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Is there a sea change afoot among the conservative intelligentsia?
As the Republican Party wrestles with how to reinvent itself to appeal more broadly to an increasingly diverse electorate after its two-straight presidential losses, a handful of conservative thinkers are calling upon the GOP to cast off some of its most well-worn proposals and elements of the party’s identity.
Former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson modified their budget reduction plan. Politico's Jim VandeHei discusses.
These intellectual leaders are arguing that the GOP must embraces changes in policy. That’s significantly different than what the official organs of the Republican Party have said, which is that the party needn’t change its core policies and positions so much as frame them in a way that’s more appealing to more voters.
Take, for example, a post on Monday by Jim Pethokoukis of the American Enterprise Institute, who argued that Republicans should abandon their pursuit of a flat tax, a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution or the gold standard – three ideas that have long found advocates on the right.
“Today, the top marginal tax rate is 40 percent, and inflation is 2 percent. Health-care spending and the debt have both risen by nearly 80 percent as a share of output. The average American is 37 years old,” wrote Pethokoukis on National Review Online. “Economics and demography require a reworking of the conservative policy portfolio. But center-right politicians in Washington keep offering same-old, same-old stale solutions.”
Recommended: Obama warns looming sequester would devastate economy
That’s a sentiment similar to the one voiced by Ramesh Ponnuru on National Review in an op-ed Sunday for the New York Times. Republicans, Ponnuru wrote, should be more willing to move beyond the policy prescriptions offered three decades ago by President Ronald Reagan.
"They slavishly adhere to the economic program that Reagan developed to meet the challenges of the late 1970s and early 1980s, ignoring the fact that he largely overcame those challenges, and now we have new ones," wrote Ponnuru.
Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner, both veterans of the most recent Bush administration, argued in a new piece for Commentary magazine that the GOP should learn from the centrist examples of President Bill Clinton, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose election signaled a new era for the UK’s Labour Party. They argued that Republicans’ sweeping victories in the 2010 midterm elections were an “aberration” rather than a catalyzing moment for the GOP.
Gerson and Wehner prescribed a four-step process for the GOP: Republicans, they wrote, must first renew their focus “on the economic concerns of working-and middle-class Americans;” second, “welcome rising immigrant groups;” third, “express and demonstrate a commitment to the common good;” fourth, “engage vital social issues forthrightly but in a manner that is aspirational rather than alienating;” and fifth, “harness their policy views to the findings of science.”
They wrote that many of the existing Republican presidential frontrunners in 2016 are equipped to deliver that message.
But: “Their challenge is both to refine and relaunch the Republican message, to propose policies that symbolize values and cultural understanding, to reconnect with a middle America that looks different than it once did, and to confront old attitudes, not from time to time, but every day.”
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I'm a conservative Democrat, you want me to vote for Republicans, I already do. You want me to vote for a Republican President again (I voted for George H.W. Bush the first time) here's what you should look at:
1. Open the doors to immigration - we have the doors slammed shut, open the doors and let immigrants come in. Immigrants come here and work hard, let them seek the opportunities that you say you believe in.
2. Gay rights - get over it. You are wasting precious time and energy on "defense of marriage." The federal government should recognize the legal construct of two persons who form a union. Afford them equal legal rights to assets, health care, estates and taxation. Marriage is a religious institution - stay out of it.
3. Health Insurance - stop fighting over health insurance and start clearing the way for the health CARE market to stabilize and standardize so costs can come down.
4. Taxes - you are on the right track to a degree. The wealthiest pay the highest dollar amount in taxes but the lowest percentage. But they also have the highest concentration of wealth ever in recorded history. Bad idea. The single best way to lower taxes is to pay off the national debt - it will free up $400 billion a year in interest payment or about $3000 in taxes per household per year.
