What does the GOP have to do to become a winning party?

I'll start.

Keep their platform of small gubmint, low taxes and strong defense and incorporate;

1. Abortion
2. Gay marriage
3. Reasonable illegal immigration policies

The problem is the GOP knows exactly how many votes and money it gets from voters who oppose abortion, gay marriage and deporting all illegal aliens, so how do they make up the difference? If they adopt these new policies they become a "me too" party. Are there enough middle of the road abortion and gay friendly voters who also believe in small gubmint and low taxes to recover what they lose?

If the GOP becomes pro abortion and pro gay where do all those religious voters who oppose such go? Do they sit out?

The GOP has maneuvered themselves between a rock and a hard place. Not many places to go and there isn't much daylight.

The gop is like the church in europe. Only the oldest generation goes there anymore, it belongs to a different era. it needs to wake up and get with the times and ditch all the bigotry against minorities. If it goes center, instead of even further to the edge of sanity, it begins to steal votes from hilary

Dump the Tea Party.

Poll Reps, Dems and Ind nationally and find out how they REALLY think. Adjust platform accordingly. the three by spanky are a good start.

Agree to disagree but not block legislative action because of party politics. Use the Polls as a guide to what is important to the American people not just the numbnuts in the extreme part of your party.

Accept facts especially widely held scientific facts as facts. If it looks, walks, waddles swims like a duck its a duck not a horse.

The most important of the lot are the first two.

Panopticon said:

The gop is like the church in europe. Only the oldest generation goes there anymore, it belongs to a different era. it needs to wake up and get with the times and ditch all the bigotry against minorities. If it goes center, instead of even further to the edge of sanity, it begins to steal votes from hilary

Click to expand...

What bigotries against minorities?

wolfman24 said:

Dump the Tea Party.

Poll Reps, Dems and Ind nationally and find out how they REALLY think. Adjust platform accordingly. the three by spanky are a good start.

Agree to disagree but not block legislative action because of party politics. Use the Polls as a guide to what is important to the American people not just the numbnuts in the extreme part of your party.

Accept facts especially widely held scientific facts as facts. If it looks, walks, waddles swims like a duck its a duck not a horse.

The most important of the lot are the first two.

Click to expand...

The Tea party started out good, it was a movement to restore small government, just enough taxes to do the job and general fiscal sanity.

But it was hijacked by the religious conservatives who wanted to make it an anti abortion gay hating vehicle.

The Christian Coalition had been looking for a new ride and they found it.

The GOP would be wise to kick the right-wing social agenda to the curb and return to being the party of small government and fiscal responsibility. As long as they remain the anti-immigrant, anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-anyone who doesn't embrace "Christianity"....they will continue to lose women and people of color....and with this election clearly showing that you cannot win the Presidency by relying on the white male vote in America anymore, the GOP will continue to lose on the national level until they realize this.

1. Abortion

As many elective medical procedures it is not (and should not be) a "right". It should be legal and safe but not paid for by the gov't. Just as Obamacare is wrong, some get free what most are expected to pay for out of pocket, abortion should be a CHOICE and not a right.

2. Gay marriage

Marriage is a state contract issue, and should not be used by the federal gov't at all - eliminate the marriage contract from federal tax law and only use it for civil law (inheritance/property settlements).

3. Reasonable illegal immigration policies

There is no "reasonable" excuse for breaking the law, whether it is immigration related or not. The only alternative to legal immigration is open borders and that is not acceptable to most. The idea that crime is OK if you "had a need" is insane. How do you explain that 15 million are now in the US w/o paperwork (identity unknown) yet we will still deny entry to the poor slob that obeys the law and requests legal US entry while still in their country of origin?

Life is not "fair" and eqaulity of opportunity does not (and will never) translate into equality of outcome. For the GOP to "win" those same voters that like the demorats, they must become just like them - making the choice into big gov't demorat vs. big gov't republicant, hardly a choice at all. As long as the GOP runs federal "education" candidates they are making a joke out of the constitution, since education is not a federal gov't power. The "importance" of an issue does not translate into the level of gov't that should deal with it. IMHO, the GOP needs to become more like the Libertarian party and stick to what is currently allowed the federal gov't and try to remove all else from federal control and discussion.

spanky said:

I'll start.

