The Republican Party is steadily losing its base. Republican leadership is obviously concerned, and is attempting to solve the problem by leaning as far to the left as possible without turning blue. Presumably, this is because they figure, if the voters don’t want Republicans, they must want Democrats. So, if the country is leaning to the left, the party “leaders” figure they’d better lean with it. (How’s that for leadership?) However, I have a different theory. I believe the real reason the Republican Party is losing its base is because it’s lost its direction. It’s no longer the party of conservatives. It’s the party of confusion. The Republican Party is having an identity crisis.
I still support McCain, but I don’t think he’s doing the party any favors by his constant attempts to “reach across the aisle” and pander to the left. Nor is he doing his own campaign any favors. When he tried to become the Republican Al Gore, the liberals to whom he was trying to pander just laughed at him, while many conservatives who were starting to come around to grudgingly support him, stopped, shook their heads, and turned away again in disgust. McCain, like the rest of the Republican Party, cannot seem to keep his core base intact. When you have a solid base, you can afford to reach out and try to bring in those on the fringe of your constituency. But when your base is crumbling underneath you, it does you no good to reach for those who are beyond your reach anyway and firmly entrenched on the other side.
I picture McCain climbing a tree, reaching for an apple on the outermost branch, while the trunk bends and groans and finally splinters beneath the awkward distribution of weight. That’s what’s happening to the entire Republican Party. If it leans any further to the left, it’s going split its core right down the middle. And then what?
Wake up Republicans! Nobody wants a watered down Democrat. The Democrats want a full strength Democrat, and the Republicans want a real (and by that, I mean conservative) Republican. What do the independents want? Well, if there were a real Republican party, maybe there wouldn’t be so many independents, because a lot of those independents used to be Republicans. And, if there were a real Republican Party, maybe the Libertarians and Constitutionalists would even get behind it.
Why is the Republican Party losing its base? Because the old die-hard conservatives are getting disgusted and wandering away, and the new crop of young conservatives are looking for something to believe in, to get excited about, to make them feel a surge of pride in their country and their leadership. The Republican Party today isn’t offering that. They’re offering lukewarm oatmeal instead. So the idealists are turning to the Libertarian Party or the Constitution Party, or registering independent, or coming up with new parties, splintering into sects and diluting the conservative vote. All because the Republican Party has put them on hold while it desperately tries to reach out to voters who don’t even share its core values.
The Republican Party used to be the party of ideals, the party of principles; now it’s the party of compromise. — Not thoughtful compromise, reached through strategic negotiation, but seemingly random compromise with people who aren’t even paying attention. What has happened to the Republican Party? How did it come to this pass? And is it too late to take it back?
Lukewarm oatmeal doesn’t inspire people. It may appeal to Goldilocks, but Goldilocks doesn’t vote.
Government is Not Your Daddy 
McCain certainly is not an ideal conservative candidate, somehow I doubt we’ll ever see one of those again, or at least I doubt we’ll ever elect one again. People are getting too used to the bread and circuses, and they are getting old. Any real conservative is going to come out and say “we need to fix social security”, which will automatically guarantee that they cannot be elected because the old people are not going to give up any benefits.
I like McCain, though, because he seems to be reasonably honest and he’s not selling snake oil. He had the balls to tell displaced manufacturing workers that they were screwed, contract that with the nutless wonder Obama who is busy spinning yarns about getting these jobs back (then again, if the dollar falls much more, maybe they will!).
I think the choice is clear. McCain is far from ideal, but he’ll do a lot less hard than Obama. And his positions on nuclear and fusion power are forward thinking, those are much more interesting than solar and wind. I’m definitely going to vote for him.
Though I used McCain as an example, he’s only the tip of the iceberg. I see this happening throughout the Republican Party, with candidates at every level of government. My concern is not so much about McCain as about the future of the Republican Party. Without a center of gravity, which the RP has traditionally provided, conservatives will not form a solid enough voting block to win elections.
I still support McCain, and I truly hope every Republican, Libertarian, Constitutionalist, and conservative independent will do so, too. I believe that conservatives who sit out this election because McCain is too far to the left are just handing the election to Obama, who is way to the left of McCain.
I know some conservatives feel the Demos will screw things up so badly the country will rush back to the Republicans in 2012. Don’t bet on it. The incumbent almost always has an advantage. And, even if the Demos do mess up so badly the country swings right again, the damage will already have been done.
Without even considering the harm that could ensue from an ill-timed withdrawal from Iraq, and naive “negotiations” with terrorists, after four years of rubber stamping, the Democratic Congress will have already raised our income taxes, increased entitlements, and hobbled corporations with labor laws and environmental regulations, sending even more jobs overseas. And those laws, once enacted, will not evaporate when a Republican president is once again elected. Nor will the liberal Supreme Court appointees go away when the next president’s term is over. There’s too much at stake to turn over all three branches of government to the left for four to eight years.
