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A possible positive development in the Republican Party.

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  • A possible positive development in the Republican Party.

    For the last 30 years the Republican Party has moved ever further and further to the right and has become obsessed with forcing out anyone who does not pass the religious right's "ideological purity test". You have to sign on to every extreme bit of the party's rhetoric or risk getting driven out of the party. This has caused the GOP to go from being a "big tent party" with progressive, moderate, and conservative wings to a strictly right wing party. In private some Republican strategists have lemented this as it has meant the GOP just isn't competitive in some areas but very few were ever willing to say so in public for fear of the ideologues coming after them. Finally someone in the GOP is publicly saying the party should stop being a small tent party and go back to being a large tent party so it will be interesting to see what, if any, impact this has.

    Schwarzenegger: GOP, take down that small tent
    California's Republican Party used to work toward solutions. Now it's an exclusive club where members' ideological cards must be checked at the door.


    By Arnold Schwarzenegger

    May 6, 2012
    It was Richard Nixon who brought me into the Republican fold.

    He was running for president, and I had recently arrived in California from Austria, which I'd left because the European socialist mentality wasn't big enough for my dreams. Growing up, I was surrounded by kids whose greatest ambition was to one day collect a pension. I didn't intend to spend my whole life dreaming about floating on a government safety net.

    One day, when Nixon was talking on the television, my liberal friend Artie translated bits of what he was saying. As I recall, he spoke about free enterprise, about less government and taxation, about the need for a strong military.

    I asked what party Nixon was from. Artie said he was an imbecile Republican. "Then I will be an imbecile Republican," I said.

    I've been writing my memoirs recently, and looking back at how I came to my political identity has reminded me that this election cycle marks my 44th year as a Republican. I can't imagine being anything else.

    That's why I am so bothered by the party's recent loss of two up-and-coming Republicans: San Diego mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher, currently a state assemblyman, and former assemblyman and current Congressional candidate Anthony Adams, both of whom left the party to become independents. On the one hand, I respect their standing up for principle. On the other, I hate to see them go.

    I'm sure they would have preferred to remain Republicans, but in the current climate, the extreme right wing of the party is targeting anyone who doesn't meet its strict criteria. Its new and narrow litmus test for party membership doesn't allow compromise.

    I bumped up against that rigidity many times as governor. Not surprisingly, the party wasn't always too happy with me. But I had taken an oath to serve the people, not my party. Some advisors whose opinions I respect urged me to consider leaving the party and instead identify myself as a "decline to state" voter. But I'm too stubborn to leave a party I believe in.

    It's time for the Republicans who are so bent on enforcing conformity to ask themselves a question: What would Ronald Reagan have done? He worked hard to maintain a welcoming, open and diverse Republican Party. He would have been appalled to see Republicans like Fletcher and Adams conclude that they had no other option than to leave the party.

    We need to remind the Republicans who want to enforce ideological purity that if they succeed, they will undo Reagan's work to create an inclusive party that could fit many different views.

    An inclusive party would welcome the party's most conservative activists right alongside its most liberal activists. There is room for those whose views, I think, make them sound like cavemen. And there is also room for us in the center, with views the traditionalists probably think make us sound like progressive softies. What's important is our shared belief in the broad Republican principles of free enterprise and small government. If we continue to fight one another without being willing to compromise, we will keep losing to big-government advocates.

    We need to welcome young leaders into the party and invite them to participate in a robust debate. Republicans love the free market, so it should seem like a no-brainer that the more views we have at the table, the better our final product will be.

    To succeed, Republicans need to embrace true Reaganism, and that means embracing the true Reagan, a brave and independent leader who believed in solutions and compromise.

    As governor, Reagan was never afraid to buck his party. He raised taxes when he saw no other way to get California out of the red, and he created the California Environmental Protection Agency because, as strongly as he believed in eliminating unnecessary government regulation, he also saw wisdom in protecting our natural resources.

    As president, Reagan worked very well with Democrats to do big things. It is true that he worked to reduce the size of government and cut federal taxes and he eliminated many regulations, but he also raised taxes when necessary. In 1983, he doubled the gas tax to pay for highway infrastructure improvements.

    Today, that would be enough for some of the ideological enforcers to start looking for a "real" conservative to challenge him in a primary.


    Now, Arnold is no longer running for any elected office so it's easy for him to say that but the truth is the California GOP is looking like it's going to get some very big loses in the state legislature. The state recently changed it's primary system; instead of every party having its own primary at state government's expense there will now be just one big open primary with only the top two vote getters going on to the Nov general election. This means to even get on the ballot you have to appeal to a large block of people. This is going to mean that the era of a small minority having lots of influence over who can actually run in the general is going to end as candidates are going to have to be more centrist just to get on the ballot.

