How to reform the Republican Party?

[KevinWestern]

How to reform the Republican Party.. What a question.

Maybe reforming our country would be a good start.

Maybe teaching children in school that marriage is a life-long commitment, not to be taken lightly, between one man and one woman, for the purpose of bringing forth children and having a great life together. Maybe that'd be a good start.

Maybe teaching kids that sex is a very serious thing with very serious implications.. and you to be prepared if they come their way. Abortion is the cowards way out. Killing a child is not a solution. The solution is to teach kids to respect life. Maybe that'd be a good start.

Maybe teaching kids that there is no other nation on earth that even compares to ours, and teaching them fiscal responsibility.. Maybe that'd be a good start.

Maybe teaching kids at an early age that we are not all guaranteed an equal outcome, but an equal opportunity to become successful. And teach them that success is a GOOD thing.. while we're at it. Maybe that'd be a good start.

I could continue. The problems do not lie within the positions of the Republican Party, but within the way kids are brought up nowadays. Values are thrown out the door at every turn.

Let's fix that.. then we can work on fixing our nation.. and party.

Agree with your point that marriage is a lifelong commitment, but I think if someone is gay he/she should have the right to marry the adult of their choosing. There are a lot of kids without parents needing to be adopted into stable homes.

Not a fan of abortion so no comment there.

Yay to fiscal responsibility.

And finally, are we all guaranteed an equal chance at success? Not being critical, I just sometimes feel that we're not doing a good enough job (as a country) to really uplift our most heavily impoverished regions. For example, gun control only seemed to catch on with many of those on the left when middle/upper class white children were being gunned down. Tens of thousands die from handguns in the city every year, but all we hear is "assault rifle!" which kill maybe less than 40 annually.

 

[jwoodie]

Give it a good hard kick to the left, so that it hopefully ends up in the center.

Yeah, "moderates" have done such a good job of leading us down the road to perdition.

 

[AVG-JOE]

So I think we will get through this period somehow, at the probable cost of a few hundred thousand extra deaths, millions of unnecessarily ruined American lives, and scenes of degradation and depravity seen nowhere else in the civilized world.

I'm pretty sure that's not called "getting through"-- it's called revolution and war.

But I expect that's exactly what you meant. It's what I think, too.

Really?

I think our kids are gonna ROCK the rest of this century.

The internet is a game changer and education is the key to an economy that they'll drive to the stars. Variety is the reason to bet on the Monkey spawn. Many, many successful forms of productive organization can the Monkeys run, sized from groups of one or two to nations the size of China, run like corporations.

 

[candycorn]

Republicans want to end perception as 'stuffy old men'

Posted 3/18 by
CNN Political Unit

Washington (CNN) – The beleaguered Republican Party put into writing Monday what many of its top strategists and leaders have been saying since last year's election losses: The GOP is too old, too white, and too insular to win national contests.

Is it even possible to reform the GOP now? I was hoping it would collapse and a Libertarian Party assume its place, but we haven't got that yet.

I was a lifelong Republican until 2006, when totally disgusted with the losing forever war and fooled by the antiwar stance of the Dems, I reregistered Independent.

I'm not going back to the GOP because they have become essentially anti-woman in almost every stance.

--women hate war, but Republicans never saw a war they didn't want to charge right into.
--women hate all these guns and school shootings, but Republicans love guns and the NRA mailing list is equivalent to the GOP.
--woman hate sex marauders like Herman Cain but Republican (men) will defend him to the death as a great presidential candidate!
--women hate rape but at least two candidates for the Senate actually spoke in favor of rape!! Simply incredible. Both lost, of course.
--most women want abortion freedoms protected for all women. Republican men, of course, want control, control, control over women's reproduction, though it's none of their business.
--women have have been building birth control freedoms since 1929, but a major presidential candidate (Santorum) came out AGAINST birth control! Incredible.
--most women think it's an insult for a boob bimbo to be picked as a VP candidate: Hello, Sarah Palin!
--the cruelties and crimes of Mormons against women and young girls are well-known and there are many tell-all books by "sister wives" that women read. So who did the Republicans pick to run for president?? You guessed it: a Mormon!

As there are substantially more women than men in the population, as women vote disporportionately to our already greater proportion, and since we achieve much lower unemployment and have 55% of all BA degrees and 60% of all masters degrees awarded, I question how much political sense it really makes for the Republican Party to be so inimical toward women.

I don't see how the GOP can come back. They've lost the women, and there are more women voters than the other kind, so that's that. Time for a new party.

Anyone else think the GOP can't recover now? Too old, too white, too .....male?

Well, in our binary political system, there is no doubt the GOP will be back in the White House long before a 3rd party gets a sniff at a governorship. The rumors of the death of the GOP are far premature.

