Posted on 04/21/2009 1:44:49 PM PDT by americanophile
Political commentator Fareed Zakaria told a University of Oklahoma gathering that the Republican Party needs to grow for the good of the country.
Zakaria, seen regularly on CNN and ABC News and the editor of all Newsweek international editions, was not simply playing up to his red-state audience.
He said the GOP is becoming a regional party controlled by a base dominated by radio commentator Rush Limbaugh, whose average listener is age 67.
Meanwhile, a majority of people younger than 30, working women, college graduates and minorities — all demographics on the upswing — voted Democrat in the last election.
Zakaria said the trend is pointing to a vocal Republican base that’s shrinking coupled with an emboldened Democratic Party that feels it no longer needs moderates from either party.
"We’re ending up in a 1½-party system, and that’s not healthy,” he said Monday at an OU President’s Associates dinner. "We need a two-party system, and that only happens if the Republican appeal expands.”
(Excerpt) Read more at newsok.com ...
He’s not a Republican, so that’s not really his job. But his point is good: we need to appeal to younger people or we’re not going anywhere. IMO, the way to do that is to rediscover our principles on spending—I can’t imagine most young people are thrilled about paying $20 trillion in debt down the road.
he needs to take another look at Rush’s demographics. If those numbers were correct stations would be ditching him right and left.
“Translation: The Republican Party needs to become even more liberal so they are dead for good.”
That is certainly a valid translation, and one no doubt meant by the mainstream types in the media and education propaganda organs.
I look at it another way: The Republican Party needs to become a viable alternative to the current left-socialist democratic party, and then grow on that basis. In order to accomplish this, we need:
1. To become the Party of fiscal restraint, and promote that government be limited, not limitless.
2. To agitate and promote those fiscal ideas in our population, starting by coming out with a clear message and infiltrating the propaganda organs in our own “Long March” to accomplish them.
What we should NOT do is get bogged down in making personal issues campaign issues, and by that I mean we should not espouse SOCIAL conservatism. Right now, we can only hope to win if we fight ONE fight at a time. Personally, I consider myself a social conservative; I am a Christian, pro-life, opposed to gay marriage, and want family-oriented activities (usually in context of church or youth sports organizations). If we make them public issues, we will lose the more important fight, which is over the economic and military health and vitality of our nation. If we lose that fight, the social issues don’t matter.
Follow the money. Shrink government by starving it of money. Everything else we want will flow from there.
I don’t even care about taxes as much as I care about spending. If the Republicans cut taxes now, when I’m paying a relatively small amount, but still increase spending at obscene rates, it’s only going to cost me more down the road.
Oh, let me guess, we have to abandon all of our core convictions, our religious beliefs, our values, our conservatism, turn our backs on Reagan...
then we’ll have a chance to succeed.
Ask McCain how that worked.
The Tea Partiers are a great political stunt; we must recognize, however, that stunts get nothing done in and of themselves. The hard part will be taking that stunt and putting it to work to achieve actual political change.
Much has been made of the grass-roots nature of the Tea Parties, but that's a curse as well as a blessing.
To make a serious political impact, the Tea Party ideas have got to be taken up and turned into real strategies and implementations ... and that means it has to become the basis of a major party's actions.
In the current political environment it would have to be done by the Republican Party in a way that doesn't sell out the underlying principles. (Fat chance....)
OR.... the Republican Party may have reached its own "Whig Party" moment -- in which case a serious political organization needs to be created to take up the banner. Unfortunately, none of the existing splinter parties seems up to the task at present.
A real, heavy-weight statesman could bring it about. A lesser politician (e.g., not Newt Gingrich, or Sarah Palin at this point of her career) would fail.
SO ... got any ideas for a real, heavy-weight politician on whom we can count to carry these ideas into real action?
I'm certainly not a fan of Zakaria, but his statement taken at and only on face value is accurate. The Republican party is shrinking in size. And, if it were a business, we would say that it's losing market share in a growing market - that is incredibly unhealthy for any venture.
Also, Ronald Reagan carried the youth vote (18-29) by almost 20 full points in 1984. He only lost the youth vote in 1980 by 1 point. GHWB, riding on Reagan's coattails won the youth vote in 1988, and lost it in 1992, but only by single digits. Since that year, the GOP has consistently lost the youth vote by double digits culminating in the shellacking that Barry gave McCain by almost 34 points.
The Dems will be buoyed by the youth advantage, in much the same way that the Republicans were buoyed for twenty years by Reagan's college Republicans.
Reasonable people can debate and disagree about the best way to recapture the youth vote or at least shrink the Dems advantage. But, to discount the GOP problem with the 18-29 block or to ignore the problem all together will spell doom for the GOP party and the conservative movement.