Keep their platform of small gubmint, low taxes and strong defense and incorporate;

1. Abortion
2. Gay marriage
3. Reasonable illegal immigration policies

Click to expand...

They lost me, not only on those 3 issues, but on the fact that they didn't govern from the platform of small government when they had ample opportunity to do so during the Bush years. No tea party rose up when Cheney declared "Deficits don't matter." You don't earn trust in your platform when you only manage to follow it when you're the opposition party looking to obstruct.

If they could actually govern from a fiscally-conservative, socially-libertarian point of view, they would lock up a lot of independent and reluctant democratic voters.

I will say this upfront, just because the GOP didn't win the White House doesn't mean they are a losing party. They still kept the House and the Senate is pretty 50/50, not exactly a losing party, but not taking the White House does hurt them. On NPR this morning I heard, haven't had time to verify, that they did poorly with the minority voters. Women, latino, and believe it or not the youth. There are votes there that the GOP is having a hard time getting to. Tap into that area and the election could have gone differently. Another thing the GOP members have to do is lose the whole oh my god the world is picking on us attitude. Seriously, sounds like 3 year olds crying in the back sometimes. Third, get some big name socially liberal, fiscally conservative people up there. People like to keep their own money, but there also seems to be a swing to more social liberal attitudes. Put up candidates nationally with similar views. Your House representatives can be as conservative as you want, but a position like the President has to appeal to a larger base, a base that seems to be shifting to more social liberal views.

spanky said:

I'll start.

Keep their platform of small gubmint, low taxes and strong defense and incorporate;

1. Abortion
2. Gay marriage
3. Reasonable illegal immigration policies

The problem is the GOP knows exactly how many votes and money it gets from voters who oppose abortion, gay marriage and deporting all illegal aliens, so how do they make up the difference? If they adopt these new policies they become a "me too" party. Are there enough middle of the road abortion and gay friendly voters who also believe in small gubmint and low taxes to recover what they lose?

If the GOP becomes pro abortion and pro gay where do all those religious voters who oppose such go? Do they sit out?

The GOP has maneuvered themselves between a rock and a hard place. Not many places to go and there isn't much daylight.

Click to expand...

Get rid of the social conservatives like you were stating with abortion and gay marriage stuff. Let them bail to the Constitution party. Make a HUGE play for the very fast growing latino vote. Start by being at the forefront of adopting Puerto Rico as a state. Make it look like this policy was their baby more than anyone elses in D.C. Then expand their latino outreach in their border stronghold of Texas.

This would be a huge start. Can't do any of that if they cling to the evangelicals.

spanky said:

The Tea party started out good, it was a movement to restore small government, just enough taxes to do the job and general fiscal sanity.

But it was hijacked by the religious conservatives who wanted to make it an anti abortion gay hating vehicle.

The Christian Coalition had been looking for a new ride and they found it.

Click to expand...

Yep.

Between the religious zealots and the isolationist Libertarian zealots the Tea Party shredded. It's kind of like politics in a microcosm. You start out with a really good idea but without strong central leadership the special interests chip away at the framework until the whole damned thing collapses.

Welcome to America, 2013.

dinosaurs eventually become extinct.

soccerboy22 said:

I will say this upfront, just because the GOP didn't win the White House doesn't mean they are a losing party. They still kept the House and the Senate is pretty 50/50, not exactly a losing party, but not taking the White House does hurt them. On NPR this morning I heard, haven't had time to verify, that they did poorly with the minority voters. Women, latino, and believe it or not the youth. There are votes there that the GOP is having a hard time getting to. Tap into that area and the election could have gone differently. Another thing the GOP members have to do is lose the whole oh my god the world is picking on us attitude. Seriously, sounds like 3 year olds crying in the back sometimes. Third, get some big name socially liberal, fiscally conservative people up there. People like to keep their own money, but there also seems to be a swing to more social liberal attitudes. Put up candidates nationally with similar views. Your House representatives can be as conservative as you want, but a position like the President has to appeal to a larger base, a base that seems to be shifting to more social liberal views.