5. Stop the wars - the United State of America has effectively been at war for over 100 years - we are tired, please stop. (WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Cold War, Panama, Iraq, Iraq, Afghanistan)
6. Improve your manners - you want to win over voters? stop alienating them by calling people who vote for the opposition "libtards" and stop insulting the President of the United States. He is your President, whether you voted for him or not, because we only have one. If he earned enough votes from the American people to win office, he has earned enough votes for your respect.
7. Slaughter your sacred cows - for you to have serious discussions on deficit reductions, the sacred cow of enormous defense spending must be slaughtered. Republicans have consistently found money to kill people but cannot seem to find money to heal people. That is a moral affront to the population.
8. Silence the far right wing - Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Ted Nugent, Tea Party, Laura Ingram, Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin - these people have done so much damage to your brand with their outright belligerence, borderline treason (threatening the POTUS) and vitriolic language that they have even turned Republicans against their own party. They have a right to free speech, let them have it. Stop giving them the platform for it or your brand will never recover.
Spot on! Yet I fear that the issues you address have become the true culture of the Republican Party and changing the mindset will not happen quickly ~ if ever. Over the past decade I have stated repeatedly that the only thing that keeps me out of the Republican Party are the people who are in it and more recently the people who take it upon themselves to speak for it. Those leading the party have canonized a doctrinal catechism which allows no deviation of thought or concept. Becoming a slave to such an established credo is and will remain unattractive to those who cherish the freedom and ability to think independently.
Now there's an oxymoron for you. Sorry, but these "intellectuals" will soon be driven out of the GOP for their heresy. The die-hard, far right of the party insists that no core values should change.
From the Article;
"Gerson and Wehner prescribed a four-step process for the GOP: Republicans, they wrote, must first renew their focus “on the economic concerns of working-and middle-class Americans;” second, “welcome rising immigrant groups;” third, “express and demonstrate a commitment to the common good;” fourth, “engage vital social issues forthrightly but in a manner that is aspirational rather than alienating;” and fifth, “harness their policy views to the findings of science.”"
I'm afraid this Leopard will not be able to change it's spots.
Nicely said. I wholeheartedly agree with all of the recommendations in this piece. One that is missing though is the war on women that the Republican Party has become famous for engaging in. Sneak that in there and you have a pretty good package. Now...if we could only get rid of the extreme wingnut tea baggers... But, I guess that's another story. :-)
The question is , are they willing to alienate the RWNJ element of the party to attract new blood . I doubt it . The tea jobs will eat them alive . The reps sold their souls to the radicals , now they must pay the freight . It will take years to make over their image as heartless greedy bigots .
I was a republican county chairman in the 70's, but by the 90's was extremely concerned by their idiotic direction and backed off. In the late 90's my wife and I were delegates to the Texas Republican Convention, and they'd become so stupid and radical we joined the walkout, and haven't voted for a republican since. I'd love to consider republican candidates again, and the principles outlined in this article would really help. The last point, embracing science rather than superstition, will be the hardest for them to handle. You just can't fix stupid.
The Republican Party will have to preside over a few funerals if it wants a rebirth. Peripheral players like Rubio, Cruz, Ryan, Cantor, Jindall, et ux, will simply confirm that regardless of who drives the wagon, the cargo in it is the same as with the old guard holding the reins. There will always be those who embrace hardline conservatism but they are insufficient in numbers to withstand a voters' revolt which I see coming rather soon. In such a revolution at the polls, incumbents on both sides of the divide have reason to fear eviction ~ ~ and that is a good thing all around.
The problem with conservatives is that they'll listen to and cheer on someone like Bernie Sanders ranting on about how the wealthy, the CEO's, the corporations, etc., are dicking us up the ass and what we should be doing about it, but as soon as they find out he is an independent that votes with the Democrats, they pull the three monkey - see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil - pose.
I've never cheered Bernie Sanders who is not merely an "independent" as you claim, but a openly vowed Socialist.
Hey,idiot...
