In the Battle for the Republican Party, Conservatives Should Hold Their Ground
The arguments claiming the party needs to move to the center to win are simply not sound.
Another faulty argument is that the Republican Party has alienated New England through its move to the social right. This is somewhat silly. With the exception of New Hampshire, Republicans in New England rarely nominate social conservatives.
The truth is many of these states have undergone demographic revolutions. Immigration of radicals from New York has changed Vermont from solidly Republican to solidly liberal. In other cases, liberal Republicans have children who are even more liberal. A prominent example is the late Congressman Hamilton Fish IV (R-NY) whose son Hamilton Fish V ran for his father’s seat as a liberal Democrat in 1994.
The Yankee Republicans were not driven away by religious conservatives. They mostly reside at the cemetery or have moved to states with far more favorable weather and tax climates. They have been replaced by far more liberal offspring and carpetbaggers.
The Republican Party did not leave New England. New England left the Republican Party.
4) Ignore demographics
This is perhaps the most egregious problem with pragmatists’ plans. When interviewed by John Hawkins and asked about picking up votes from minorities, David Frum said, “You have to learn to live with less than 100 percent of the vote.” This is a statement Frum would never make in regards to social liberals, who he proposes the GOP bend over backwards to bring on board.
Demographic trends are clear. The GOP can’t win in the long run as the Grand Old White Party. However, the tactics needed to win minority voters run counter to the pragmatists’ strategy for gaining white moderates and social liberals. While social conservatism has not been a motivating factor with minority voters, it is common ground between Republicans and many minority voters, and that’s where the conversation can begin.
In addition, pragmatists mourn the departure of ex-Republicans like Jim Jeffords and Arlen Specter. But many of the ex-Republicans are avowed opponents of school choice, one of the most promising issues with which to reach out to poor voters. Opposition to school choice and support for public schools is far more important than abortion to many social liberals who end up pulling the lever for Democrats.
Trying to appeal to minority voters — who we do need to win over eventually — and making appeals to socially liberal white moderates are contradictory efforts.
5) Make (ham-handed) compromises
Pragmatists are full of ideas on how to compromise conservative values, particularly on cultural issues. Civil unions and leaving abortion to the states are two favorite glib solutions given to prominent culture war issues.
This overlooks three things. First, it takes two to compromise, and the left has no reason to compromise. Gay activists have a tide of court decisions in their favor and abortion rights activists have everything their way as it is. Liberal activists have no interest in coming to some workable middle ground when they can win it all.
Second, these compromises don’t work. Our nation’s experience with civil unions and domestic partnerships in Vermont, New Hampshire, California, and Connecticut show that the laws ultimately lead to same-sex marriage.
Third, the tone of the proposed “compromises” is patronizing. These are not compromises in the best sense of the word, where two sides come together and hammer out an arrangement. Rather, they are ultimatums from people who lack the political firepower to enforce them. They treat conservatives as the auxiliary wing of the Republican Party, when they make up the base. Those proposing the compromises see little wrong with abortion or same-sex marriage, but they’re willing to humor social conservatives for their continued involvement. That’s no way to build a coalition.
Some have declared the various wings of the Republican Party at war with one another. We don’t have to be. We all have two or three top issues that define why we’re involved in politics, and the GOP needs to be a coalition of these non-contradictory concerns.
If what matters to you is fighting the war on terror and low taxes and the Republican Party is with you on those issues, it really shouldn’t matter to you that the Republican Party doesn’t agree with you on same-sex marriage and abortion. If traditional marriage, abortion, and support for Israel are the most important issues to you, then it shouldn’t matter if the Republican Party disagrees with you on global warming.
The Republican Party should stand firm on its values, and sell those ideas and priorities to the American people without apology and without compromising with unreasonable people who expect everything in the party to be their way.
Republicans have to realize that, while the GOP is big enough to hold people with conflicting viewpoints, it is not big enough to hold people with conflicting priorities. President Lincoln warned that a house divided against itself will not stand. A party that tries to satisfy everyone will satisfy no one and will be swallowed up in irrelevancy.
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Adam Graham is a contributor at Race42012.com and host of the Truth and Hope Report podcast. His personal site is Adam's Blog.
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30 Comments
1. David Thomson:The Republicans would be foolish to be perceived as “moderate” on economic issues. Secular yuppies. who in the recent past primarily voted on cultural war issues, are now scared about their economic futures. They realize that Obama and the Democrats are hurting their pocketbooks. A mushy headed, somewhat Keynesian GOP candidate will simply turn them off. They want candidates who will straighten out the current mess. Take a look at the recent polling data. The majority of the citizenry is rejecting the president’s economic agenda. He will not be able to get his major legislation through Congress.
Jun 25, 2009 - 3:22 am 2. Blivet:“Republicans have to realize that, while the GOP is big enough to hold people with conflicting viewpoints, it is not big enough to hold people with conflicting priorities.”
Put into other words, the GOP is like a blivet. A “blivet” is a 5 pound sock that ruptures when you try to stuff 10 pounds of pure 100% BS in it.
People are not all that demanding when it comes to what they want. Most would agree on national defense, lower taxes, reduced government intrusion and putting a stop to the illegal immigration mess.
