Is the Republican Party a dying breed?

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   movingoutposted 11 years ago

   As an Independent, I have voted for Republicans and Democrats. I feel we need a true two party system to help rebuild this great country. But instead, I see a divided Republican Party! We have the "true Conservative Republicans (which I have voted for in the past), being replaced by this "Far Right Tea Party type Republican". I may be wrong, but if the Republican Party continues on this track they will slowly become extinct! What do you think?

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      tammybarnetteposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hi movingout, I believe from the talk of those such as Bobby Jindal and Chis Christie that a better Republican Party will develop. It is clear to everyone that Americans have had it with the far Right loons, Congress had the lowest approval rating in history. I have watched this young woman strategist from the R party, I apologize but I do not remember her name, but she has mentioned on many talk news shows that the Republican Party has learned that they must be more inclusive, she pointed out that even W had at least a 40% approval rating amoung hispanics, and Romney was basically non-existant amoung all minority groups. I believe we will see a better party transform from this time of such division. I am a democrat, but have many conservative beliefs, and I realize it takes at least strong voices from each of these parties to create a better America...I would like to hear strong voices from Independants, moderates, and libertarians as well.

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   Moderndayslaveposted 11 years ago

   I think we need a multi- party system and if you vote only by party affiliation you need to get your head out of your butt.

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      movingoutposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I agree! This voting one party or another, because your family does is laughable! Time people think for themselves!

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      LucidDreamsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      So true!

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   Credence2posted 11 years ago

   Yes, they are in trouble, they have not found a way to attract the growing constituencies where they find themselves losing consistently. What is worse is that cannot put aside their fundamental ideology, nor have they been creative enough to provide honest answers to the concerns of these fast growing demographic catagories. They know that they cannot attract them so insulting them and making them the outcast to court an ever shrinking constituency is their failed approach.

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      gmwilliamsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      The Republican Party as we know it in its current state is becoming more of an atavistic relic.  While in the past, particularly before the pre-Nixon and pre-Reagan years, the Republican Party, although it was conservative, was in touch with the people and did not espouse an extreme ideology.   The late President Eisenhower, a Republican, was totally against war and forewarned us to beware of a growing military industrial complex.    Republicans were in touch with the people and sensitive to their concerns.   
      
      However, when Richard Nixon became president, the Republican Party started to become more totalitarian and started to lean more towards the right in ideology.    This Party was becoming primarily known as the law and order party.    Mr. Nixon started to have those who disagreed with his particular ideology and way of doing things to be closely watched by the FBI.     The Republican Party, beginning in the late 1960s, started to be out of touch with many people and little by little, became more extremist in its ideology.     It started emphasizing the mantra America, right or wrong and American above all.   
      
      When Ronald Reagan became President, the Republican Party took a turn for the worse.    This was the time when the Moral Majority "blossomed" and the concept of "family values" was born.   While there were some liberal thinking people in the Republican Party, they were becoming fewer and fewer.  Many  liberal thinking Republicans became disenchanged with the ever worsening metamorphization of the party.   As a result of a more conservative ideology, many neoright wing people were attracted to and join the party. 
      
      The Republican Party became distant from the middle classes, espousing ideology and supporting means to support the corporations.   While they strongly advocated cutting and/or eliminating social programs, they gave monies and supported corporate welfare.    The Bushes, both father and son, were no better.    Bush Jr. pushed for an even more conservative agenda.     When Bush Jr. left office, America was in deep doubt which the present administration is now remedying.   
      
      The Republican Party within 3 decades have managed to alienate the young, women, Blacks, Hispanics,  the LBGT community, and the more vulnerable among us.   If the Republican Party does not change its policies, the party will soon go the way of the dinosaur.   The Republican Party has to change with the times.

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         peoplepower73posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         gmwilliams;  I agree with everything you said.  However, you left out one important part that has to do with Lyndon Johnson, a democrat.  When he created the Civil Rights Movement, all the southern democrats jumped ship and became republicans.  That was the start of the prejudice that remains with the Southern Republicans today and where much of the extremism comes from today.

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         Credence2posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         GM, you are right on, Reagan was the starting point for the party that was paying more attention to ideological purity  rather than agreeing to the more conservative of pattern derived through compromise. When I look at Reagan, I don't know why the right places him on a pedestal. He invented more deficit spending, austerity applying to domestic programs but spent like a drunken sailor, shoveling money to DOD. They are hardly the party of fiscal responsibilty that they would have us all believe. As t have said in many of my articles, I do not mind a 'center right' party (GOP) as a proper counterbalance to the Democrats. While we have a center left prospective from Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the GOP talks of burning witches and repealing the "New Deal" expressing a basic resentment for all legislation since FDR that made this society more equitable and through that, more likely to continue.  The heart of the GOP is the extremist element which is going to be their doom....

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   Ralph Deedsposted 11 years ago

   "WTF, GOP, Sex is popular!"
   
   An prescient article in the June 2012 "Mother Jones" explains how the GOP alienated women, Latinos and other voter groups:
   
   "Hey, GOP? A bit of simple math: Women are 51 percent of the population and 54 percent of voters. The gender gap between Republicans and Democrats, in presidential elections, has historically ranged from 4 to 11 percent; in Pennsylvania, a key swing state, it was 8 percent in 2008. Fifty-five percent of Americans think abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Sixty-three percent support requiring health plans to include no-cost birth control; 67 percent of independent women do. And a staggering 77 percent of Americans think a petty argument over contraception has no place in the national debate....
   