Did you ever learn the difference between STATISM AND STATEIST?
if the Republicans were actually conservative, where are the bills passed to eliminate all the unconstitutional departments and their spending programs?
When did the Republicans show conservative, constitutional responsibility and end the depts of Education, Energy, Labor, Health & Human Services, FEMA, OSHA, EPA, FCC, FTC, Food & Drug Administration, and Transportation. When did they roll back the Dept of Commerce back to it's Constitutional Function?
When did we EVER see spending reduced?
We haven't had a conservative Govt since the 19th Century. This country has increasingly since 1910 followed Section II of the Communist Manifesto. As noted by Mark Levin, we have had a post Constitutional Govt for the past 100 years. Thanks to Wilson, FDR, LBJ, Nixon, Obama, and leftist Democrat and Republicans in Congress, we have had a socialist country that has become increasingly totalitarian.
Frankly, I don't think we can even reverse it. At this point it's probably better to go the way of Yugoslavia and break up the nation.
Don't forget that Lincoln threw out the constitution and basically ended states rights. Also don't forget how liberal republicans like Teddy Roosevelt changed the way the country operated.
A penny saved is a penny earned: that is why i opted out of getting the monogrammed floor mats for my shiny new Ferrari i purchased this week.
Not bad ideas, but if the GOP were to try to adopt them their present base would revolt.
GOP is riding into oblivion with grumpy old teabaggers. They need to drop the Holy Roller social agenda and look out for the middle class. People aren't buying 'don't tax the job creators' anymore. Income inequality has gotten too great in this country with CEO's making out like bandits and the GOP blocking minimum wage increases.
How is adding on unpayable debt and continuously increasing the govt's control over our lives "looking out for the middle class"?
Since when are the middle class earning minimum wage?
Hey,idiot...Larry Robinson
Did you ever learn the difference between STATISM AND STATEIST?
@david
Are you saying the middle class is not in the least religious. You are a person who is lost and the real middle class should be wary of. You think all republicans are a bunch of old people you are proof that the democratic party has ruined the moral structure of this country. My friend you need a lesson in respect for these old people you talk about are the ones that gave you the right to spout off your big mouth PUNK!!!!
QUIET ! Listen,what is that sound? Is it the "TEA GARBAGE " trying to say something intelligent? No, it's just the last gasping of the dying Republican party.
I have no problem with the death of the leftist Republican party. It doesn't benefit America or Americans to have two socialist parties to choose from.
Hopefully we can have another party develop that actually offers a conservative, Constitutional alternative to the Communist Democrats
@Larry Robinson:
"It doesn't benefit America or Americans to have two socialist parties to choose from."
You, once again, prove yourself to be a buffoon.
coming from a marxist/socialist like yourself Say What, that is truly funny.
Most Republicans over the past 40 years have been socialists while the Democratic party is overwhelmingly communist. Obama was mentored and groomed by Communists from his youth. The Democratic policies are a direct reflection of Section II Proletarians and Communists from the Communist Manifesto.
Abandon their stale policies? I know the GOP policy of "Say No to Everything and Try to Pin It on Obama" is quite stale.
That only the youth can see the need for change and have the golden path to prosperity and social justice has been the paradoxical viewpoint for Millennium.
Notice how Left wing solutions always paint someone or something as being the Great Evil that is preventing the normal flow of goods and services to the rank and file, but never require the rank and file to work any harder.
The solution for a more perfect society demands nothing of the people except a willingness for Government to create a more Fair distribution of what must be a Birth Right since no one seems to have to Work for it.
In their utopia no one has to struggle against the human nature of Laziness and entitlement.
My life experience has been that when most challenged to use the gifts given to me by God and to move OUT of my "Comfort Zone" being a bit uncomfortable for a period of time, I gained the most across the board. Monetarily, Personal Pride for having extended myself and a general sense of well being.
