THE “GRAND OLD PARTY” IS DEFINITELY “OLD”, BUT IS NO LONGER “GRAND”

…Reince Priebus, the less-than-honest Chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC)

The Republicans need to “get on board”, but will they, or can they?

We all know that the GOP, not that long ago, said they knew they knew needed to increase their party’s tent size due to the demographic changes that have been occurring in this nation. 

 

But then, after making that statement, they did a 180° turn in going against comprehensive immigration reform.  They followed this by increasing their efforts to stop immigrants and minorities from voting and by starting their “War on Women”.  Now they are against both a woman’s right to choose and against insurance covered contraceptives.  Going even further, many in their party agreed to support the Indiana Governor Mike Pence’s Freedom of Religion restoration law that basically allowed discrimination against the LGBT community.

Sounds like a very strange way of offering an invitation for growing their numbers of American minority and female voters.

In the past, the foundation of the Republican party was their free-market economics and social traditionalism.

On the economic side, they had some good ideas like supporting vigorous capitalist growth that depended on an individual’s savings and investments.  But with Ronald Reagan’s trickle down economy concept, their free-market economics have since been shown to be a Leprechaun’s Pipe Dream.  They are now stuck with just their old-fashioned, religiously based social and moral values, and not much else.

The reality is that the basics of the past are no longer valid for the Republicans to go forward.  With social changes such as the overall acceptance of the LGBT community, and with same-sex marriage now legal in 37 states, the country today is dancing to a totally different tune.  A tune that is seriously off-key for the GOP.

According to the well-known sociologist Daniel Bell: “The gay rights revolution reflects not only expanding notions of justice and equality, but also long decades in which the economy, with its “spirit of perpetual innovation,” has conditioned Americans to expect that traditional limitations, of all kinds, could, and should, be totally overcome. “

 

In other words, the old ways just aren't going to work anymore.

The high-mark of the traditional conservative thinking in America was when George W. Bush was barely elected in 2004.  You will also recall, that took some help from the US Supreme Court to make it happen.

The proof of Mr. Bell’s statement was demonstrated last year when the CNN/ORC poll found that 55% of Americans said that government should “not favor any set of specific values,” while only 41% wanted it to “promote traditional values.”  So, I say that 2004 was the high mark because these numbers were exactly the reverse, 10 years ago.

But there are other signs that things are changing.  Gallup’s May 2014 Values and Belief poll revealed that self-described social-issue conservatives outnumbered self-described liberals by only four points.  This is the smallest conservative edge in the 14 years that Gallup has been asking that question.

This helps explain why the 2016 candidate, Rand Paul is so popular with young conservatives and independents.  As a Republican, Paul embraces gay rights, legal marijuana, freer immigration and has the virtue of some consistency. Paul’s approach implies there's a better fit between the party’s past free-market economic message and a more modern social platform.

But so far, Paul has little chance to receive the 2016 GOP nomination.  That’s mainly because of his lack of campaign financing, and Paul’s extreme call for a reduction in government that would seriously hurt poor Americans, US seniors and veterans.  Rand Paul is also very close to his father Ron Paul.  And there are many that have disagreed with the elder Paul’s somewhat extreme approaches that could be a problem for his son’s campaign.

The point is that the old ways of the GOP are dying, while the current party leadership and the older Republican base continue trying to keep these old ways alive.

In very different ways, the potential GOP candidates Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Marco Rubio are trying to re-do their center-right ideology.  Instead of blowing-up the government, (a la Rand Paul), they advocate reforming the government, while modulating their social-issue pronouncements.

But is that enough?

Today’s younger voters, being the next large voting generation, are streaking ahead of the old GOP.  They are the exception to the old, white conservative Republican base that today, just can’t seem to keep up.  These “oldsters” will eventually be left out in the dust.

This total dependence on the old traditional ways has caused the current Republican Party to continue relying on their old false “talking points” approach.  And when what they say just doesn’t add up, they just make up what they think the public wants to hear.  In other words, they lie through their teeth.

That approach will only work for so long.  With today’s internet and all the available fact-checker sites, these continue to be nothing but bad news for the GOP.  Today’s 24/7 news cycle is little by little stopping the old conservative idea that, “If you keep saying it over and over again, the public will believe it”.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a true believer in a two party system.  But I also want both parties to give me their ideas and to let me decide for myself.  But to do that, both parties have to give me their versions of the truth.  Up to now, that has only been occurring much more by one of the two major parties, and it’s not the GOP.  It is seldom that an American citizen can actually “take to the bank” whatever they are told by today’s so called “conservative party”.

Will the Republicans ever figure out what they need to do for their long-term survival? 

I wouldn’t bet on it until the older, all-white conservative base has passed on.

Copyright G.Ater  2015