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Message 1251 of 3838

Republican Strategies

I found this article in the WSJ to be quite interesting. It points out some of the "soul searching" the GOP may be doing in the future. I'm interested in what the conservatives in the group think of the premise put forth by the author.

Republicans are trying to find themselves during a time of dramatic, rolling change, demographic change, younger voters who seem embarrassed to be associated with them, an aging and contracting base and, perhaps most ominously, what appears to be a new national openness to a redefinition of the relationship between the government and the governed.

The ground is shifting. It's hard to get your footing in an earthquake. As Republicans on the Hill try, they must also try to steady their party. It needs a greater sense of realism about its predicament. It needs less enforcement and more encouragement. It needs to inspire the young and the politically unformed not with bloodlust but with ideas.

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posted by Pluto50

From the link:

" On Capitol Hill they are up against the Bush era, when through fear of the White House or mindless opportunism they supported things they now decry. It will take them a while to seem credible again. The smarter of them know this. They're waiting for time to pass and a new cliché about them to take hold".

This is the key to Noonan's premise. Whatever happens now, whether success or failure, will rest on the shoulders of totally Democratic executive and majority Democratic legislative branches.

For the sake of the nation, I hope they succeed. But when they fall from favor, as they will, eventually, the opposing party will return to power. No need for panic.

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posted by KerryCork
7 months ago

"A great party is expansive. A great party has give."

We will see if the Republican party can find it's way to being expansive and to having give. Or if they will remain inclusive and static. One way will mean growth and life. The other will mean attrition and possible death. I find myself wanting to just yell, "Lighten up!"

I know that personally, I cannot go along with their present agenda. They are too rigid and out of step. Of course there are exceptions. I do like my U.S. Senators (most of the time) and a few others. But being a moderate, I mostly feel disinfrancised by both the Dems and the Reps.

posted by MtnGirl53
7 months ago

Ooops! Line 3 should be "exclusive"...not "inclusive." My bad?

posted by MtnGirl53
7 months ago

(Not that I am a Republican,) but history, even recent history, shows the Republican Party has been in the doghouse before.

And despite the LOVEFEST, the current regime is built, too, on a shaky coalition... the poles holding up the big tent have constituents with disparate perspectives... and time will draw out the contrasts... it is already beginning.

There is little chance, IMO, of a shift to a new party... so lets see what the Republicans can do when 2012 becomes a Anyone But Obama contest (just like 2008 was Anyone But W... or a look alike). For sure... they could fumble.

I, for one howvever, am optimistic that liberal progressivism will get sent to the timeout corner again.

posted by Mac4Me
7 months ago

The single best cure for the excessive popularity of either US political party is for them to be in power for a while . Then the complete bankruptcy of their ideas , their total incompetence , and their overwhelming dishonest greed become apparent even to the most near-sighted voters and they elect the other gang of incompetent thieves .