The final solution to improving any society is a balance between the brute strength that youth brings to the table and the wisdom of the more mature. In this way we neither step sit nor run blindly into walls that have long known to exist. Today both sides of the argument are sure that theirs is the "ONLY" solution to our woes.
Of course people, who do not think it through, cling to the wonderful promises of no additional effort required to improve their life because some evil in the world has deprived them. No one wants to hear that to improve our situation we all need to lean into the work a bit harder for the common good.
The folly of this thinking invariably evidences itself and suddenly the savior is realized as the deceiver and the plan is abandoned and new thinking is sought out, but what about the time and lives wasted during this unnecessary leaning curve <AGAIN>.
So many cliches come to mind. There are certain universal Truths in this world and one of them is that sucess requires struggle against our nature and other forces.
The simple truth is that the Left advocates a softer, easier approach and the Right adheres to the lessons of old that state Work is Required.
When we look back at this time, and we will, we will once again wonder how we could have been so simple as to believe that answers that make no simple sense were so universally accepted because it required no work or change on our part. i.e. More Government means more Freedom/Fairness, More Taxes mean more affluence. Without adherence to Universally learned lessons we are bound to repeat the unfortunate outcome of our Folly, but we should at the same time allow for fresh thinking to enter the debate,
On Balance
This was written by a 21 year old from Texas. If you liberals are sincere about peoples rights then you can be sincere about peoples responsibility.
PUT ME IN CHARGE . . .
Put me in charge of food stamps. I'd get rid of
Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or
Ho Ho's, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans,
blocks of cheese and all the powdered
milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza,
then get a job.
Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I'd do is
to get women Norplant birth control
implants or tubal legations. Then, we'll test recipients for
drugs, alcohol, and nicotine.
If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, or smoke, then
get a job.
Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a
military barracks? You will
maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair.
Your home" will be subject
to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried.
If you want a plasma TV
or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place.
In
addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will
report
to a "government" job. It may be cleaning the roadways of
trash, painting and repairing
public housing, whatever we find for you. We will sell your
22 inch rims and low profile
tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and
put that money toward the "common good."
Before you write that I've
violated someone's rights, realize that all of the above is
voluntary.
If youur money, accept our rules. Before you say that this
would be "demeaning" and ruin their
"self esteem," consider that it wasn't
that long ago that taking someone else's money for doing
absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self
esteem.
If we are expected to pay for other people's mistakes we should
at least attempt to make them
learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.
AND
while you are on Gov't
subsistence, you no longer can VOTE! Yes, that is correct. For you to vote
ould be a conflict of interest.You will voluntarily remove
yourself from voting while you are receiving
a Gov't welfare check. If you want to vote, then get a job.
Let God Sort Them Out...the filthy mouthed liar spouts his tripe again!
Do you every have anything constructive to add, Say What? Or, do you just continue with ad hom attacks because you don't have the ability to have a meaningful, thoughtful conversation?
Bookem...
When I need your advice or opinion, I shall be happy to give it to you.
We all know Bookem' that Say What is a brainwashed marxist who couldn't put together a cogent thought if his life depended on it.
Hey,idiot...Larry Robinson
Did you ever learn the difference between STATISM AND STATEIST?
@saywhat
He knows but why don't you tell us what the difference is moron
@Let....
No...he doesn't buffoon...you need to read his post about it! LOL! You are as big an idiot as he is!
Conservative Axiom No. 1: Humans are imperfectible.
Not only are humans imperfect, they cannot be made perfect. Any policy goal that is based on perfecting society or on perfecting humans is doomed to failure. Any proposed problem solution that assumes human perfection or perfectibility, or that strives to achieve such, will fail. Any true conservative process has this fact of human nature as a foundation.
Conservative Axiom No. 2: There are only two equalities: at the Last Judgment and at the bar of a just court of law.
All attempts at leveling outcomes must lead to stagnation. Any vigorous society
must embrace variety and differences with the concomitant freedoms that these
differences allow. Imposing equality of outcomes destroys equality of rights and freedoms.
