Posted on 11/08/2012 11:43:50 AM PST by radpolis
I have read many of the Freeper and conservative analyses of why we lost this election.
The ironic thing is they are not all wrong even when they contradict each other.
Each element of criticism has an element of truth.
The problem essentially comes down to this:
How do we get more votes than the Democrats?
The fact is that the Republican Party has some inherent contradictions that we have to over-come.
Most Freepers want to be a niche party in a country of 310 million people.
As a capitalist, this goes against the basic principle that you want to maximize your customer base.
Some really believe that you can win elections just by appealing to the White conservative Christian and evangelical base.
We can win elections with this base if the voters show up. But this is a really risky strategy, because evidently this base is fickle.
We can certainly win state elections when this base shows up in Red and Swing states. Evidently, we are good at winning elections even in Blue and Swing states when there isn't a presidential election. (There are reasons for this that always benefits us that I won’t be going into.)
However, during national elections, we have told moderates on the West Coast and the Northeast that if you don’t subscribe to conservative Christian principles of the Deep South and Midwest then you can go take a hike.
As far as I am concerned, this is a stupid strategy. Telling the Rockefeller and Tim Johnson Republicans to take a hike is not helpful.
Freepers need to come to grips with the reality that there are people who are philosophically with us on the West Coast and Northeast but who are more socially libertarian than socially conservative, many are hard core capitalists and/or have misgivings about the Nanny State. For example, they are small businesswomen who get killed on taxes and regulations. But they side with the Democrats, because the hardcore evangelicals turn them off with their rhetoric. Honestly, I think what killed us was the “War on Women.” However unjust you think that attack was, we have to come to terms that some rhetoric on our side is what hung us.
Broadly, we shouldn't be losing any elections in New England, except for maybe Massachusetts and Vermont, which have gone full blown socialist. And, quite frankly, we shouldn't be losing any elections in the Upper Midwest either. These states are mostly lily white and don’t have the black and Latino demographic that swings elections to Democrats.
So basically we need to go back to the way we won elections in the past.
We have to stop isolating the liberal and moderate Republicans on the West Coast, New England and Upper Midwest. Eisenhower, Nixon, and Reagan embraced them, because they were not stupid. In other words, abide by Reagan's 11th Commandment.
But, at the same time, we need to keep the hardcore conservative base in the Deep South and lower Midwest.
This is the paradox.
In the final analysis, we need the Reagan coalition. People seem to think Reagan was a hard core conservative his entire career. But the fact is he was more like Mitt Romney. Reagan governed California when it was going through the social revolution of the late 60s and early 70s. He didn't govern California like a hard core conservative. What made Reagan look like a hard core conservative to many, however, was his position on Communism and the Soviet Union.
Eisenhower, Nixon, and Reagan won their elections with blowouts. They had 50 state strategies. They didn't win by going after a handful of votes in the so-called battlegrounds.
The gap we need to bridge is the social conservatism of the lower Midwest and Deep South with the more socially liberal elements in the urban and coastal parts of the country. Many here think we shouldn't go this route and go hard right, socially. I respectfully disagree.
I don't think you can win if you isolate women, the youth, and the male libertarian elements with rhetoric that sounds more like the Taliban than American.
I also think we would have a better message that would even appeal to Democrats is if our attitude towards government be made in the rhetoric of reform instead of elimination--even if we plan on eliminating.
The broader base lies in prosperity for all through free markets and entrepreneurship, a social agenda that is limited to civil society, church and localities, smaller, efficient and reformed government, and a strong defense.
>>>>I would submit that what we are facing is primarily a cultural problem.
Bingo.
I like your statement regarding Bill Ayers, too. Ayers is not a stupid man; he understood that to bring the US down, he’d have to plant a different kind of bomb (education) in a different kind of location (the minds of the young).
Excellent commentary and analysis.
I agree with you most of your points.
Then you have these IDIOTS.......voting PRINCIPLE, boy are they FICKLE. THEY DIDN’T WANT SATAN, lol. I am a Christian and I am calling these people INSANE. So heavenly minded, they are of no earthly good.
http://www.votingforjesus.com/
Could you or your boyfriend describe exactly how we are like taliban?
Honestly, I think what killed us was the “War on Women.” However unjust you think that attack was, we have to come to terms that some rhetoric on our side is what hung us.
