njlauren
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Joined: 10/1/2011
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The GOP has a big problem, in the last 30 years they abandoned traditional GOP values, which used to be fiscal conservatism, moderate views on regulation, and libertarian to moderate social views. The traditional GOP realized there were problems that needed to be solved, but for the most part objected to the idea that government could solve all problems (but realized it could do some things), it was a lot more balanced. What happened to the GOP is that they fell prey to a common malady, that if you tap into anger, into the extremes, it can help you come into power. The GOP in order to regain power, catered to the extremes, the religious right whose views are way, way out of the mainstream, to the extreme right wing/racism of the John Birch types, the pseudo populism of the rural/farm belt, you name it, and it worked, they went hard right, and it helped them win elections, in part thanks to the nature of the election process (the electoral system, redistricting). What was once the fringe that people like Buckley and Goldwater called the loony right (and feared), won out, the anti intellectual, anti compromise, I know right and you don't mentality, that gave us Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman and the like. It even showed with a candidate like Mitt Romney, who in many ways was a pretty mainstream GOP candidate, who figured he had to go hard right to please 'the base'.
I don't think the GOP is going to learn the lesson, they have had major studies of the problems with their positions, they have had major figures like Jeb Bush and Bobby Jindal (not exactly the height of reasons), come out and tell them they are doing the wrong thing catering to the extremes, and yet those running the party keep promoting the idea that what the party needs to do is go more hard right, put up a 'real' conservative. They don't see polls that show only their base thinks the GOP congressmen are doing the right thing, they don't see that among young people, the extremism of the GOP has turned them off.
The problem with libertarians in the GOP is that the ones they have might go over well locally, but they are too extreme as well, what is lacking is pragmatism. Pure libertarianism is about as workable as 'pure' capitalism or pure anything, and the idea that somehow most people in the US are extreme conservatives is not reality.
If you want to see the problem with the GOP, take a look at what just happened in North Carolina. The GOP has taken over the legislature and governor's office, primarily because of economic issues, and then what happened? You got it, the extreme social focus, going after abortion and numerous other darlings of the hard right, and people there aren't happy. More importantly, this is getting national attention, and it is further alienating people. What is worse is candidates who otherwise understand, shift themselves hard right to cater to the idiots, and it torches them in the general elections.
I live in an area of NJ that is very republican, local governments are mostly GOP (I mean single party control), yet in voting for national elections, the GOP candidates are down to something like 55%, from where they used to get well over 80%, and in Senate elections my county gives democratic candidates strong support as well. The GOP on a national level is seen as out of touch, my next door neighbor is a lifelong republican, and he thinks the GOP has become the party of crackpot economics and social issue crackpots, as well as the party of extreme positions that he doesn't recognize.
What is worse is that as a Catholic, he finds the anti poor attitude of the party,the whole Ayn Rand idea that people who are poor are that way because they are lazy or that somehow there is this big group of people living off the government, when he knows a lot of those bitching, especially in the red states, get a ton of money from the federal government, and recognized that for example Romney calling for increased defense spending was primarily pork to the red states where the defense industry means jobs.
They have to become a party that has ideas, and they cannot keep proclaiming themselves to be the party of reactionary conservatism, it may fly in the bible belt and rural areas in general, but it is killing them on the national stage. Their demographics are basically a disaster area, they are now primarily the party of the extreme right wing well off (Trevor Norquist and the Koch Brothers)who believe because they are rich they shouldn't pay taxes, and the rural, older, white voters who want to put the country back to what they knew, and it isn't going to work much longer. Among other things, for the first time, diversity is not just happening in the cities and burbs, it is happening all over the country, and gerrymandering and election tricks are going to stop working. Worse, they have turned off a key constituency, they have turned off suburban middle and upper middle income people and they have turned off large majorities of young people, who care about the economy and jobs and don't share the view of the religious right or those afraid of diversity.
It is sad, because there are people in the GOP who know better, who have ideas I think might have traction. Figuring out tax policy that both cuts the load of taxation and the incredibly complex laws is not a bad thing, as long as they don't shift the burden on the middle class to cut the load on the well off, which is one of the problem with many of the flat tax/simple tax plans. It also is in recognizing that you cannot promote the idea of cutting government spending and 'getting people off the dole' while continuing to support farm bills and increased defense spending because they are politically important to their base. Mitch McConnell yells about high tax states being able to deduct state and local taxes, but yet his district gets huge plums from the federal government, including TVA generated power done at cost (I find it interesting that the GOP who claims we should privatize everything, has not made a big point selling off federal power generation to private power companies, raising money to pay down federal debt, and it isn't hard to see why, McConnel knows without cheap power and other federal programs, his region would not have a lot of the economic boom they have seen with auto makers and the like). They rail about 'welfare' to other states, when their states get a lot more back then they pay in, as compared to other states that get back very little comparatively. The biggest thing they haven't done is show leadership, their whole platform is negative, they say no to what Obama wants to do, but offer nothing in return. They are against obamacare, but offer nothing other than keeping the status quo or worse, say medical care isn't a right and if you need it, you better be able to pay for it (the best had to be Rick Santorum, who said emergency rooms are always there for care.........which is part of the problem with the current system). "Killing the federal government" like the tea party advocates is not a solution (among other things, it is obvious tea party types can't read the federal budget), they need to offer real, credible plans and not offer something like the Ryan plan that slashed government spending on social programs while leaving entitlements like farm subsidies, defense and the major entitlements like medicare untouched, you can't do that either, or propose tax policies that benefit the top 1% while putting more of a burden on the middle and upper middle class.
I really hope the GOP can figure this out, because we need real ideas out there, but it also takes willingness to listen to what others are saying and compromise. Believing that the entire country is like Cobb County, Georgia or like rural Texas is a big mistake..I think it is going to take at least 1 more election where they lose the national election for change to happen.
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RE: Amid Struggle For 'Soul' Of GOP, Libertarians Take ... - 
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