Click to expand...

You heard right. The Reps got killed by most other demographics

1) The Republican party will not win a presidential election so long as they write off California and New York. The Republican party's of these states needs to be "blown up" by the RNC and new people put in charge. The parties need to focus on the machine needed to win elections and not the issues. The issues are for the candidates and if a strong machine exists good candidates are easier to recruit. The sad thing is the party just blew hundreds of millions of dollars and has no machine to show for it so they will lose in 2016.

2) The RNC needs to create the media magic that obama media has going for it. This is a machine, a tool, and the Republican's version bites. Great example: When Obama said you didn't build that it took 4 days before the main stream media paid attention to the statement yet when Romney's 47% hidden video came out there were 41 main stream media stories on it in 48 hours. 4 days until 1 story vs 41 stories in 2 days. The RNC needs a media machine to fix that and flood the blogosphere, news web sites and main stream media with demands for these stories when they happen. Benghazi was something Obama could let ride only thanks to "his" media.

3) As a libertarian / conservative type Romney was not my "best" candidate but he was the only one that could win. They need to get the 1% for Gary Johnson and the libertarians to realize our nation is built on compromise and its better then the socialist left agenda. That said the Republicans need to scorn and move away from the anarchist libertarian that make up the Ron Paul right. Now that Paul is out of congress they will probably go away.

ttwtt78640 said:

1. Abortion

As many elective medical procedures it is not (and should not be) a "right". It should be legal and safe but not paid for by the gov't. Just as Obamacare is wrong, some get free what most are expected to pay for out of pocket, abortion should be a CHOICE and not a right.

2. Gay marriage

Marriage is a state contract issue, and should not be used by the federal gov't at all - eliminate the marriage contract from federal tax law and only use it for civil law (inheritance/property settlements).

3. Reasonable illegal immigration policies

There is no "reasonable" excuse for breaking the law, whether it is immigration related or not. The only alternative to legal immigration is open borders and that is not acceptable to most. The idea that crime is OK if you "had a need" is insane. How do you explain that 15 million are now in the US w/o paperwork (identity unknown) yet we will still deny entry to the poor slob that obeys the law and requests legal US entry while still in their country of origin?

Life is not "fair" and eqaulity of opportunity does not (and will never) translate into equality of outcome. For the GOP to "win" those same voters that like the demorats, they must become just like them - making the choice into big gov't demorat vs. big gov't republicant, hardly a choice at all. As long as the GOP runs federal "education" candidates they are making a joke out of the constitution, since education is not a federal gov't power. The "importance" of an issue does not translate into the level of gov't that should deal with it. IMHO, the GOP needs to become more like the Libertarian party and stick to what is currently allowed the federal gov't and try to remove all else from federal control and discussion.

Click to expand...

That's the one single issue that the Left shamelessly offers, that the Right will never being able to combat, that will guarantee voting blocks to vote Democrat, forever.

The Right will never be able to compete with the payoffs that the Left is ready to offer--no matter what damage it does to the country.

Obama is going to use executive caveat to give full-bore immunity to every illegal alien in the country and create yet another voting block that will keep the Left in power, permanently.

Take a good look, America as we see it won't exist in a few years.

spanky said:

I'll start.

Keep their platform of small gubmint, low taxes and strong defense and incorporate;

1. Abortion
2. Gay marriage
3. Reasonable illegal immigration policies

The problem is the GOP knows exactly how many votes and money it gets from voters who oppose abortion, gay marriage and deporting all illegal aliens, so how do they make up the difference? If they adopt these new policies they become a "me too" party. Are there enough middle of the road abortion and gay friendly voters who also believe in small gubmint and low taxes to recover what they lose?

If the GOP becomes pro abortion and pro gay where do all those religious voters who oppose such go? Do they sit out?

The GOP has maneuvered themselves between a rock and a hard place. Not many places to go and there isn't much daylight.

Click to expand...

They need to become more socially liberal while maintaining a fiscally conservative stance if they want to remain relevant. Pretty much a Libertarian-Lite I guess.

ttwtt78640 said:

There is no "reasonable" excuse for breaking the law

Click to expand...

