The end of the Republican party

[Saltheart]

I think yesterdays election marks the end of the "Republican" Party. The country no longer wants it. The party is no longer recognized for what it was 150 years ago. Its no longer a strongly conservative party.

The country no longer wants it This election made it clear that the USA is now a country of the 47% and that what the new demographics want is socialism. There is no denying that the Democratic Party is the party of socialism and the rdistribution of wealth. I'm not commenting at all about whats right or wrong. Just stating the fact that this country now has a very well defined socialistic party and that that is what the majority of Americans want now. I don't believe we will ever see a president win an election unless he is firmly on the side of promoting entitlements and raising taxes to pay for the shift of wealth to lower income Americans. We have reached the tipping point.

No longer recognized as the party it was 150 years ago The Republican Party's claim to fame is that it was the party that abolished the enslavement of Blacks in the USA. No one would argue that the current Republican Party has any significant support from Blacks , Hispanics and other monorities. I believe this is principly do to the Repubilican stand against illegal imigration and the democratic support of the redistribution of wealth in the form of entitlements. If the Party is no longer recognized as the party that risked everything , even a Civil War , to free black slaves , then it has no idealistic identity anymore. It really looks to most as a party of rich people or religious right wingers.

It is no longer a strongly conservative party The fact is that the Republican party is now best defined by what is now called Libertarians. Its core is not rich white men and religious fanatics. Its core is now people with liberal social beliefs and conservative fiscal policy beliefs. A new party has to emerge trhat clearly shows that it represents those with thoughts as liberal or even more liberal than the democratic party in the form of Libertarian beliefs but that is fiscally conservative and therefore in opposition to the socialist Democratic party on matters of tax and spending. No party will ever get a president elected again if he is pro life , does not support equal pay for woman , does not support looser immigration policies for Mexico and does not think that at all costs, in terms of a tax burden , that we must support elderly people with food , housing and medical subsidies.


It will be interesting to see what gets cobbled together as the face and identity of the Republican Party by 2016. The name will likely stay the same but I think after two drubbings in consecutive elections at the hands of a truly socialist Democratic Party , whatever opposition there is left in this country knows that they can no longer get elected by supporting anything except a big government role in the lives of the people and that that big government will have to subsidize the income of more than 1/2 the Americans in the future.

Now I'm thinking along the lines of a country like the socialist countries in Europe. England seems to be the most likely path we will follow until the money runs out and we slip more into the third world mold of Greece and Spain. However , it is the direction we will move in and somehow we need to find a way to keep some incentive to work in the minds of the ambitious young people. If everyone just gives up and decides to dip into the pork barrel , we will slide down quickly and deeply into third world status.

For the near term my own personal fear is a total collapse of the economic strength of the country and a collapse of the value of our currency. I don't want to see my lifes savings become worthless do to inflation driven by the collapse of the US dollar. I worked and saved for over 40 years. I'd hate to see it all evaporate into devalued dollars putting me in a position where I am driven into the growing ranks of the 47%.

[RIJIMMY]

Saltheart - did you see the enthusiastic support for Ron Paul?
I am independant but as you know generally lean republican. in this new 24 hr news cycle nutty repubs get all the press. They talk too much about religion, abortion, women, thats none of the govts business.
They need to rebrand.
Jeezus - Romneys debate responses were collections of sound bytes. We need a real person up there.
Seems silly but - Why is it I listen to bob marley, fishbone, rage against the machine, etc - i hear conservative values and ideals. I see freedom and opportunity? Repubs need to capitalize on that and change the perception.

[Jackbass]

Originally Posted by RIJIMMY

Saltheart - did you see the enthusiastic support for Ron Paul?
I am independant but as you know generally lean republican. in this new 24 hr news cycle nutty repubs get all the press. They talk too much about religion, abortion, women, thats none of the govts business.
They need to rebrand.
Jeezus - Romneys debate responses were collections of sound bytes. We need a real person up there.
Seems silly but - Why is it I listen to bob marley, fishbone, rage against the machine, etc - i hear conservative values and ideals. I see freedom and opportunity? Repubs need to capitalize on that and change the perception.

I agree Imagine a guy like me 20 yrs ago chasing the Dead and phish around the country and now leaning right.
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[RIJIMMY]

Originally Posted by Jackbass

I agree Imagine a guy like me 20 yrs ago chasing the Dead and phish around the country and now leaning right.
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exaclty, I had hair down past my shoulders, lived in San francisco for years, tie dies, etc.
My friends are mostly libs but so brainwashed by the media and so scared of extreme conservatives.

[striperman36]

Originally Posted by RIJIMMY

exaclty, I had hair down past my shoulders, lived in San francisco for years, tie dies, etc.
.

You had hair?

[RIJIMMY]

Originally Posted by striperman36

You had hair?

beautiful thick curly hair that women were always envious of. I think some ex-girlfriends got hold of a voodoo doll and took away my Samson-like asset

[Jackbass]

Originally Posted by striperman36

You had hair?

Me too now I have the Merrill Steubing look
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[Jim in CT]

Saltheart, everyone said the same exact thing in 2008, thatthe GOP was dead. we came roaring back 2 years later. People like to forget that, but that's what happened.

i feel the GOP will do fine in midterm elections (like 2010), but we will strugle in presidential elections, because th emedia spends 24/7 painting the GOP candidate as amonster.

Polls show that a small majority of Americans oppose abortion. Polls show that a large number of Americans don't think "borrow-and-spend-on liberal pet projects" is the way out of this mess.

