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How to save the GOP from itself

WFFaithful said:
Never going to happen. I'd vote for that candidate.
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Sure but he'd never get past the GOP primary. Would have a chance in a Dem primary though.

The problem with the GOP isn't just their leaders. It's their voters. They love kicking RINOs to the curb.
 
I love these articles. They're always some version of "Save the GOP... by having it become more like the Democrat Party."

The article has a few suggestions I'd be on board with, but mostly what the GOP needs to do is become more libertarian at the state and local level. That is the only way it can truly transform itself, appease its current base, and gain new voters.
 
That's not really a democratic platform. That's firmly planted in the center...which is exactly where the GOP would be if they'd dump the Tea Party and Christian Right. That's a Republican platform minus the crazies. And they would run away with a general election.
 
A more appropriate title would be "how the GOP can trade their majority in Congress for a presidential win."
 
Liquid Karma said:
A more appropriate title would be "how the GOP can trade their majority in Congress for a presidential win."
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Well said. That article is asking the GOP to give up the power they've acquired and piss off their fringe and reignite the Tea Party.
 
So - a center right populist platform (ala Christian Democrats in Germany or Tories in the UK).

If such a party existed in the US it would absolutely win ERRRRRRRRTHING. Its amazing to me we don't have one.
 
vadimivich said:
So - a center right populist platform (ala Christian Democrats in Germany or Tories in the UK).

If such a party existed in the US it would absolutely win ERRRRRRRRTHING. Its amazing to me we don't have one.
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Vad, talk to me about elections where you are. Are they restricted financially? in duration? Number of debates vs. counting on commercials? Do candidates attach their name to statements about other candidates and not a third party? National conventions? Iowa-esque early primaries? We're doing something wrong, so I'm curious how elections are addressed elsewhere.
 
Liquid Karma said:
A more appropriate title would be "how the GOP can trade their majority in Congress for a presidential win."
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You don't think this platform would succeed on a state/local level? I guess it would be challenged from the right in the South and in other rural, white areas, but you could run more conservative candidates there while using this as your national platform.
 
But voters would be concerned that this moderate president would do the will of the state elected ultra conservatives or get primaries.

Again, threads like this are hilarious. Moderates and conservative Dems are all over it and ignore that the majority of Republican voters would hate a GOP candidate with these views.
 
ONW said:
Vad, talk to me about elections where you are. Are they restricted financially? in duration? Number of debates vs. counting on commercials? Do candidates attach their name to statements about other candidates and not a third party? National conventions? Iowa-esque early primaries? We're doing something wrong, so I'm curious how elections are addressed elsewhere.
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Well, I'm not sure I'd hold Austrian politics as a model for anything - it functions, but it's a damn mess (and Austria is a very divided country with "Red" Vienna and then ultra-conservative rural regions). Most famously, the two largest parties here effectively worked as a coalition ("Black and Red") since WW2 to prevent any other political party from having any power ... the country effectively operates as a single party state with some minor party outliers that make a bunch of noise but have little impact on policy.

In terms of large countries, it seems Germany's system works pretty well. Due to fears about the influence of private funding in the rise of Hitler (who was secrectly and privately backed with enormous amounts of undeclared funds in the 20s and 30s), they now have very strict campaign finance laws and publicly finance each party. They also split the seats in the legislature half and half between directly elected seats and proportional seats (i.e - seats that are assigned based on the percentage of the vote you earn, so smaller parties can be viable without having to win seats with outright majorities).

There's no perfect political system, and they only work within their own cultural context - I don't know that exporting a German style parliamentary system to the USA would work well at all. I think it's probably us to work out what is best for our own situation (though I do not argue that our current system is very broken right now).
 
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"Point 4: Firm clarification is needed that it is a violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment to teach any “creationist” theory as part of a science class in any public school."

The most ignorant statement I have read in a long time.
 
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As a Republican, I think the Democratic Party could save itself by becoming more moderate and re-aligning itself with conservative Democrats. Guess what? That's not how it works.
 
RaleighDevil said:
"Point 4: Firm clarification is needed that it is a violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment to teach any “creationist” theory as part of a science class in any public school."

The most ignorant statement I have read in a long time.
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How so?
 
EatLeadCommie said:
I love these articles. They're always some version of "Save the GOP... by having it become more like the Democrat Party."

The article has a few suggestions I'd be on board with, but mostly what the GOP needs to do is become more libertarian at the state and local level. That is the only way it can truly transform itself, appease its current base, and gain new voters.
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On a theoretical basis, small government federalism and libertarianism seems like such a great idea. Power in the hands of the people most familiar with local issues and the need for creative, local solutions, while also keeping government to a size that it is responsive to the people and not a money-pit. I get it. However, in my relatively short life I have seen that this almost never happens. Mostly because the kind of people who say they want this are usually just people who want the lowest possible tax rate, only government services that personally help them, and then fuck everyone and everything else while saying something about boot-straps and free markets.
 
bobknightfan said:
That's basically what Bill Clinton did after the 1980s.
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I agree, but before 2010 the Democratic Party had a large wing of moderate "blue dogs" that helped them win majorities in several states. That faction began to erode in the 80's and was basically wiped out after the 2010 midterms. This has caused the Democratic Party to lurch far to the left. In the 1990's, Bill Clinton signed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" into law, supported welfare reform, and said that abortion should be "safe, legal, and rare." More recently, the Clintons have supported the overturning of DADT, Obama has rolled back welfare reform, and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has said that it is the right of the mother to have an abortion up until the baby is born.

The rhetoric about the "dying GOP" baffles me. Republicans control both branches of Congress, have 31 governors, hold majorities in 31 state legislatures and have a majority on the Supreme Court. Democrats have 18 governors and control only 11 state legislatures.

The most common argument is that Republicans can't win the presidency based on "changing demographics" and the 2008 and 2012 elections. By that logic the DNC should have died in 1988 when George H. W. Bush won 80% of Electoral College votes. (Obama won 67% in 2008 and 60% in 2012 - the 32nd and 37th best finishes in 57 presidential races.)

Both parties are guilty of arrogance and short-sightedness. In 2005, Ann Coulter used to crow that the DNC had only won 2 of the past 7 presidential elections, and always pointed out that their 1992 victory was thanks to Ross Perot. Democrats are saying the exact same thing today and will also come to eat their words.
 
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