   "... Let's have GOP strategist Alex Castellanos bring it home: "Republicans being against sex is not good," he told Maureen Dowd. "Sex is popular."
   
   "Not content to enrage people who like sex? Well, party of Lincoln, you've also bullied Latinos, a giant, socially conservative, upwardly mobile, and demographically growing bloc that many analysts see as key to securing the White House—and that as recently as 2004 swung 42 percent for George W. Bush. That was before GOP lawmakers spearheaded some 160 punitive anti-immigration bills in the last two years..."
   
   Here' a link to the article:
   
   http://www.motherjones.com/politics/201 … r-on-women

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   LucidDreamsposted 11 years ago

   Right now it seems there is no hope for the GOP. I do hope this changes as I also believe that we need a qualified two party system at the very least. I am an independent and vote for what make sense to me based on my beliefs. Voting hard on party lines is a joke and those who do this should be stripped of their voting right and get re-educated. I know that sounds rough but c'mon. how could one party be right 100% of the time?

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   Sooner28posted 11 years ago

   I think certain aspects of the GOP are dying, such as the atavism, while others, like crimes against humanity, are being celebrated and have infiltrated mainstream Republican thinking. 
   
   Make no mistake: the future Republican party cannot continue to maintain its existence as a viable alternative the Democrats if party doctrine does not change.  The current very white base that makes up the majority of the GOP's support are not going to be around forever.  Republicans know this, but they currently seem woefully unprepared for a future that is swiftly thrusting itself upon them.
   
   The future of the GOP cannot endure the anti-intellectualism, jingoism, and pervasive bigotry that currently constitutes much of its party platform.  The future will have to be a more tolerant GOP, one that does not appeal to the darkest recesses of society, and the human mind, that has consistently, irreparably, and historically stained the current soul of the party. 
   
   The future Republican party will have to welcome gays, scientists, and feminists with open arms, rather than ostracizing them because that is the only way to differentiate from the other political party. This exclusion of elements in society that challenge current intellectual parameters ultimately shows how morally bankrupt the party engaging in the said iniquitous activities is, and this voidness of real moral standing will ultimately doom them to non-existence.

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   peoplepower73posted 11 years ago

   I don't know if the republican party is a dying breed.  But I do know this. The world is changing at an ever increasing rate, mainly as a result of rapid inovations in technology.  I also know that survival of any system, including political parties is based on well they can adapt to change.
   
   It is in the nature of today's conservatives to not change. While on the other hand, it is the nature of liberals to accept and welcome change.  That's why you hear terms from the tea party stating they want their country back. But yet from liberals, you hear they are accepting the rights of others  The conservative agenda is to maintain the status quo.  However when the demographics are changing, they have to make some kind of changes in order to get the votes to survive.  They can be thought of as a service organization.  If a service organization does not meet the needs of the people, it won't survive.  Look how the Catholic church has changed it services.  Now the mass is given in English instead of Latin.
   
   I hear from the right wing talk shows that they have to get the votes of other ethnic groups, but they stand on principal and are not willing to change them.  it is the rhetoric of patronizing, not one of sincerity and empathy  for the people who hold those votes. The voters can sense that and understand that once they are in office, they won't represent them.  It will be interesting to see how well the conservatives accept gay marriage,women's rights to equal pay for the same job as a man, climate change and regulation of financial markets. I don't think they have it in their DNA. But that is just my opinion.

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      Credence2posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      PeoplePower73
      
      The problem with the GOP is that they continue to misunderstand that minority support and conservative values are not necessarily opposing concepts. Instead of working harder to provide solutions to concerns of minority groups within the larger society, it has been easier to marginize and disenfranchise.  To address our concerns is not impossible, they do not need to trot black and brown faces in a lame attempt to show solidarity and inclusiveness. Jack Kemp came up with urban enterprize zones years ago to attempt to address high inner city unemployment and urban  blight in a way that was consistent (1980's) at that time with GOP ideological principle in regards to the economy, stimulating the private sector through tax incentives to do what they otherwise would not. The center right people need to start thinking again as to how they can do something that moves the ball forward without their compromising basic tenets of the party. It can be done....

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         peoplepower73posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Credence2: In my opinion, they are good at organizing and attacking, but once in office, they are not good at governing. i"m talking about today's conservative republican party, not the party of Eisenhower, Reagan or Nixon.  Although Reagan had his Savings and Loan Debacle and Nixon had Watergate. But both are a far cry from where the party is today. They are uncompromising.  They don't need to compromise their basic tenets, but they do need to compromise with the other party to move the country forward.

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            Jean Bakulaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I don't think the Republicans learned anything after Obama won. I know they were stunned, and I hate to believe they really thought it was about race. But until they stop fighting the Civil War and catering to the whims of aging white men, the R party has no future. The troubling part is that they seem to think they lost the election because they were not conservative enough. They are catering to insane, racist people who hate women. And they lie so much. They should never have been able to call services working class people have paid into all their lives as "entitlements." A rich person like Romney didn't have a clue how regular people live, and hid all his investments, and Donald Trump is still going on about Obama's BC? They look like idiots. I am a Dem, but I have conservative views on some issues. We need more parties. We can surely cut the defense budget to make up the budget differences, we have enough weapons to destroy the Earth many, many times over. There is no reasoning with the R's. The more prominent and sensible ones who are still respected seem to be keeping quiet, so I hope they are trying to regroup and maybe get more control in the party.

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