In another thread, I said (and believe in my heart) that Americans aren't opposed to what Republicans believe. They are opposed to what the media claims we believe. And that misrepresentation is much easier to pull off when th emedia has one presidential candidate to worry about, then hundrdes of congressional candidates.

The GOP will struggle to lect a president until one of the following things happen...the economy collapses, we find more honest outlets to put forth what we believe (as opposed to what Sean Penn says we believe), or we get a spectacular candidate (could be Marco Rubio in 2016).

The GOP has a majority of governorships. And we maintained control over teh house of reps.

[RIJIMMY]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

.

Polls show that a small majority of Americans oppose abortion. Polls show that a large number of Americans don't think "borrow-and-spend-on liberal pet projects" is the way out of this mess.

In another thread, I said (and believe in my heart) that Americans aren't opposed to what Republicans believe. They are opposed to what the media claims we believe. And that misrepresentation is much easier to pull off when th emedia has one presidential candidate to worry about, then hundrdes of congressional candidates.

The GOP will struggle to lect a president until one of the following things happen...the economy collapses, we find more honest outlets to put forth what we believe (as opposed to what Sean Penn says we believe), or we get a spectacular candidate (could be Marco Rubio in 2016).

The GOP has a majority of governorships. And we maintained control over teh house of reps.

wow, that was a very intelligent post

[wader-dad]

Romney would have won easily if he stayed the moderate Governor Mitt Romney from Mass. I don't understand why he felt the need to satisfy a certain extreme faction of the party. They are never going to vote democratic so why pander to them?

What is wrong with being a moderate republican? why can't that work?

I agree with this that i read:

This failure began with the spectacle of the extended primary season, which was dominated by candidates with views far outside the political mainstream. Rick Santorum rejected the separation of church and state. Newt Gingrich challenged the notion of judicial supremacy. Michele Bachmann claimed the government had been infiltrated by radical Muslims. Donald Trump refused to recognize the validity of Obama’s birth certificate. Rick Perry wanted to take down more parts of the federal government than he could successfully name. In the debates, the country saw the GOP talking to itself and sounding like a bizarre fringe party, not a responsible governing one.

Romney is not a right-wing extremist. To win the nomination, though, he had to feign being one, recasting himself as “severely conservative” and eschewing the reasonableness that made him a successful, moderate governor of the country’s most liberal state.

[buckman]

Obama had fewer votes then McCain !! 73% of Asians voted democratic. The GOP better figure out how th appeal to them . Get away from the religious right already
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[buckman]

I think when Pres. Obama picks Kerry to be Secretary of State Brown still might get in on the special election.
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[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by buckman

I think when Pres. Obama picks Kerry to be Secretary of State Brown still might get in on the special election.
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Unless there's another Kennedy who shows up and decides that seat is his birthright.

[eelskimmer]

This election was an excellent of diversity at work.
After 30 years of diversity spending we have 90%
of blacks, 70% of latinos, 73% of Asians and 60+
percent of women voting for Obama. The most
despised demographic in America is the white male.
Better believe it!!

[buckman]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

Unless there's another Kennedy who shows up and decides that seat is his birthright.

True that
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[Jackbass]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

Unless there's another Kennedy who shows up and decides that seat is his birthright.

I heard Hilary is moving to MA
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[MAKAI]

Republicans are going to have to learn Spanish, I guess.
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[rphud]

Presidential elections seem to be very periodic, pendulums. When things swing one way they either swing back or keep swinging in the same direction for one more cycle. When they swing twice in one direction they have swung too far, and the reaction tends to be a very hard swing back in the other direction next time around. Probably start to see the hard swing the other way in the next mid-term election.

[The Dad Fisherman]

Originally Posted by MAKAI

Republicans are going to have to learn Spanish, I guess.
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Maybe if they did they might have won the election...

[Saltheart]

I think they also got suckered into the extended Rep Primary battle with all the self defeating debates , etc. I don't know whay there isn't some more centralized leadership from the party to keep the primary relatively simple and civilized. By the time they chopped eachother up during the primaries , they all looked like bad candidates.

[detbuch]

Sorry, Saltheart, I veered off your thread topic. As to the end of the Republican party, I agree with what you said, and said very well, but I think there is still a good degree of vitality in the party as represented by a number of congresspeople and in the electorate at large. Ironically, that vitality is what so many are saying is causing the party's presumed demise. Essentially, what they are saying is if the party wishes to survive it must become more like the Democrat party. Wouldn't that actually be its end? There is no necessity for two parties which are different in name only. Wouldn't the requirement for more than one party be difference? Even more so, a fundamental difference. If the difference is merely minor, that already exists within parties. The Republican party is especially fractured now, between those who are truly different than Democrats, and those who I call Democrat lite.

Your post recognizes the true difference, but laments that the people no longer want what the party is founded on. I think that the people, to a great degree, "want" on the basis of rhetoric. In our society, actually essential needs are not a problem. How we get those needs satisfied is the rub. As you say, when government can fill those needs with less of our sweat equity, that is a magnet toward socialism. But for convenience, and with ignorance, we accept a poison pill that can be the downfall of our society. If our message is so weak and fearful of offending groups and merely appears to take away "needs" then we will lose. People admire courage. They admire honesty. And they are moved by higher purpose. If we cannot convince them that short term pleasures can lead to long term pain and destruction, how do we convince ourselves?