The GOP must win back cities (employment, death, Obama, cost)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Renn argues that one-party rule is bad for cities, so a GOP moderate enough to be capable of competing in urban America would be good for both the cities themselves and the party. But instead
Quote:
the Republican party today is largely driven by exurban and rural leaders, as well as populist movements like the Tea Party, with values that are not widely shared by urban dwellers. This has not only cost the party votes, but, critically, it has left it on the outside looking in on many debates, as culture is shaped in large urban centers where Republicans have little voice.
In other words, the GOP has backed itself into an anti-urban ghetto, which is certain to doom the party electorally but also cut it off culturally from the living pulse of American culture. Renn points to a major consequence of this cultural ghetto, the echo-chamber of the right-wing media, which "worked well in the era immediately following the end of the Fairness Doctrine, but as the so-called mainstream media reacted by shifting to the left, this has left the Republicans often talking mostly to themselves" while the national culture is shaped elsewhere. But Renn helpfully provides a route-map out of the anti-urban ghetto:
Quote:
As an example of what a more urban focused Republican/conservative could be, consider the Manhattan Institute, a free market think tank...Because they are based in New York City, demonizing transit and such is just not realistic. Hence they’ve focused on policy ideas that are actually relevant to the city.... If more conservatives were similarly focused on driving better urban outcomes in the inner city rather than demonizing it, or on scoring political points, Republicans might be back in the game.
Of course, such a reorientation toward urban life and culture has a drawback - it would necessarily mean marginalizing at least some of the more extreme gun-and-bible rural or exurban forces which have become so prominent in the party in recent years.
But even that isn't all bad - if pushing such groups to the margin also means decreasing the number of stupid remarks about rape, it's probably a good thing for the party.
The country is becoming more urbanized and more diverse ethnically. This is bad news for the current incarnation of the GOP. Over time the party will modernize, but it will take a lot more losses before they come to their senses.
To win back the cities, the GOP will have to fully restructure their platform and then preform it in action, not just talk and rhetoric to have any future impact on the cities of this country. Which their first step would mean they need to abandon almost all of their hyper conservative social issues and stamp out any of their far-right extreme that they have in their party....I really don't see that happening any time soon because they count on those people for votes, even those those same people hurt them on votes when it comes to the moderates of this country.
I agree such a realignment doesn't seem very likely given the orientation and rhetoric of the GOP as it stands. Which is probably good electoral news for the Dems - and bad news for cities themselves, where some alternatives would be a good thing.
My own northeastern city has not had a Republican mayor or council majority since the 1930s. The political "new blood" looks exactly like the old blood. New ideas are scarce, and it shows. Some of the best ideas offered publicly in recent years have come from the no-hope GOP candidates, among them a professor from a local university who seems to have accepted the GOP nomination simply to generate discussion around transit and education issues.
These no-hope candidates are usually dismissed not just by their Dem opponents, who know they're going to win anyway, but also by the state and national GOP itself. But it's a pool of talent the GOP would be wise to cultivate - these guys could lead the GOP back to electoral viability.
The country is becoming more urbanized and more diverse ethnically. This is bad news for the current incarnation of the GOP. Over time the party will modernize, but it will take a lot more losses before they come to their senses.
I agree. To stay relevant, the GOP will need to change their ways. I hope they kick the crazies out ASAP and return to moderate, sensible policy. We need balance between the two parties. What they are doing now continues to alienate Americans.
I agree. To stay relevant, the GOP will need to change their ways. I hope they kick the crazies out ASAP and return to moderate, sensible policy. We need balance between the two parties. What they are doing now continues to alienate Americans.
Yah it would be a start. But where are the crazies going to go then...to the democrats? No way. The problem with the republicans is that even though a minority of the country are "crazy" a majority of the republicans ARE "crazy!" You can't kick out what amounts to your base.
2/3 of republicans believe the earth is less than 10,000 years old.
2/3 belive obama is a foreign born muslim.
Most are prolife, progun and pro death penalty(no contradictions there).
Yah it would be a start. But where are the crazies going to go then...to the democrats? No way. The problem with the republicans is that even though a minority of the country are "crazy" a majority of the republicans ARE "crazy!" You can't kick out what amounts to your base.
2/3 of republicans believe the earth is less than 10,000 years old.
2/3 belive obama is a foreign born muslim.
Most are prolife, progun and pro death penalty(no contradictions there).
Etc.etc.etc.
Definitely. Maybe the best we can hope for is the crazy train of thought disappeating, allowing sanity to return. I feel the problem is that the crazies now have a medium in which to spew their BS, so now they feel validated. Once that medium is taken away, they will have no choice but come back down to earth. Well, I hope so.
I agree. To stay relevant, the GOP will need to change their ways. I hope they kick the crazies out ASAP and return to moderate, sensible policy. We need balance between the two parties. What they are doing now continues to alienate Americans.
I actually consider myself a liberal Republican. At this time, I usually vote for Democrats. I view the Democratic base as too far left, but the GOP itself has drifted even more away from the center. The Democratic Party is way more accepting of moderates.
To retake the cities, the GOP needs to get the Republican governors to move the welfare offices to the suburbs. It is too easy for deadbeats to roll out of bed and go stand in line for their food pellet instead of an employment line.
How about moving the welfare people to the country where they can work on farms and let the educated and employable take over the better apartments in the cities where most work anyway?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.