The current Republican party has lost the public debate; in the 2012 election – Democrats won more votes in the House, Senate and Presidency (source). The only reason that Republicans still control the House of Representatives is because they were able to gerrymander their congressional districts during the wave election of 2010 and now Congress is more divided than any time in modern history. The Republican party didn’t win the debate; they have a structural advantage of protected congressional seats that were drawn specifically to protect incumbent Republicans from losing (source).
So – now a large majority of Republican politicians are only concerned with losing to more conservative candidates in their primary since they’re unlikely to lose in these “protected” seats. This can explain why the Republican party has devolved over the years from bad ideas to crazy ideas. What used to be considered “conservative” during the years of the Reagan would be considered a Democrat today. What used to be considered irresponsible during the scorched earth years of the Clinton presidency is now considered policy in the years of the new conservative movement within the Republican party. Moderates are leaving the party in droves whether its voluntary or involuntary; there are very few reasonable voices within the party.
Mark McKinnon used to be a strategist for George W. Bush during his two presidential campaigns; he affirms that viewpoint in an op-ed HERE:
But here’s the deeper point and the bigger problem for the GOP. Increasingly, it is becoming clear that the party is against everything and for nothing.
Nothing on taxes. Nothing on gun control. Nothing on climate change. Nothing on gay marriage. Nothing on immigration reform (or an incremental, piece-by-piece approach, which will result in nothing). It’s a very odd situation when the losing party is the party refusing to negotiate. It may be how you disrupt, but it is not how you govern, or how you ever hope to regain a majority.
And so, we have a Republican Party today willing to eliminate any prospect for a decent future for anyone, including itself, if it cannot be a future that is 100 percent in accordance with its core beliefs and principles. That’s not governing. That’s just lobbing hand grenades. If you’re only standing on principle to appear taller, then you appear smaller. And the GOP is shrinking daily before our eyes.
Ronald Reagan was long thought to be the most conservative of Republicans. And by any standard today he is the most popular Republican in modern history. Yet he raised taxes 11 times, supported a ban on assault rifles and the Brady Bill, which mandated background checks, and established amnesty for 3 million undocumented workers.
But I find it interesting how many Republican voters don’t see it that way. When we shared our story “Yes. Republicans do want to raise your taxes (unless your rich)“, some Republicans on our Facebook page immediately called it bullshit. They simply couldn’t comprehend the FACT that conservative positions are about fighting for bigger tax cuts for the rich while pushing for raising taxes on the poor and middle class via eliminating tax credits and cutting Social Security and Medicare. They can’t comprehend that. But more and more “moderate” Republicans acknowledge there is just no room for them in the modern day Republican party. And if they don’t course correct fast – they’re going to lose an entire generation.