Why are they so worried about what the GOP/Conservative movement is doing? They won for heavens sake. If one is not conservative you cannot mold our theme? Geez.
I care about spending too... but my point was that the Republican Party is incapable of getting a messge out and the Democrats are terrific at lying about what the Republicans do. That has got to change or we won’t get anywhere.
8 out of 10 Americans believe that Republicans crashed the US economy. Not good!
Very well put. IMO, the Republican party shouldn’t even abandon socially conservative positions, but it shouldn’t make them the focus of its message. They encompass a small minority of what most politicians actually do, so politicians should keep their focus on fiscal issues, and let other organizations (such as churches) promote the conservative message on social issues.
While it’s clear neither party bears responsibility for the economic crisis, the Republican party would be in a much better position to get its message out if they’d actually acted on that message in the last eight years. There’s a reason the’ve been afraid to talk about fiscal responsibility, and that’s because the Democrats can easily point a finger back at them on the issue.
“The conservatives need a party.”
If by that you mean another Political Party for those of us with Conservative interests, then you are dead wrong.
Forming a “Third Party” as it is called is precisely what the enemies of Conservatism want us to do. The act of placing ourselves into our own coffin would greatly appeal to them. The Democrats would never again have to worry about those of us whom are true Conservatives ever becoming of sufficient force to cause them to perspire at the brow.
We have to take back the GOP not only to refresh it with Conservative ideals, but to wrest it from the controlling appeal it has to those whom think they are of “Moderate” perspective. Those sorts will be easily led by “Moderate-Leftist” perspectives when in fact we could lead them for the sake of America to “Moderate-Right” perspectives with being in control of the Republican Party.
Should the Socialists win their stake in the Republican Party through their RINO allies, as they won their stake in the Democrat Party years ago, then they would have absolute control.
YOU nor I should want ever to place ourselves into the coffin, reach down and grab the lid, and place it over ourselves as that is precisely what we would be doing should we decide to go a “Third Party”.
Exactly. The left is using classic Alynskyism against us by defining us as social conservatives, and then ripping us apart with them. This allows them to grow government without our opposition. We have to ignore this canard and go for the fiscal issues and control the size of government.
I have gone over all the numbers for budget deficits.
Republican Party (fiscal) 1995 - 2007: $1.8 trillion total budget deficit.
Democratic Party (fiscal) 2008 - 2009: $2.25 trillion total budget deficit.
Also, the Republican Congress from 1998 - 2001 is the only Congress to run a budget surplus since 1968!
The Republicans have a much better fiscal responsibility record than the Democrats. No contest!
Ignore this BS folks. Obama eff’ed the economy. Look at June 2008 Dow and S&P 500 charts. This is when Hillary was out of the race. It was all down hill from there.
Fareed the fellow Islamo traveller with Hussein is clueless about economics as he works for the dying NewsWeak. NW page count keeps shrinking Fareed was on hi sprayer rug and O was smoking dope when Jiminy Carter totally Eff’ed the U.S. economy.
Young people ran from Carter and embraced Reagan.
When Ms. and Mister senior or baby boomer who voted for O realize their retirement is Eff’ed for good they may wake up.
When college kids get out of college with loans and find now jobs (NOW) - they cannot blame Bush.
People like you and me who listen to Rush largely did the same thing after election day. We stopped spending. It is only getting worse.
Sorrry FAREED - we are not being suckered by you or Hussein’s global Islamic caliphate call.
I just hope these Muslims decide to have trials for Bush Administration employees. Go for it.
Youth advantage? Two words:
Jimmy Carter.
We have an Islamic Jimmy Carter now.
how long will the “youth” with an IQ above 50 be happy they are being dumped on with O’s huge debt or that their are almost NO NO NO jobs now versus 3.9% unemployment with Bush. Most American youth are a lot smarter than we realize.
Ignore Fareed & NewsWeak’s Islamo-Obamo-Marxism.
Conservatives aren't. Republicans may be having an identity crisis, but they've always been that way. Conservatives know who we are and what we stand for; that's how we were able to carry the GOP’s water for nearly 30 years, until the RINOS kicked us to the curb. Now the RINOS want to define Conservatism too,in hopes that real conservatives don't get uppity. I guess they prefer to be in charge of a minority party.
Thank you. The GOP needs to be better but the GOP Congress was a LOT better than we realize.
That is exactly why I am sick and tired of hearing and seeing Newt Gingrich!
I do think Sarah Palin & Bobby Jindal bring a bit of freshness & youth & energy to our lame party.
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