cyphur wrote:srothstein wrote:Charles,
I agree with some of what you posted and disagree with some. The most important part that I don't really care about is the Republican Party. The party left me a long time ago. There are large groups of people the Republican party needs to appeal to if it wants to survive and prosper. Hispanics are one, Blacks are a second, and the libertarians (note the small "L", this is the people who hold a philosophy and not the party members particularly) are a third. All of these groups have things in common with the GOP and all have differences.
With one caution, I would say the GOP needs to really carefully examine its platform and plans. One of the few good things I see in the future for the GOP is the fact that the Democrats are a party of alliances that will fracture apart. There is no true Democratic core belief. Instead, there are alliances between extreme core beliefs from several different groups, such as the socialists, the environmentalists, the animal rights groups, the peace at any cost groups, etc. I think it will break apart under the stress of trying to govern. If the GOP tries to become a similar coalition party, it also cannot survive.
What I think most people really want to see in the US, and the GOP could pull off with some thought, is a party that fights for fiscal conservation while promoting social liberty. The GOP loses many people when they fight to keep religion in all forms of government. More and more of the country want to keep their own religion and keep it private. The GOP loses when it tries to restrict abortion, especially when it is a restriction based on a religious interpretation. I do not support abortion but I honestly don't think the government should have a say in it. Gay marriage is the same way.
Most people do support gun rights, so the GOP has a draw there. I do hold more extreme beliefs in gun rights than most Americans, but it is relatively easy to fight gun control issues when you prove that it doesn't work for the stated goal.
As you say, immigration is a major issue that the country needs to solve. I am a descendant of immigrants (well, we all are but mine is only three or four generations) and I want to go back to the days of allowing most people who want to come in and work and improve themselves to do so. If we separate the "entitlements" issue from the immigration, I think most Americans want more immigration but do not support giving them any welfare. Argue to stop most (not all, but most) welfare without regard to immigration status while removing immigration restrictions and the GOP could have a winning policy.
Which does bring us to the fiscal conservative part. I think most people in the US could support a policy that helps those who really need it (such as those unable to work) and that provides some benefit to people who need help for a short time. I am sure the GOP could develop a policy that narrows the support over a period of time and ends the generational welfare problem while still providing support for those who really do need help.
And for all of those in here who read this, I want to emphasize that I do not necessarily hold any of these beliefs. Nor do I necessarily disagree with them. My personal beliefs are along the lines of Jefferson's quote about that government which governs least governs best. I do think this type of platform is the one that would have the biggest support in the US population. It would take some demonstrated proof that they really are changing to this way of thought before they see much gain, but then it would come in a landslide. I base this one what turned me off on the GOP, and what I think could bring in the reasonable people from my extreme right side and the moderate to just left of center side people also.
Our country is very divided and now is the time for us to start working on the middle ground. The group that gets there first will control it. The average American does not want to be divided this way.
As an Independent, college-educated, fiscally conservative, socially liberal, high income
Millennial who has served overseas in support of this nation, I must say this is one of the most accurate and insightful posts in this thread in my humble opinion. I give that background simply to state that I am not the run of the mill youngin' who has their head in the sand, and have earned my rights.
The Republican Party lost me with McCain, and it did
nothing to win me back with Romney. Paul Ryan was a breath of fresh air, but even he looked like a dolt in the debate. You want to win over an entire generation who wants real reform? Stop trying to make things the way they used to be. There is an old saying, if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got. Well, we obviously need to change something, because this simply is not working.
As a generalization our electorate has no freaking clue how to fix our economy, and yet that was a major issue in this election. It was all smoke and mirrors, I'd be hard pressed to find a dozen folks on the street who understand cost-based accounting or know what net-60 means without using google. If they cannot understand fundamental accounting, how can they hope to understand it at a national level? As long as parties make the election about issues people do not understand, they will associate to issues based on emotional ties, not logic. The Democratic party wins the emotional debate with feel good garbage promises they know they cannot deliver on. This is a direct byproduct of an uneducated electorate. Fix the problem, not the symptom.
Religion as a party basis has got to go - and I do not say that because I am not a Christian - yes, you heard that right - I say that because this country was founded on Freedom OF Religion, not Freedom FROM Religion. This is a lesson the Christians and Athiests' must learn alike. People should be legally allowed to practice their religion without interference from the State(Federal or otherwise). However, it is our fundamental system that State's Rights not be countered, thus if citizens do not like the State's laws, they can move. The Federal Government has no business in my wife's womb, nor in my choice to practice any victim-less facet of any religion I may participate in. Women's Rights are going nowhere, if the Republican party cannot get on board with that, they're done for a good long while. If Catholic-based countries are warming to abortion, I am not real clear why the US is trying to reverse Roe v Wade.
Immigration is what this country was founded on, and it needs a robust immigration policy to continue to grow as a great country. If we try to say "we're good enough as we are", then we have not learned a single damned thing in the past 300 years, as it was that attitude that many of our forefathers fled in Europe and elsewhere. Diversity when properly educated makes for a stronger whole, not weaker. Why do you think the US Military is fully integrated now sans Special Operations forces?
I HATE entitlement programs with a burning passion, but not all of Medicare/Medicaid/Welfare is entitlement. When I was working mininmum wage jobs, going to college, my wife was pregnant with my twins. If it had not been for some of those programs, my twins who both wound up in NICU's would have kept me in debt for 15 years. Now that I am soundly in the mid to upper middle class, I have no reservations paying into those programs to help our fellow citizens in true need. However, that does not include people who pop out seven kids, has multiple flatscreen TVs, iPhones for every kid, and three different game console systems. Until the Republicans can devise a program that gets out in front of the Media with simple terms that make it VERY clear that they do not want to take away from the clearly needy, and get away from the "kill the seniors, defund Medicare, nuke Welfare" stigma, they will keep getting slaughtered in the media.
At the end of the day, you have to adapt and evolve, or die out. This is a basic premise of nature, and it is no different in politics or human nature. Technology has changed a lot of how society behaves, and it will take a few generations to balance out the negative effects we've seen. The US has to bring back manufacturing jobs(read micro-processors, not tinker toys), we have to bring back the sense of national pride, and tone down the Us vs Them mentality. We need to rise above the drivel the media has been throwing out there to sell cycles to advertisers. If the Old Guard cannot get that done, they may not like the outcome when the newer generations reshape their world around them.
300 years ago most of the nation was not educated enough to participate in the election, hence the Electoral College. 300 years later, not much has changed apparently. That is the real tragedy here, all other issues aside.
There it is! Well said, Steve and cyphur. 