The primary lesson of this election is that we can NOT take any votes away form the Left by being like the Left. Moderate, nice guy, squeaky clean Mitt Romney did not pull ONE vote away from the Left, even though he passed ObamaCare before Obama did! He failed to take any votes from the Left in his home state, where plenty of Democrats voted for him for Governor!! He had no vices and no major faults, he allowed the Left to take ObamaCare off the table during the election, and he ran a polite, no-mud-slinging campaign... and got NOTHING for it.
Instead of trying the "inclusive" approach, and playing identity politics, the GOP either has to step up their own game, and make the Dems play defense... or the GOP should just sit down and die. Period.
This election had the following numbers:
207m eligible voters...
166m registered voters...
120m voted in 2012...
61m voted for Obama...
59m voted for Romney...
Assume ~40m Base Dems went to Obama.
Assume ~40m Base Pubbies went for Romney
Assume that the remaining 40m, the Independents, went to Obama 49-47%, as the exit polls indicated, hence the ~2m vote differential.
Again, CLEARLY, running Moderate candidates does NOT beat a hard-Left identity-group candidate. Instead of playing to their strength, to bridge that 2m vote gap, the GOP needs to target those 46m registered voters who did not vote (most especially the GOP-leaning ones who were NOT motivated by a Moderate)...
they need to target the 40m Independents (and running Moderate gain less than 50% of those, so AGAIN, going after those votes means NOT going Moderate)...
they need to target those 41m voters who ARE eligible, and choose not to even register (while the Dems counter with the 45 million who are of voting age, but NOT eligible, due to felonies, etc)...
THESE groups should be the focus of the "big tent" strategy, and NOT the identity politicking of the Left that we have lost at for two cycles in a row.
And in case the GOP has simply forgotten, or simply doesn't know, the GOP's strengths are in tradition, consistency, logic, history, economics, development, and most importantly, independence. Most Americans DO want smaller government intrusion into their lives. Most Americans want lower taxes, and want less fraud and corruption and waste. Most Americans want to follow a strong leader who they admire and trust. Most Americans know that Socialism is a failing proposition. THESE are the areas where the Left can easily be bested. Lead, follow, or get out of the way of the next Party to arise.
Excellent post. It’ll fall on deaf ears. The GOP fanboyz are more about protecting their pet RINO’s than they are actually winning elections and having to stand by their principles.