To be honest, I find this statement kind of surprising coming from a libertarian.

spanky said:

I'll start.

Keep their platform of small gubmint, low taxes and strong defense and incorporate;

1. Abortion
2. Gay marriage
3. Reasonable illegal immigration policies

The problem is the GOP knows exactly how many votes and money it gets from voters who oppose abortion, gay marriage and deporting all illegal aliens, so how do they make up the difference? If they adopt these new policies they become a "me too" party. Are there enough middle of the road abortion and gay friendly voters who also believe in small gubmint and low taxes to recover what they lose?

If the GOP becomes pro abortion and pro gay where do all those religious voters who oppose such go? Do they sit out?

The GOP has maneuvered themselves between a rock and a hard place. Not many places to go and there isn't much daylight.

Click to expand...

Its beyond repair

I see a liberal/socialist power for the next 20 years

Lutherf said:

Between the religious zealots and the isolationist Libertarian zealots the Tea Party shredded.

Click to expand...

Isolationist and libertarian is a contradiction.

Geoist said:

Isolationist and libertarian is a contradiction.

Click to expand...

How so? I've found the libertarian party's anti-imperialistic stance to be pretty consistent with a "why don't we mind our own business and focus on our own problems?" attitude.

CalGun said:

3) As a libertarian / conservative type Romney was not my "best" candidate but he was the only one that could win. They need to get the 1% for Gary Johnson and the libertarians to realize our nation is built on compromise and its better then the socialist left agenda.

Click to expand...

I honestly don't see a real clear difference between Romney and Obama. While one emphasizes more spending at home at any cost, the other emphasizes more spending abroad at any cost. Both sides have taken away civil liberties little-by-little. Its damned if you do and damned if you don't. Not to say I have to agree with a candidate 100%, but I would like to agree with him/her on at least 55% of the issues before giving my vote.

Geoist said:

To be honest, I find this statement kind of surprising coming from a libertarian.

Click to expand...

Really? Laws are mere suggestions to be ignored if they conflict with your personal desires? I agree that we have some laws that make little sense and that are very selectively enforced, but to assert that anyone that enters the US illegally is thus entitled to stay but that those that petition for the legal entry privilege from their homelands must wait years to get at the back of the line is insane.

spanky said:

I'll start.

Keep their platform of small gubmint, low taxes and strong defense and incorporate;

1. Abortion
2. Gay marriage
3. Reasonable illegal immigration policies

The problem is the GOP knows exactly how many votes and money it gets from voters who oppose abortion, gay marriage and deporting all illegal aliens, so how do they make up the difference? If they adopt these new policies they become a "me too" party. Are there enough middle of the road abortion and gay friendly voters who also believe in small gubmint and low taxes to recover what they lose?

If the GOP becomes pro abortion and pro gay where do all those religious voters who oppose such go? Do they sit out?

The GOP has maneuvered themselves between a rock and a hard place. Not many places to go and there isn't much daylight.

Click to expand...

The GOP isn't going to change its position on the first two because those are matters of moral value that will not be compromised to win. On the latter, I personally thought Romney's plan made a heck of a lot more sense than Obama's non-existent proposals but that obviously didn't matter to the Hispanic community despite Obama deporting them more than any other President in history.

RabidAlpaca said:

How so? I've found the libertarian party's anti-imperialistic stance to be pretty consistent with a "why don't we mind our own business and focus on our own problems?" attitude.

Click to expand...

The general libertarian attitude is to have government mind its own business. But isolationists don't want trade. Libertarians love trade. Its more accurate to call their stance 'non-interventionist'.

ttwtt78640 said:

Really? Laws are mere suggestions to be ignored if they conflict with your personal desires?

Click to expand...

Personal desires? No. But my conscious? Yes.

Would you apply the same ideology to a communist or fascist state?

I agree that we have some laws that make little sense and that are very selectively enforced, but to assert that anyone that enters the US illegally is thus entitled to stay but that those that petition for the legal entry privilege from their homelands must wait years to get at the back of the line is insane.

Click to expand...

Well I don't wish to get into an immigration debate. That one is a very complicated issue that doesn't have a single solution. I just found the statement that there is never a good excuse to break the law a bit alarming.