So, I very much support McCain. But, nevertheless, I think the Republican Party is headed in the wrong direction and is on it’s way to becoming an anachronism in its own time.
I agree, the republican party has become democrat-lite in many respects, all the recent sex scandals and all that other happy stuff. The funny thing is that we try to eliminate our own when they mess up, and the democrats glorify theirs when they mess up. compare and contrast Barney Frank and Senator “Wide Stance” Craig. I definitely plan on voting to McCain and continuing to contribute to his campaign. Obama is just too much of an idiot to allow into the White House.
[…] presents Goldilocks Doesn’t Vote posted at Government is not your Daddy., saying, “I picture McCain climbing a tree, reaching […]
I keep watching the news and McCain is embarrassing. I shiver at the thought of that being the picture that will represent us to the world. I’ll admit I am an Obama supporter but I can’t help feeling badly for the hard core Republicans. How did this happen?!? Were the other potential candidates that bad? We’ll get through it all and pull us, the U.S. us, back together again. We have to!
I’m a dreamer, I do believe in ideals and I do like oatmeal. But, I’m hearing you and feeling the angst. Oh, and my locks aren’t Gold-i. :) Hang in there!
I read what you guys are saying and I refuse to give up. I think the right leader has to come out of the shadows and then the Republican base will stand up and be counted. Newt Gingrich writes in his book, “Real Change” that the country is not as divided as the Liberal media would have you believe.A vast majority of Americans are pro-life, anti-Illegal Immigration, want English as our National Language, are Christian or Jewish, want orals and ethics to guide our country and want marriage defined as a union between a committed male and female.Don’t, for heaven sake believe everything you hear on MSNBC or in the New York or LA Times.
And I want to say this to Evelyn…I’ll tell you how McCain happened to us Hard Core Republicans….Open primaries where Democrats could vote across party lines….
By the way…Great Column …GINYD….I’ve posted it on my site
http://WWW.HANGRIGHT.ORG
Reaganite…
“A vast majority of Americans are pro-life, anti-Illegal Immigration, … and want marriage defined as a union between a committed male and female”
Since when do we get to vote on whether or not someone should have civil rights or not?? You’re living in a fantasy world if you think that pro-life is as majority opinion in this country.
Reagan is dead…and good riddance to him. Speaking of him and “‘negotiations’ with terrorists”…how’d that Reagan/Bush Iran-Contra thing work out??
Yea, you guys really dropped the hammer on Senator “Wide Stance” Craig…with him still being in Congress and all…lol…
I read this earlier today but the comments make me want to say that I’m supporting Mac 100%. No, he isn’t a Goldwater or Reagan but he is very much in the tradition of the GOP – patriotic and idealistic (and a bit nuts) a la Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt.
hmmm, choose between McCain or Obamobster? the choice is clear to me. We did what we could with Senator Craig, it’s just not that easy to fire a Senator (sadly). Maybe that is why the democrat-controlled congress has an approval rating about the same as president Bush. At least McCain isn’t taking bribes from mobsters like Obama is! It will be interesting to see what comes up when the right takes a close look at Senator Obama, I’m sure the Clinton campaign is holding back, but the dirt will come out. There is a lot of dirt to be found in Chicago…
I support McCain as well, and I’ll continue to do so (no matter what bonehead things he says during his campaign). But when he does things like his recent Al Gore imitation, it makes me shake my head.
I keep trying to convince skeptical conservatives to vote for McCain, becase he really is a conservative at the core, and then he goes and pulls some stupid stunt to try to pander to the left. The conservatives turn on their heel and say “No way,” while the liberals just laugh at him. He needs to stop trying to straddle both sides of the fence. I don’t believe that’s gaining him as many votes as it’s losing him, and he’s going to need every vote he can get.
But, while we’re supporting McCain in this election (because we really can’t afford not to), we need to shake up the Republican Party. It’s drifting so far to the left that you can hardly tell a Republican candidate from a Democrat anymore.
McCain is a far cry better than Obama. But he’s weak on immigration, pandering on global warming, and can easily be wobbled on the economy. It kind of scares me. But, again, he’s much better than the alternative, so I will continue to support him. I just needed to vent my frustration…
“We did what we could with Senator Craig”
Dude, you guys didn’t do *anything* to him, period. When I read what you originally wrote, I said to myself “does anyone read what they are typing here?” You guys have GOP Senators that are getting caught with hookers in LA & D.C., and GOP Congressmen that are going to jail & getting indicted all over the country! I’m not saying that Dems are all pure as the driven snow, but give me a freakin’ break!
“Maybe that is why the democrat-controlled congress has an approval rating about the same as president Bush.”