That falls apart when you look at the polls from the time that showed that support from women was increasing not decreasing. We were winning the war on women. And that is no “fluke”
The Democrats kicked the can down the road a few paces, but that can is still sitting there in Europe. I was hoping for a Republican President so the Federal bailout of California would be turned off. The natural consequences of liberalism/socialism/progressivism will cause California to fail. The only question is will it be sooner or later? Most Republicans believe in getting after the problem now instead of letting it fester and get worse. The Democrats are like quack doctors. They just keep treating a cancer with sugar pills so they can keep billing us. Greece and Italy and Spain are still boiling. We’re going to see how socialism works in those countries. Unless, of course, we use American taxpayer money to bail them out, too.
HAHAHAHAHA, please. The Constitution Party is joke. Even the Greens got like 3-4 times more votes. The Constitution Party is so pathetic that, as of this moment, it only scored .09% of the vote. They couldn't even get .1%. Pathetic.
This 3rd party nonsense is the same thing we hear every time and it will never, ever, amount to squat. The Republican party is going to have to figure out a way to get more of the minority vote. Period. I know people don't want to hear that, but if we want to win national (and soon, State) elections we are going to have to figure out how to reach these people. There just aren't enough white people moving to the GOP fast enough to offset the explosion of minority ranks. Good grief, we are even losing 70% of Asians when we were winning them just a decade or so ago. That just can't go on, and folks that don't realize it are just sticking their heads in the sand.
I didn't say all of his points you jerk, I said most. I wouldn't have said that bit about the Taliban, but his point about not writing off huge segments of the population is right on target.
Calling Christian Conservative “Taliban”, is a tactic used by homosexuals to push their agenda.
We’re the Taliban? Take a hike squish!!
Excellent commentary and analysis.Well good I straightened you out boy...
I may not know what I'm asking for! but I do know what I'm not asking for which is Romney. He just would have destroyed us, and for me personally I didn't like what Romney stood for. And that goes for almost everyone at school, including all of my professors and my Director.
I asked her specifically what Romney stood for that she didn't like:
As simple as i can put it. Im pro choice. Romney is pro life. There is nothing worng with that i just dont want it pused on me. And he lied about grants for school and as someone in college now i know so many people who need it!
Yes the financial problems in this country are when is the biggest problems here. But at the same time it is not the only issue that I look at I look at other things as well! Like the fact that the whole Planned Parenthood thing. And the whole college grant things there are so many things that go into it, but then again I'm not a huge politics person I am an actor that's who I am and I look at what's going to be best for me in the long run. And also I guess that's why it's a good thing I don't plan on working at Petsmart.
Your own party did not even want Romney so at the end of the day the people have spoken the battle is over and now only as a country can we move Forward.
Your screed overlooks the most important thing of all..
Very short sighted of you...
Generally the American people have become CORRUPT... in a hundred ways..
Therefore wants and requires and deserves a corrupt givernment..
America got what it wants and deserves..
Occams Razor demands you reconsider..
Barring CWII America WILL NOT be “fixed”...
Of course you could be a lazy self absorbed coward..
like the rest of the general public..
Obama is just punishment to a corrupt people...
75,000,000+ babies cry out from the dumpster..
many more being created today as we speak..
I’m not going to write off anyone. Except the godless socialist/commies, the godless liberals, the godless abortionitsts, the godless homosexualists, the global warming pushers, the open borders pushers, the shamnesty pushers, those who would destroy our military and strong defenses, those who tax (or borrow) and spend, those who conduct war on coal, oil, gas, industry & capitalism itself, those who shred our constitution, those who vote based on their sex organs, those who are the “takers,” those who spit in the face of liberty, those who spit on our founding principles, those who spit in the face of God, those who spit on America. And I sure as hell will not pander to any of the above. America = God-given Liberty! Love it, live it, defend it or leave it!!
Effin’ commie lovers and RINO squishes can go straight to hell!!
Listen you little worm, it appears you forgot the part where I said I agreed with most of his points. Maybe you don't read too well, but I used the word MOST for reason. See how that works? MOST, not ALL.
In general, we simply can not go on alienating great swaths of the population. It has to end. And if we can't find a way to cut into the Democrats lead with Hispanics, we will not even be able to win Texas in another generation (or less). I don't know the solution. Caving on principle isn't it, but we are probably going to have to re-consider what issues we emphasize.