As the Declaration of Independence states, all men are created with equal and unalienable rights to their life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
Conservative Axiom No. 3: There is a universal thirst for freedom in every human.
All humans have a yearning to breathe free as guaranteed by the Lady Liberty with her torchlight who replaces the pompous Colossus of Rhodes and his conquering might.
Conservative Axiom No. 4: Our senses can fool us. In addition to optical illusions, there are auditory illusions and cognitive illusions.
All humans share the common trait of being fooled by their perceptions. For
this reason, the scientific method requires that many scientists repeat the
same experiment many times before its conclusion can be accepted as trustworthy
knowledge. Our jury system requires twelve people to hear the same evidence. Many
cultures require at least two witnesses and sometimes more before a testimony is considered fact.
So, are you saying that we can't get everyone to be "personally responsible"?
I came to the same conclusion after watching an episode of "Cops".
Even though people are stupid and irresponsible, I don't think we should abandon them to die in the street because "it's their own fault".
I guess what I'm saying is, I choose civilization.
Sam - if those that are capable of self reliance and responsibility but choose to not are allowed to continue on such a path, we get what we have today - people who are dependent on others for their care rather than making efforts to care for themselves.
If we continue on this path, we will be no different as a country than Afghanistan or Ethiopia.
WOW! SSmithlg can count to 4 today! He could not get past 3 all month long in January!
WAY TO GO, SMITTY! I am willing to be you can make it to 6!! (maybe someday...)
Say What?.... do you have anything of substance to ad to this discussion, or are we just going to get your usual dihrea of the mouth?
Learn to spell or don't use big words, Smitty.
right, because everyone knows that the biggest problem with those countries is their generous social, safety net.
@sam
I hate to break it to you squirrely but Greece had the same safety net you were talking about. How did that work out for them.
It's the austerity killing the Greek economy. That and putting multiple economies on one currency (much like the Gold Standard.)
The GOP is split between the "American Chamber of Commerce/country club" wing that Bush and Romney represent, and the "Teabirther/trailer park" wing represented by Rick Perry/Santorum/Bachmann etc etc.
Nixon's "Southern Strategy" of going after southern Democrats who were angry at LBJ for supporting civil rights legislation in the 60s, worked well for Nixon and Reagan, and helped flip the "solid south" from mostly Democrat to mostly Republican. Mitt won the Confederacy going away.
Unfortunately for them, that thinly veiled racism doesn't work as well as it used to. If you moderate your policies to be less crazy, you lose the trailer parks. If you don't, you start losing the country clubs.
I don't think they can fix it.
Trailer parks are FULL of Obama/Democrat welfare & food recipients....be very careful who you condescend to.
BTW Sam, the tires on your home probably need changing.
And you know this how?
Marlene, Democrats NEED a permanent underclass of "low information voters" to stay in power. Why else would they always promote the expansion of social services that keep people in poverty?
And Ssmithlg complains about others having diarrhea of the mouth! LOL! (even though he cannot spell it)
@marlene
Are you and will married first cousins son and daughter of Saywhat. I guess I can see why the Demoncratic party caters to you and your kind
The GOP has a multitude of factions. The two-faction summary you've noted there is wholly inaccurate.
I think I accurately described the two factions that are currently at war for the soul of the party. I'm sure there are some bible thumping hillbillies that have money, just as their are some Chamber of Commerce types that tear up over gay marriage.
The Chamber of Commerce supports amnesty.....er....I mean "a path to citizenship" because they want cheap labor. The trailerparkers don't because illegals compete with them for landscaping jobs.
How do you get those people to agree on anything? Oh wait......you call the opposition a "marxist, socialist, fascist, commie, nazi, black, white, muslim, radical black Christian....except that didn't work.
They should get rid of the wing-nut baggers.
Marlene, do you even know what the T.E.A. in TEA Party stands for without googling it?
Tiny Encryption Algorythm?