The problem the GOP has is one of marketing AND substance. One is easily corrected and the other is not. What you'll see happen, I think, is the Karl Rove notion that there are no real independents that are 100% neutral on every topic.

Rove holds that there are Big Republicans and Small Republicans; Big Democrats and Small Democrats.

Big members agree with their party 8 out of every 10 positions.
Little members agree with their party 5 (or less ) out of every 10 positions.

You'll see more "little" members who become energized by an Obama-like presence in either party OR you'll see "little" members become energized by a particularly divisive candidate in either party. This is the danger the GOP runs Santorum, Palin, Ryan, and a few others.

 

[oldfart]

So I think we will get through this period somehow, at the probable cost of a few hundred thousand extra deaths, millions of unnecessarily ruined American lives, and scenes of degradation and depravity seen nowhere else in the civilized world.

I'm pretty sure that's not called "getting through"-- it's called revolution and war.

But I expect that's exactly what you meant. It's what I think, too.

Think Vietnam. Think terrorist biological or radiological attack. Think breakdown of the power grid. Think natural disasters without any federal relief effort. Think working conditions of the 1890's. Think of the Long Depression. Then have a stiff drink. All this is avoidable, but not in a Hobbesian world.

 

[AVG-JOE]

So I think we will get through this period somehow, at the probable cost of a few hundred thousand extra deaths, millions of unnecessarily ruined American lives, and scenes of degradation and depravity seen nowhere else in the civilized world.

I'm pretty sure that's not called "getting through"-- it's called revolution and war.

But I expect that's exactly what you meant. It's what I think, too.

Think Vietnam. Think terrorist biological or radiological attack. Think breakdown of the power grid. Think natural disasters without any federal relief effort. Think working conditions of the 1890's. Think of the Long Depression. Then have a stiff drink. All this is avoidable, but not in a Hobbesian world.

​

Avoid. Good call.



Fair and simple taxes, public budgets that are balanced by law, transparency in all things politics and then, build an economy that your kids can drive to the stars.


Still not rocket science, y'all.

 

[Circe]

Rove holds that there are Big Republicans and Small Republicans; Big Democrats and Small Democrats.

Big members agree with their party 8 out of every 10 positions.
Little members agree with their party 5 (or less ) out of every 10 positions.

You'll see more "little" members who become energized by an Obama-like presence in either party OR you'll see "little" members become energized by a particularly divisive candidate in either party. This is the danger the GOP runs Santorum, Palin, Ryan, and a few others.

Good point, IMO. Yeah, I guess by that classification I'm a "little" Republican and all the last couple elections offered me WERE divisive candidates to the point of true weirdness.

If they could find a charismatic guy, who knows.

 

[M14 Shooter]

Is it even possible to reform the GOP now? I was hoping it would collapse and a Libertarian Party assume its place, but we haven't got that yet.

Nothing of substance to see here - move along.

 

[AVG-JOE]

Rove holds that there are Big Republicans and Small Republicans; Big Democrats and Small Democrats.

Big members agree with their party 8 out of every 10 positions.
Little members agree with their party 5 (or less ) out of every 10 positions.

You'll see more "little" members who become energized by an Obama-like presence in either party OR you'll see "little" members become energized by a particularly divisive candidate in either party. This is the danger the GOP runs Santorum, Palin, Ryan, and a few others.

Good point, IMO. Yeah, I guess by that classification I'm a "little" Republican and all the last couple elections offered me WERE divisive candidates to the point of true weirdness.

If they could find a charismatic guy, who knows.

A fresh face for the same fucking message?

Pass!​

 

[candycorn]

Rove holds that there are Big Republicans and Small Republicans; Big Democrats and Small Democrats.

Big members agree with their party 8 out of every 10 positions.
Little members agree with their party 5 (or less ) out of every 10 positions.

You'll see more "little" members who become energized by an Obama-like presence in either party OR you'll see "little" members become energized by a particularly divisive candidate in either party. This is the danger the GOP runs Santorum, Palin, Ryan, and a few others.

Good point, IMO. Yeah, I guess by that classification I'm a "little" Republican and all the last couple elections offered me WERE divisive candidates to the point of true weirdness.

If they could find a charismatic guy, who knows.

Or if the other party in our binary system nominates a dud.

 

[candycorn]

Rove holds that there are Big Republicans and Small Republicans; Big Democrats and Small Democrats.

Big members agree with their party 8 out of every 10 positions.
Little members agree with their party 5 (or less ) out of every 10 positions.

You'll see more "little" members who become energized by an Obama-like presence in either party OR you'll see "little" members become energized by a particularly divisive candidate in either party. This is the danger the GOP runs Santorum, Palin, Ryan, and a few others.

