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Unmentioned i is that while 69% of Hispanics voted for Obama, 74% of Asians voted for Obama. The growth rate of Asians is higher than that of Hispanics.
During the last 4 years Obama also put in an unprecedented number of asian-americans into high positions of government as well. Obama has been reasonably good at putting people in office who meet the needs and not the racial politics.
During the last 4 years Obama also put in an unprecedented number of asian-americans into high positions of government as well. Obama has been reasonably good at putting people in office who meet the needs and not the racial politics.
And asian-americans are the "model minority" in this country. This puts Republicans in a bind since they constantly demagogue immigrants and minorities in order to appeal to their right wing base.
I'm not sure how they fix it though. They can't just abandon the religious extremists, the racists, etc overnight. Then they'll get crushed even more badly. Reworking the primary calendar isn't going to help, since many of the early states are fairly moderate already.
I disagree with this statement. It would take a concerted effort and upset a lot of people in the short term, but the fix is easy. If the GOP party structure and funding sources just refused to support any extreme right social conservatives in primary elections, the religious extremists and other lunatic right wing groups would either have to vote for a moderate or not vote. Why the GOP even gives their primary voters the option to vote for idiots like "Legitimate Rape" Akin is beyond me.
If they just did not allow extremists to gain any real traction in the party, the GOP nominee could come out of the primary process as a center right moderate and not have to lie and attempt to deceive voters with a feint toward the middle in the general.
For the flat earthers that refuse to get on board, they would be free to start their their own third party. With candidates like Bachmann or Santorum that new American Taliban party would go on to win almost as many national elections as the Greens or Libertarians.
11-07-2012, 09:12 AM
i7pXFLbhE3gq
n/a posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tundra Boy
I really don't think the GOP has to become the dem/lib party. Just give the dem/libs a little more time at the helm and the Republican party will find its audience again. The pendulum just hasn't made its full swing yet, but it will.
The pendulum is clearly not swinging back to the far right. There simply aren't enough angry old white guys to make that happen, nor will there be going forward.
The Republicans don't need to become liberals, but they do have to tone down the anti-immigrant rhetoric (there's a reason they lost ~3:1 among hispanics). They do need to stop trying to control women's bodies and force needless procedures on pregnant women (see the gender gap). They do need to stop being vehemently anti-gay (citizens in four states made their voices heard loud and clear on gay marriage last night). It'd also be helpful if they'd be somewhat less anti-science, anti-education, and anti-fact.
Quote:
I disagree with this statement. It would take a concerted effort and upset a lot of people in the short term, but the fix is easy. If the GOP party structure and funding sources just refused to support any extreme right social conservatives in primary elections, the religious extremists and other lunatic right wing groups would either have to vote for a moderate or not vote.
On second thought, I think I agree with this. At least partially. We've seen moderate GOP senators who are able to win in conservative states. Unfortunately, we've also seen those people driven out of office by primary challenges from extremists, and the resulting loss of easily winnable seats for the GOP. There are enough sources of funding for extremists to make life difficult for reasonable Republicans.
Last edited by i7pXFLbhE3gq; 11-07-2012 at 09:21 AM..
This country needs a true opposition party. The best thing the GOP could do would be to embrace the Libertarians and kick out the religious right and make them the marginalized 3rd party. No more pandering to TV preachers. The rest of the country finds that to be creepy. Concentrate on building up from the local level (having the house gives you an advantage here). Target governorships, state houses, City Councils, etc. That's where most of the business crippling regulations are enacted anyway.
Shift gears on foreign policy - Quit thinking of every problem as a nail and every solution as a hammer. It's not 1982 anymore and there isn't a big, bad meanie out there that we can spend in into oblivion by simply making things that go BANG. Military spending needs to be geared toward deterrent and not as global enforcer for our commodities market.
Finally, immigration. It's not that Latinos want open borders, but embracing guys like Joe Arpaio makes totally legal, citizen Latinos feel like they are being scrutinized for simply having brown skin. Building higher walls and fences is stupid on its face. People don't like that stuff not because they want open borders, it's because they just don't work and they're colossally expensive.
The pendulum is clearly not swinging back to the far right. There simply aren't enough angry old white guys to make that happen, nor will there be going forward.
The Republicans don't need to become liberals, but they do have to tone down the anti-immigrant rhetoric (there's a reason they lost ~3:1 among hispanics). They do need to stop trying to control women's bodies and force needless procedures on pregnant women (see the gender gap). They do need to stop being vehemently anti-gay (citizens in four states made their voices heard loud and clear on gay marriage last night). It'd also be helpful if they'd be somewhat less anti-science, anti-education, and anti-fact.
Exactly.
Funnily enough I don't think the pendulum is even really swinging, with the exception of perhaps attitudes towards gays and lesbians.
This country is centrist and probably will continue to be for a long, long time.
Republicans have lost the CENTER, they now look too extreme. They need to fix that going forward.
I don't want to hear anyone say that we lost this because we aren't conservative enough. In order to win future elections in this changing demographic we HAVE to moderate on some of the less significant issues. Republicans can no longer be (or appear to be) anti-gay, anti-minority, anti-government, or anti-women's choice issues. The demographics of the United States are changing and it is NOT getting older, whiter, and wealthier. We have to change to become competitive. In any business, which is all politics are in the first place, the executives in charge must realize trends and cater their strategy to the observable changes. We will continue to lose elections if we don't moderate on certain issues and distance ourselves from the Tea Party. The Michelle Bachmann's and other bat sh*t crazy Tea Party members de-validate our cause by their actions and words. This will only serve to continue hurting us down the road. We have to embrace the Jon Huntsman or Scott Brown type moderate techonocrats that make us competetive to a larger swath of the population or we will continue to be damned to second place.
Signed,
A hopefully optimistic moderate Republican.
Well said. Your country needs thinkers like you. I would only add that the moderates, like Huntsman, are also likely to be smarter and more competent than ideologues like Bachmann or Santorum.
A very good posting, indeed. Thanks for your thoughtful opinion.
Last night, while watching the election results, at one point (well prior to any final results) CNN showed the crowd at Mr. Romney's election center. I was struck by how 'white' it was. At least during the brief camera pan, I did not see any 'minorities' (I do realize, of course, that you do have Republican African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, etc). However, that crowd was remarkably white.
When they went to the Obama election center, the difference was marked: a wonderful mix of all skin colors and heritage.
It was the exact same thing in 2008. Not a single minority to be seen on election night at the McCain headquarters. Meanwhile, the definition of diversity was shown in Chicago at the Obama headquarters
I couldn't agree with this post more, I'm a moderate Republican and don't even recognize my party anymore. There needs to be new Republican leadership and it needs to acknowledge and accept some new realities.
The American People do not trust Wall Street. Stop trying to hand Social Security and Medicare over to them.
You can't run on a platform that strives to regulate who people can marry and what women can do with their bodies, but wants to allow corporations(who you also view as people) to be free to do whatever they feel like.
People as a whole do not want religion, any religion, governing policy.
Not every minority is here illegally, and not all illegals are devoid of value to our society.
Science and information is real. Use it, don't deny it. If it contradicts your worldview, change your worldview.
Ayn Rand was a sociopath.
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