See even the great son of sam doesn't know
Economic issues are the one place where I believe the GOP has the most credibility, at least philosophically. So abandoning the one thing that works for it is silly. If the GOP really wants to increase the size of the tent, drop the social conservatism and drop the military interventionism. The libertarian-leaning Republicans are the future of the party, if the part is to have a future.
@saywhat
Yep your right again every time I mention your name I have to gargle with acid to clean up my filthy mouth. You are a 70 year old Marxist Socialist pig AND shouldn't have the right to teach a k9 class let alone a English class. America will go back to the middle whether you libturds like it or not. Saywhat I hope you enjoyed the doggie treat your mutt left you on your law it represents what you libturds are about.
And Let God Sort Them Out spouts his garbage in the most loving and and Christian way....what a hypocritical liar.
No matter how loud he rants, how many names he calls, how many false accusations he makes, how many idiotic statements he makes, how filthy his language.....he is still nothing but a liar and hypocrite....a loser who still cannot accept the GOP lost in November 2012. Forgive him, he knows not what he is doing.
Why thank you saywhat I didn't think you cared. I guess that means you and I are friends again Amen Amen. Please give the Mrs a hug from me.
She does not want to get her shoes dirty kicking you in the a$$.
...ah yes...."the middle" or as the teabirthers call it.........communism.
No that is where your boy Obumanuts is taking you lemmings right down the ole communist rat hole.Yet you are too dumb to realize it. Say hi to your sister saywhat for me
Say What?-809562
She does not want to get her shoes dirty kicking you in the a$$.
That not what she said last night scooter
That was your sister last night....the one with the braces and one glass eye. Did you help her pick the scabs?
GOP should cut 'stale' policies loose.... ?
This comes from RINO's that only care about re-election. I say "let them join the Welfare & Food Stamp party, become Democrats!"
Along with the rest of your family, Smitty?
Martin Luthor King is one Republican who would be a democrat today.
On the other hand, George Wallace and Robert Byrd were southern racist democrats who would make great Republicans today. I'm sure each of them would have had a week as the front runner during the GOP primaries last year.
Rick "Ni66erhead" Perry is an example of a racist, redneck, southern ex-democrat who decided the Republican party was a much better fit for him
@sam298381
My what a racist little rant the Sammy. What would Martin Luther King do uhhhh he would join the republican party and tell all you race card losers to get over it and get a job.
applying that logic, the two racists, Wallace and Byrd would have remained Democrats and voted for Obama because they hate black people.
Logic is not your strong point, is it? Have you looked at an electoral map lately? Did you see all those RED, southern states? Do you think all the southern racists moved north and voted for Obama?
I guess they don't hate Obama.....because "he's not really black" ? ???
You just can't refute the truth, can you?
@sam the son of sam
Probably can but you wouldn't understand. You should take an English class with you dad saywhat.
Yeah, I didn't think so. History class was not a high priority for you either.
Of course you would have seen all this happening, but you were probably too absorbed with a big purple dinosaur at the time.
Actually Sammy I will put my gpa against yours any day.
goodness sakes?
You just can't refute the truth, can you?
You can't handle the truth? quick pass me the koolaid I'm losing my enlightenment, ah good, thats better now I can see the rest of the 17trillion dear ruler we should be giving thanx to Pharaoh questionmark?
Shall-we for brevity sake perhaps rename his excellency, PQ4 ward? yes I conveniently Belize we should.
SO LET IT BE WRITTEN SO SHALL IT BE DONE AH MAKE IT SO? oops SORRY no screaming on the vine sour grapes
gday mystical internet wizards
Shall-we for brevity sake perhaps rename his excellency, PQ4 ward? yes I conveniently Belize we should.
SO LET IT BE WRITTEN SO SHALL IT BE DONE AH MAKE IT SO? oops SORRY no screaming on the vine sour grapes
gday now how did that happen magoo? majic internet goblins