Maybe that’s why Congress has a re-election rate in the high 80s or 90th percentile too…sheesh… I take back what I just said, you really don’t read what you are typing here.
Dear Mr. Mister Guy…Who in the heck can defend Larry “twinkle-toes” Craig…Who in the heck is trying to? What you are trying to do however is make it seem like we on the Right condone the degenerate behavior of Bathroom Boy or at very least let it slide…We, in general, do not…And he has been urged in the strongest terms by his cohorts to resign…numerous times…He has refused…I’m sure the matter is far from over. And at very least,he will have to face an electorate eventually…And if they think he should go, he will be gone.You guys on the Left seem to praise your degenerates( Barney Frank [How come when he talks he sounds like he’s got a mouthfull of mashed potatoes? Maybe a condition caused by degenerate behavior that Real men should not be involved with on other degenerate men, I dunno] and the Nj Governor comes to mind, Slick Willy’s another one, The King of Bad Behavior)…Even give them promotions and admiration for “beating the rap”, I guess or maybe it only bothers you when right wingers participate in bad behavior…Meanwhile,usually, our people RESIGN. No double standard there, eh, Mister Guy?… And now your silly anti-Reagan remarks…I guess you didn’t get the memo. President Reagan already has been recognized as one of the greatest presidents in American History,(except in small extremist left wing circles like yours) much to your chagrin,I’m sure…I’m pretty sure that your hero, Bill Clinton, will be remembered for something quite less than greatness…As Charlie Chan used to say, “So Solly.”
Is this true then?:
“all the recent sex scandals and all that other happy stuff. The funny thing is that we try to eliminate our own when they mess up, and the democrats glorify theirs when they mess up. compare and contrast Barney Frank and Senator ‘Wide Stance’ Craig.”
HINT – No it isn’t.
“he has been urged in the strongest terms”
Oh, and it worked SO WELL…lol…listen to yourself talk & realize that you have nothing to say.
Good luck with that gay bashing thing that you have going on there…
Who resigned again??
“President Reagan already has been recognized as one of the greatest presidents in American History”
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! Yea, you guys tend to love people that run up huge deficits as far as the eyes can see…
Dear Mr. Mister Guy…That’s it? That’s what you got? Re: Bathroom Boy Craig…What are you thinking the Repubs should do? Put a hit on him??…And as far as your hateful and wishful thinking about President Reagan…You seem to forget an “inconvenient truth”..A deficit was run up and the result was the collapse of the Soviet Union…In the long run, President Reagan saved this country Billions maybe Trillions of dollars by ending the Cold War…& so when you point out that that “us guys” tend to run up huge deficits as far as the eyes can see, may I remind you that “us guys” are “us” and you, sir are a minority of far left extremists who never seem to get it… Like a typical liberal, you accuse the other side of exactly what your guilty of. In this case, a charge has been made…”listen to yourself talk and realize that you have nothing to say.”…Could it be that all you got is …NOTHING TO SAY …or at very least nothing of importance or substance except contempt for the greatest President of the last 100 years?…and the steady drumbeat of Bathroom Boy, who nobody that I know (who pays attention) gives a rat’s patoot about…On a different note, getting back to the thread, may I say that GINYD hit the nail on the head in the this Goldilocks piece…And it pains me that the Republican Candidate for this election cycle is no Ronald Reagan or even close…However, as I’ve said many times, in voting for Sen. McCain, I’m getting a LITTLE bit of conservatism…The other candidate, if elected, would be complicit with the already Dem controlled Senate and Congress in turning this Great Country to the Left…aka psuedo-Socialism. And that’s NOT what our Founding Fathers intended.
“In the long run, President Reagan saved this country Billions maybe Trillions of dollars by ending the Cold War”
Where’s that “peace dividend” that Bush’s father & Clinton started then? You do realize that we’ve spent multiples times what all of our allies AND our potential enemies across the world have spent on “defense” for the last many decades. Who exactly is the big, bad boogeyman that we’re going to fight with all these nuclear submarines, high-tech fighters, etc., etc.?? It’s not guys in caves, I’ll tell ya that much.
For someone that apparently hates gays, you sure do have it bad for Reagan. Would you prefer to have been buried with him for eternity or something? Get a grip there…
I say we should just start a Conservative Party, and keep ALL liberals out. I’m tired of this. Very tired. I’m not going to vote for a fringe group, not this time. But I really can’t stand Juan MexiCain. We used to stand for law and order, no more. We used to stand for Life, no more. We used to stand LEGAL aliens, no more. We used to stand facts, not fairy tales (global warming). No more. We used to stand for fair and free markets. No more. Need I go on to describe the angst with the base?
Great post! ;)
[…] we need to reunite the Republican Party. We cannot do that by serving up lukewarm oatmeal, in the form of RINO candidates trying desperately to pander to liberals while turning their backs […]