Political Discussions
Republicans destined for wilderness years.
Posted by polybore • 10/28/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: republican party
It looks as if the Republican Party has rough times ahead.
George W Bush's presidency and policies have severely damaged the credibility of Republican governance.
Compounding Bush's failures McCain and Palin are busy performing the coup de grace on the party by alienating swathes of independent voters as well as members of the Republican party.
With the distinct possibility of a Democrat President and a clear Democrat majority in Congress one would think that it is time for Republicans to go back to the drawing board.
So the question is what do you think The Republican Party will need to address during their time out of power and in the political wilderness?
User Comments
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Seriously...I think they need to get with the modern era...it's 2008, not 1808 -
I think a few things the republican party is going to need to address are:
Conservative base. Who really comprises the party, and how on earth can the party realistically represent them?
Political platform, aside from hot button issues that probably won't change, I think the party needs to prioritize, and clean up what their actual platform is. What does it mean to be a republican? Why do people want to register as a republican? The party itself has changed a great deal since it's inception - I think they need to reevaluate the current incarnation in their evolutionary process.
I think they are going to need to freshen up their party a bit with some young, energized politicians who actually know what they're doing, in THIS time period. It's time to interject a little bit of youth in the Grand OLD Party.
The republicans are also going to have to come to terms with the globalised economy, and what that actually means. The rest of the world is moving to a mixed economic solution and the US is lagging behind with it's pie-in-the-sky economic ideals.
The republicans and their anti-"activist" stance on judges in the supreme court and anti "activist" rulings with regards to social issues are going to have to go by the wayside. The rest of the world has ceased looking towards the US as a leader in human rights and equality - which means that the countries stance and rulings have become stale, old, and stalwart. Time to change, and not be so afraid of progress.
I think the conservative party is also going to have to shed it's relationship with the extreme evangelical groups - and come to grips with the realization that religion and government are not good bedfellows. Time and time again I hear the republican party talk about "less government" unless that government wants to legislate what individuals can and can't do with their own bodies, based on religious ideology. Time for that hypocritical stance to go. -
They need to decide whether or not they want to be a popular centrist party or if they only represent those on the far right.
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"Republicans destined for wilderness years" - yeah, I'm starting to think so, too, and I'm glad. At this point I quite frankly don't care or give a rip what they can do to save themselves. I think they've been aligned with a failed ideology (you've heard me say this before) that has been utterly devastating to everything I value.
However, if I may make one suggestion to whatever part of the rump GOP that still has some decency left, I would say: Get rid of the Rovian-style attack-smear-lie-distort brand of politics! It's torn this country apart and it does nothing to further whatever shred of legitimacy remains in conservative positions.
And I have one strong request for Democrats: we must never get complacent! Not now, not ever. "Republicans in the wilderness" sounds delightful, but while they're there, they'll be plotting and scheming and licking their chops for another takeover, like they did after Goldwater's defeat, even if it takes decades. We'll need to be eternally vigilant, but you that's the price of liberty. -
A bleary eyed Polybore sat up through the night to watch history in the making.
The Republicans can take some heart that they avoided the filibuster bustering 60:40. However today the Republicans are leaderless and with no clear direction.
It seems to Polybore that, as Mark says the Republican party must move to the centre, It will be interesting to see if they can find a leader who can do this without splitting the party.-
Without chunks of the midwest, the GOP has become a purely regional party, and it doesn't even have all of the old South.
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The Republican party doesn't stand for anything good any more. There's nothing "conservative" about their agenda. It's their radical policies that got us into the mess we're in right now and until they move towards the center, they're going to have to sit on the sidelines. -
the scary thought is that this may be a galvanizing moment for them.
neither party really has much to offer the general public and the republicans have had an especially hard time reconciling their corporatist bent with any sort of agenda to rally voters.
opposition to obama will likely be their new rallying cry. -
To me, it is apparent from the audience reactions to McCain's concession speech that many are not willing to walk into the wilderness. I noticed a profound difference in the way each audience responded to the admiration expressed by the candidates towards their opponent. Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree.-
No, I noticed it too. What a shame - sour grapes.
There has been much boo-hissing in the comments sections of the news today - very angry stuff. I thought we had progressed beyond this.
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Actually, I think if Obama can't turn around our foreign image and the economy, the regardless of which Republican runs will beat him, and sweep back into Congess real quick if they can't get their approvals up, but we'll see.
But this is a good question, I plan on writing on it on my blog soon, but basically, the Republicans need to become the party of the Moderates again.
There are (and have been for a long time) more registered Democrats, so the GOP needs to pick up the independents.
We picked the right candidate for it, but because our base was so nuts about it, he had to come so far right to pick them back up it hurt him with the moderates.
I'm not sure how we're going to handle this, but the far-right wing part of the party needs to learn it is only *one part* - and that they will get NONE of the things they hope for with a Democrat, so even if they only get SOME with the GOP candidate, they need to not make it so much "my way or the highway"...-
The far far right does seem to be the spoiled brats of the party, doesn't it.
When did the republican party begin kowtowing to the more extreme voter base and not the moderates, and who thought that was a good idea? -
Probably 8 years before the Democrats started doing it to their left wing constituents - they just haven't learned their lesson yet, I hope the GOP has though...
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When have the Democrats kowtowed to the far far left groups?
I mean, they're there - but I don't see nay comparison between say - the extreme right Christian conservatives (complete with lobbying, fund raisers, and political prowess) and say, us left leaning Anarchists and Zappatista wannabes. -
Oh Anok, dontcha know that the mere notion of wanting women to have control over their bodies puts you to the left of CHAIRMAN MAO!!!
And if you even suggest that homosexuals are actual people deserving of the same rights as heterosexuals, then you're quite possibly the reanimated corpse of Lenin. -
Heh, well I AM pretty far left - on the political compass I'm like, off the richter
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Clearly, they need to move toward the center. At the moment, though, as might have been expected, party leaders are talking more about a return to ideological purity. No doubt, four years from now, after Obama rides to reelection in a landslide over a Palin/Romney ticket, they'll be saying it all again. -
There were no republicans in 1808... just for yer FYI.
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