“The Republican ‘Wet Noodle’ Party is not only finished, they’re through.”
You speak the truth. The problem for me is what to do about it. If we can’t unseat the GOPe, then we have to create an entity that will take over the bones of the GOP and craft something different. The problem for Conservatives is a couple of things. First, we don’t offer the “free lunch.” Second, we are not monolithic like the RATs. Third, even the so-called “moderate RATs” will vote for a liberal, but the reverse is not true. Fourth, although I hate to say it, the “religious conservatives” need to come to grips with the fact that this is politics and not church. You can’t win and hold each and every candidate to the exact specifications laid down by your particular “branch” of Christianity. And finally Fifth, we need to vet our candidates a whole lot better. We would likely have three and possibly four more “conservatives” in the US Senate if we had been more careful about Akin, Mourdock, Angle and O’Donnell. These people were the “darlings” of the Right, but we should have been suspect that they would do damage to themselves with their unfettered mouths and loose for all of us.
Republicans face a hostile media and hostile entertainment establishment. We are always swimming against the tide of elite opinion and we are always going to be painted as troglodytes. That is not likely to change and it makes our job difficult.
Saying that, demographic changes are what they are. Just look at the them and realize what they imply just a few years down the road. We may not even be able to win Texas, Arizona and perhaps others not long from now. I don’t believe caving on things like immigration is the answer, but we need to do a better job of talking to Hispanics, Asians, etc. We just have to communicate better with them and find a way to focus on the issues that will most drive them to vote for our candidates.
And of the north east and west coast. Assuming we are fighting for an ever dwindling share of white voters, we are going to need to flip states like NH, Oregon, maybe Washington, etc. Right now we start off elections assuming writing them off. We can win more of these people over talking about fiscal issues than social ones, so that is where our focus should be in those places.
We just can’t keep going the way we are. Demographically we are finished if we do. Of course we don’t give in on principles, but we do need to find a better way to communicate with these groups and emphasize issues that will help move them to vote for us. Right now we, as a party, are simply writing off way too much of the population.
How about we just not stand for anything?
/S
Mitt Romney ran on a message of “I’m not him”, or more accurately “I AM A WHITE HIM”. ( a whiter shade of fail)Nobody cares enough about that to get out and vote.
There are no true constitutionalists at any level of power in the GOP.
I believe we’d have been better off to run Ron Paul. He might be crazy, but at least he knows what he stands for.
No, I’m not a Ronulan. I’m just sick of the GOP blaming “Evangelicals” or “Tea Partiers” or “Redneck Racists” or “Anti-Mormans”, for failing to support a candidate that couldn’t be distinguished from the other sides guy on policy.
Damned right we need to do a better job. Sell them on the founding principles and on what America stands for: God-given Life and Liberty and opportunity for all!! America is head and shoulders above all other nations and it’s exactly because we’re free!! And we recognize God’s gifts of Life and Liberty for all and that the government cannot deprive us of God or His gifts! Socialism, atheism, abortionism, homosexualism, global baloneyism, etc, are all destructive paths and lead to the certain death of freedom and death of the nation. Flip-flopping, pandering, RINO squishes who do not believe this in their hearts cannot sell it. Romney was a used car salesman trying to sell foreign (to him) ideas. Reagan was a straight shooting conservative who loved and lived for God and Liberty and could communicate it to the masses!!
Media and entertainment? Really?
How about WORK OR STARVE? The federal government has no Constitutional or moral authority to take my money and give it to someone else.
We (the people) have allowed this to go on for far too long. Now we have people (allegedly on our side) demanding a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. What an incredibly stupid idea that is... If our government were held to it’s Constitutional limits, no balanced-budget amendment would be necessary. (and no term-limits either)
When we (the people) stop allowing politicians to buy votes using the public treasury, this insanity will cease, but not one second sooner. No political party is going to do it for us, and I assure you that the corruptocrats will never stop until they’re forced to do so. Demographics don’t matter. Red states & Blue states don’t matter.
The only thing that matters now, or ever did matter, is that the power is truly in the hands of the people.
We might begin at the state level, by shutting off the money spigot. Or we might go the “torches and pitchforks” route. Or we can wait for the inevitable collapse...
Either way, it’s not coming back without a major restructuring, initiated by the citizens.
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