash: it's your immigration stance. The GOP will have to come to the table with the belief that most illegals here will have to be assimilated. There are numerous ways the GOP can decide to do this but "self-deportation" and "deportation" isn't a solution and it won't garner latino votes. You lost this battle.

3. Abortion - You can be pro-life still and that's not a problem. What you cannot be is against abortion in the cases of rape, incest, or health of the mother. That fight is over. More importantly, you must eradicate the party of the abortion crazies like Akin. The "forcible rape" and other things make women look at your party as a bunch of nutcases. And the fear is that what these guys say is what you really believe. What needs to be done is to ensure the Akin idiots are no where near national elections and if one slips through the entire party must loudly repudiate him. You cannot win this battle.

4. Trickle-Down Economics - It's dead. On the issue of the economy Mitt Romney barely won nationally (like 3-4 points). Most people said the economy was bleh and still basically were split 50/50 on who is better for the economy. By an overwhelming margin people said Bush was more to blame for the economy than Obama. People are plainly saying we don't believe in trickle-down anymore. And for good reason, it's been demonstrably proven wrong. This is not to say you can't fight for tax reform or tax cuts or spending cuts. You can do so and successfully. But stop pretending cutting taxes on the wealthy or "job creators" is the way to solve the problem. Most people also said we should raise taxes on the wealthy. If Romney had proposed tax cuts for everyone but the wealthy and small tax raises on the wealthy, there's a good chance he'd have won. The GOP has tons are arguments to make in this realm but no longer based on trickle-down economics. You lost this battle.

5. Healthcare - You cannot have no plan for healthcare other than "leave it to the states" since that hasn't worked ever. I'm not telling you what your plan has to be but it has to be something. You ran for 2 years on repealing Obamacare, which the nation actually agreed with you on, but then provided no alternative at all. You cannot come to the table and say "your plan sucks but we have no plan." If you offer no choice then you won't be picked. You cannot win this battle without ammo.

6. Women's rights - Can someone explain to me why the GOP was even against Lily-Ledbetter? Do you not see how bad the optics are for this? Can't even stand up and say that women should have equal pay for equal work? WTF decade are you living in? And demonizing women for wanting contraception? Look, you want to make the argument that they shouldn't have contraception paid for, fine. Make it. But don't go around calling those women whores. No one is going to take you seriously when you act like assholes. Your opinions on some of these issues may very well be valid but the way you present your argument turns off everyone from listening.

7. Anti-intellectualism: The hate against educational institutions, science, math, etc has to stop. Arguing any of these things as a negative is really short-sighted. You should be embracing these things, not shunning them.

8. Energy policy: it cannot be all about oil and coal, anymore. Come to the table with real ideas. Obama's approach may be wrong but you offer no alternatives besides the same old crap that we know isn't enough.

9. Global Warming: It's time to accept that it's real and most likely man-made. The question becomes how do we address it? That is where you need to bring ideas into the fold (this also ties in with #7 &#8, of course). When you simply deny what overwhelming amount of scientists claim to know and then ignore it, you look foolish. Granted this issue isn't that big right now, but it is an issue you will lose and continue to lose.

10. Stop denigrating everyone, especially minorities - Newsflash: most people on welfare don't want to be there and are there because they're down on their luck. Most have paid into the system in the past. Most people are not moochers and don't like being on the government's tit. Stop mentioning welfare queens. When you attack these people you look like you have no empathy. Start working on helping these people rather than shaming them.


The GOP might not have to adhere to all 10 at once, and the top half IMO is the most important, but these things must be done. It's time for a real self-examination. I need a not-insane GOP to come back because right now as an independent you leave me no choice between the two parties when push comes to shove.

If most of the above doesn't change, the irrelevancy on the national stage will continue. The House seats will come, too. And if the economy comes back, as most expect, a Dem will win in 2016. And think about this, the states of Georgia are getting bluer. Minorities are increasing, old white people are shrinking. And without the Presidency in 2016 the SCOTUS will become quite liberal setting up 20+ years of liberal judicial rule.

Paul Ryan is not the future of your party, he is your past. Push him if you want to lose again and again.

And if you think that just by simply putting up tokens like Martinez or Rubio or Rice you will fix these problems, you're wrong. The American electorate can see through it (that is not they say they can't successfully run but only once the reformation occurs).

I'm sure I missed some things, you're free to add to it or dispute what I say. I want this thread to be about more honest discussion about the GOP's need for self-reflection and what needs to change to become a mainstream party again.

[eric]

Yeah basically. You can't run a campaign on banning gay people and immigrants and abortion.

They need to be socially liberal, and fiscally conservative. Otherwise, see ya GOP.

[BrownOG]

Preach on sista!

[Mr.Bill]

[The Comrade]

well said, dude. a few of the ignorant members of my family said this election was a wakeup call for obama because he was only 3 million ahead in the popular vote.

bzzzzt. wrong. this election is a massive wake up call for the republicans. they lost seats in the senate, they lost seats in the house, they lost a winnable presidency by a lot. this was a rejection of the GOP and if they don't choose to listen they're going to scream and cry themselves into irrelevancy.

[The Dude]

I forgot to mention voter suppression. I assure you they caused more dem votes in these swing states as a result. Trying to make it harder for people to vote will not win you many votes.

[John Galt]

[John Galt]

the new words are "climate change" dude, didn't you get the memo? it means "anything different than when i was a boy"

we are living in an ice age, but ice ages do not dominate the planet's history

[Mathurin]

Not that I disagree with the sentiments expressed above. But I dont think a "WE WON, GOP CAN SUCK IT" is a valid opinion about this election, the results were pretty close.


In many ways the smug "they lost because they are dumb" approach mirrors the GOPs "we will win because they are dumb" approach that some claim lost them the election, the pendulum will keep swinging as it has for about 20 years now, within 10 years we will see the democrats take things to far and lose their thin majority.

People talk about the platform Romney ran on as why he lost, without recognizing the platform Obama ran on might be why he won.
A week or so ago a speaker on a BBC podcast said something to the effect of "this will be a race about getting your voters out to vote, it's too close to call but if forced I would choose Obama, because the people who support him have more reason to do so, he promises things they want."


For instance, Obama effectively put through a dream act, and it was left hanging as to whether Romney would keep it or remove it. This drove latino voters towards Obama.

[Winchester]

Yeah, I really, really think the GOP is going to have to move socially left to keep up with the changing demographics. For the most part peeps my age and younger were not raised in the Ward and June Beaver type of a household, we were raised by mothers who worked, were part of the women's movement, the civil rights movement was going on, etc. and some of their values on fairness were passed on, which when one starts looking at fairness brings in the same-sex rights issues, and on and on. My kids and their friends are even more socially liberal than folks my age. I see no reason for the trend not to continue.