    The good news is that in most districts the rigid party ideologues are going to be a thing of the past and the ability of pressure groups to force candidates to move to either extreme during the primaries will be hugely diminished. Arnold has figured this out and want the GOP to go more mainstream instead of being so extremist. Let's see if the raving loons in charge of that party listen or if they just shout RINO as they go off the cliff.
    Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.

  • #2
    I agree that Republicans have been very small tent recently.

    But there is one area that democrats have been very small tent in, and that is abortion. Despite the fact that I bet a greater percent of democrats are pro-life than republicans are pro-chioce.

    JM
    Jon Miller-
    I AM.CANADIAN
    GENERATION 35: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

    Comment


    • #3
      It can't be as "small tent" on abortion as the Republican party.

      Comment


      • #4
        At this point, the only true positive development would be the spontaneous decapitation of every member of the GOP.

        This also applies to the Democrats.
        "My nation is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine
        "The subject of onanism is inexhaustable." --Sigmund Freud

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Jon Miller View Post
          Despite the fact that I bet a greater percent of democrats are pro-life than republicans are pro-chioce.
          JM
          PAY UP

          Americans are closely divided in their abortion positions, with 49% calling themselves "pro-choice" and 45% "pro-life," similar to a year ago. Public support for making abortion legal in either all cases or no cases is much lower, at 27% and 22%, respectively, while 50% favor something in between.


          GALLOP -

          PRO CHOICE
          REP - 28%
          DEM - 68%
          IND - 51%

          PRO LIFE
          REP - 67%
          DEM - 27%
          IND - - 41%

          MAY - 2011
          Keep on Civin'
          RIP rah, Tony Bogey & Baron O

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Guynemer View Post
            At this point, the only true positive development would be the spontaneous decapitation of every member of the GOP.

            This also applies to the Democrats.
            Is that something you see a lot in the medical literature?
            Click here if you're having trouble sleeping.
            "We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones." - François de La Rochefoucauld

            Comment


            • #7
              Oh, I was wrong, they are about the same.

              Which way do independents normally fall again?

              JM
              Jon Miller-
              I AM.CANADIAN
              GENERATION 35: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by gribbler View Post
                It can't be as "small tent" on abortion as the Republican party.
                Until the last ~10 years, a lot of Republicans in power were pro-choice. This wasn't the case with the Democrats.

                In my memory.

                JM
                Jon Miller-
                I AM.CANADIAN
                GENERATION 35: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Jon Miller View Post
                  Oh, I was wrong, they are about the same.
                  Technically, that's not proven here; you made a claim about the size of the abortion camps within the parties, while Ming provided data on the breakdown of the abortion camps by party. Depending on the size of the parties and the popularity of each opinion, that could dramatically skew the results. Don't get me wrong, I imagine the two are about equal--I'm just making a statistical quibble here. Because I can, I guess.

                  Also, I'm very glad to have a geriatric action-hero's views on our politics.
                  1011 1100
                  Pyrebound--a free online serial fantasy novel

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    To be fair, the geriatric action-hero was also elected governor of the largest state twice.

                    However, I think the fact that he was able to keep his lovechild secret from the press is a feat more impressive than being governor of California and all his action movies combined.
                    If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
                    ){ :|:& };:

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I included in my response that there are more Democrats than Republicans...

                      JM
                      Jon Miller-
                      I AM.CANADIAN
                      GENERATION 35: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        You have to sign on to every extreme bit of the party's rhetoric or risk getting driven out of the party. This has caused the GOP to go from being a "big tent party" with progressive, moderate, and conservative wings to a strictly right wing party.
                        Out of curiosity, how are blue/yellow dog democrats doing these days?
                        I make no bones about my moral support for [terrorist] organizations. - chegitz guevara
                        For those who aspire to live in a high cost, high tax, big government place, our nation and the world offers plenty of options. Vermont, Canada and Venezuela all offer you the opportunity to live in the socialist, big government paradise you long for. –Senator Rubio

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Lorizael View Post
                          Is that something you see a lot in the medical literature?

                          Sadly, no.
                          "My nation is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine
                          "The subject of onanism is inexhaustable." --Sigmund Freud

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by DinoDoc View Post
                            Out of curiosity, how are blue/yellow dog democrats doing these days?
                            Yellow dogs have been extinct since the 1960's or 70's (though some people have no changed the definition so they can pretend some still exist) but blue dogs are alive and well. Two blue dogs did just get primaried though those are exceptions rather than the rule while in the Republican Party anyone deemed not extremist enough gets primaried as a rule.
                            Last edited by Dinner; May 7, 2012, 17:06.
                            Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Arnie
                              Republicans love the free market, so it should seem like a no-brainer that the more views we have at the table, the better our final product will be.
                              Nice point.

                              Comment

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