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Zonie63 -> RE: Not easy for the GOP. (11/16/2012 4:32:07 AM)
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ORIGINAL: DarkSteven
I feel sorry for them, sorta. Its problems include living in a comfortable bubble, and clinging to a shrinking demographic.
1. The conservative wing - what has to be done with it? It's easy for us Dems to look at the rabid nuts there and say "Dump them from the party", but they're an integral part of it. That'd be like someone telling us to drop the Hispanics or blacks from our coalition because they're causing trouble.
This is true. Thing is, there aren't enough billionaires for the Republicans to win elections solely on their economic philosophy, so they need the social conservatives from the middle class. It looks like they'll be going for the religious/conservative vote - which isn't confined to an aging white demographic.
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2. How much do they change? It's easy to say they should emulate the Dems, but Then they lose. The Dems have been Dems for a long time and do it well. The GOP needs to do something to differentiate themselves from the Democrats. So it appears they must find what in the Dem platform to adopt, and what in their current platform to preserve.
The Democrats and Republicans have changed quite a bit over history, so when put in that perspective, to say that "Dems have been Dems for a long time and do it well" becomes a bit nebulous. There have been times when the Dems haven't done so well, as well as times they've done much better than they're doing now. Both parties have proven to be adaptable and able to survive. I don't see either of them disappearing from the political landscape any time soon.
Some of us tend to see the Republicans and Democrats as more alike than different, and there are many who see one or the other as the lesser of two evils. Perhaps it's a consequence of being bombarded with all those negative campaign ads.
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3. They've been living in a bubble. In that bubble, Obama is a horrible tyrant, Dems are made up of lazy freeloaders, and the wealthy are noble benefactors who provide jobs to the nation. As long as they persist in living in that bubble, they will never be able to understand the rest of America.
So what do they do?
I don't know that they necessarily live in a bubble. Perhaps some do, but it seems to be a malady which crosses party lines. While I can be rather cynical about both parties, I can also recognize the merit in their respective ideological positions (at least when viewed abstractly, without the distraction of party rhetoric). We obviously can't live beyond our means, and at present, we have to come to terms with the fact that we are facing some rather difficult issues to solve. Rather than worry about what the Republicans might have to do to win the next election, I'd like to see what both parties will do to bring America out of this morass. The country is broke, and what are they going to do about it? I don't care if it's a Democratic or Republican solution, just as long as it works.
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