Good point, IMO. Yeah, I guess by that classification I'm a "little" Republican and all the last couple elections offered me WERE divisive candidates to the point of true weirdness.

If they could find a charismatic guy, who knows.

A fresh face for the same fucking message?

Pass!​

I think that goes for both major parties...I'm hoping for someone from outside of Washington to take over for Obama on the Democrat side.

The problem with the "same fucking message" is that regardless of who is nominated, she/he will have elements of the same fucking message. Afterall, it's not as if we have 1,000 ideas with what to do with our surplus... LOL.

Basically you have 2 choices, raise income or reduce spending. There is little wiggle room. Obama is steady in his popularity because he prescribes both. Everybody hurts a little.

 

[Wonky Pundit]

Give it a good hard kick to the left, so that it hopefully ends up in the center.

Yeah, "moderates" have done such a good job of leading us down the road to perdition.

In the GOP? Like who?

 

[dblack]

Give it a good hard kick to the left, so that it hopefully ends up in the center.

Yeah, "moderates" have done such a good job of leading us down the road to perdition.

In the GOP? Like who?

I think all the neo-cons count as 'moderates'. Certainly all the corporatists wafflers that do nothing more protect the status quo.


But ... that said, I don't really see the attempts at re-branding as genuine. They're going to string along the libertarians with fake support for Paul and Rubio, and then when the election rolls around they'll nominate Christie. They're only using Rand to funnel support away from a real libertarian candidate. Push comes to shove, corporatists are running both parties.

 

[dblack]

Good point, IMO. Yeah, I guess by that classification I'm a "little" Republican and all the last couple elections offered me WERE divisive candidates to the point of true weirdness.

If they could find a charismatic guy, who knows.

A fresh face for the same fucking message?

Pass!​

I think that goes for both major parties...I'm hoping for someone from outside of Washington to take over for Obama on the Democrat side.

That would be nice. But do you really think the Dem establishment will deny Hillary her due?

 

[Esmeralda]

How to reform the Republican party?

Burn it down and start all over again.

 

[Wonky Pundit]

Yeah, "moderates" have done such a good job of leading us down the road to perdition.

In the GOP? Like who?

I think all the neo-cons count as 'moderates'. Certainly all the corporatists wafflers that do nothing more protect the status quo.


But ... that said, I don't really see the attempts at re-branding as genuine. They're going to string along the libertarians with fake support for Paul and Rubio, and then when the election rolls around they'll nominate Christie. They're only using Rand to funnel support away from a real libertarian candidate. Push comes to shove, corporatists are running both parties.

We may agree to disagree here, but I don't regard continuously exploding the debt by fighting oil wars as "protecting the status quo."

 

[dblack]

In the GOP? Like who?

I think all the neo-cons count as 'moderates'. Certainly all the corporatists wafflers that do nothing more protect the status quo.


But ... that said, I don't really see the attempts at re-branding as genuine. They're going to string along the libertarians with fake support for Paul and Rubio, and then when the election rolls around they'll nominate Christie. They're only using Rand to funnel support away from a real libertarian candidate. Push comes to shove, corporatists are running both parties.

We may agree to disagree here, but I don't regard continuously exploding the debt by fighting oil wars as "protecting the status quo."

I can't think of anything that better defines the status quo. Will you get behind Obama on the next one?

 

[Wonky Pundit]

I think all the neo-cons count as 'moderates'. Certainly all the corporatists wafflers that do nothing more protect the status quo.


But ... that said, I don't really see the attempts at re-branding as genuine. They're going to string along the libertarians with fake support for Paul and Rubio, and then when the election rolls around they'll nominate Christie. They're only using Rand to funnel support away from a real libertarian candidate. Push comes to shove, corporatists are running both parties.

We may agree to disagree here, but I don't regard continuously exploding the debt by fighting oil wars as "protecting the status quo."

I can't think of anything that better defines the status quo. Will you get behind Obama on the next one?

Doubtful it will happen before 2017, but if it does, no.

 

[AVG-JOE]

A fresh face for the same fucking message?

Pass!​

I think that goes for both major parties...I'm hoping for someone from outside of Washington to take over for Obama on the Democrat side.

That would be nice. But do you really think the Dem establishment will deny Hillary her due?

​

 

[candycorn]

A fresh face for the same fucking message?

Pass!​

I think that goes for both major parties...I'm hoping for someone from outside of Washington to take over for Obama on the Democrat side.

That would be nice. But do you really think the Dem establishment will deny Hillary her due?

No. I think she's likely a 60 to 80 percent chance of winning the nomination. But that would have been the same odds I gave her in 2008. She has a likability problem with women and as a Democrat that is almost fatal. If you can raise money you can sustain it but not easily.