Check your coffers RNC. Voters are not in the mood for another popularity contest between a squeaky, old has-been and a young, slick talking black, neither of which have what it takes to sit in the Whitehouse.
Jun 25, 2009 - 4:46 am 3. Ed Wallis:I’m sensing a mad-as-hell-and-not-going-to-take-it-anymore moment among conservatives vis a vis the GOP.
’bout time.
Jun 25, 2009 - 5:07 am 4. Darius Thomson:The party needs to hold true to its core values, but would be foolish not to exploit the zeitgeist. Further, the party is a democratic organization. The party will have no choice to change its stance on issues if the facts on an issue change, or if there are a groundswell of new people present when the platform is voted upon.
Jun 25, 2009 - 5:40 am 5. sheesh:Adam Graham . . . any relation to . . .
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-06-24-graham-tapes_N.htm?csp=34
Jun 25, 2009 - 6:11 am 6. sheesh:By all means, hold your ground . . . stand on your principles . . . fiscal conservatism and family values . . . OK, maybe not those . . . let’s try . . . gun totin and gay bashin . . . yeah, that feels better . . . like that favorite soft old white shirt.
Jun 25, 2009 - 6:17 am 7. rocketeer:Ed @3 – I’m not sensing that feeling, I read it every day in all of these posts. There are millions of us that are so tired of the party trying to be Democrat lite. I can’t tell you how many posts I’ve read about Republican’s telling the party that they’re just not going to donate anymore until they start representing them. We need a house-cleaning at the top of the party to bring in some people with conservative values that can represent us and not just give us lip service and assume that they have our votes.
I completely agree with the author in that the Republican party did lurch to the center this last election cycle, and we got our hats handed to us. It is said that only a fool keeps doing what doesn’t work, but that’s what the higher ups seem bent on doing. Why don’t we just try mounting a truly conservative candidate just to see what happens guys? Common!!
Jun 25, 2009 - 6:22 am 8. Reaganite Republican:Only Libs and useful idiot tools like Meghan McCain want the GOP to become Obama-lite. And people will want Reaganite principles to restore our economic power and world leadership position after the comprehensive collapse of Obamamania.
Regarding the GOP’s recent setbacks at the polls, Bobby Jindal has said:
“People need to look at the history of Ronald Reagan when he lost his first attempt at the Presidency (in 1976). He didn’t go back and say, ‘Let’s water down the conservatism. Let’s dilute what we’re saying. He made it even stronger…. he made it EVEN sharper. There’s a lesson there for potential candidates”
“We need to be principled in our conservatism. We need to be unabashed, unafraid. We won’t always be popular with editorial writers and a lot of the members of the national media… and that’s OK. At the end of the day, it’s more important that we stick to our principles.”
Jun 25, 2009 - 6:50 am 9. Sapwolf:EVERY person I know or heard of leaving the GOP left because they were libertarian or conservative, not because they were moderate.
The GOP is becoming moderate by default as libertarians/conservatives leave it. Once it stops these moderate to lib shenanigans, people will vote the GOP way.
The MSM is TOTALLY misinterpreting WHY people have left the GOP. You want to find ex-GOP’ers, just go to a Tea Party.
I’m still in the GOP because of Gov. Sarah Palin, the only fiscal conservative hope in the GOP that could merge with the Tea Party movement and truly represent the Constitution and the 2nd and 10th Amendments.
Jun 25, 2009 - 7:24 am 10. Sebastian Shaw:The Conservatives do indeed need to fight back against the moderate Republicans who seem to shift like sand depending on the issue; the moderates have no real core to themselves & should not be the focus for the Republican Party as it has been for several years; as a result, the Republicans have lost badly in 2006 & 2008. The Conservatives need to stand for the Constitution, traditional family, smaller government, & lowering taxes across the board. Once a Conservative Republican emerges & provides leadership for these ideas, he or she will pull the ever shifty moderate Republicans to him.
Moderate Republicans are too soft & too willing to give in to the Democrats for so-called “bipartisanship.” And for what? The Republicans get the shaft while the moderate Republicans smile like a dumb kid given the short end of the stick & told otherwise. The John McCain’s of the USA need to go away, far away from the Congress as possible. They do more damage than good.
Jun 25, 2009 - 8:09 am 11. Big Red:The big delusion is you must win the ______ (fill in the blank) vote. Blacks vote 90% Democrat, so you’re not going to pull that off easily. However, if you pull away 5% of that, you put the Dems in serious trouble. The same for other blocs. Leave the identity politics to the Left. Only half the electorate show up to vote, and it’s not all the same people evey time. Figure out what’s keeping the others from voting. Disgust with the options, not being represented, laziness, indifference? Whatever the reason, there are millions of votes not being cast every election. Reagen won by raising a banner of “bold colors” and people came to him. He didn’t waste time chasing the ____ vote and neither should the GOP now. Give people a reason to vote for you and they will. Look like the others guys, just less so, and nobody will bother to care.
Jun 25, 2009 - 8:17 am 12. arhooley:The Constitution. Stick to it. Shove the Democrats (”We’re gonna force you to be nice”) and the Republicans (”We’re gonna force you to obey the Ten Commandments”) and see who comes under the tent. I bet even sheesh would.
Jun 25, 2009 - 8:44 am 13. JED:Simple works. Solid foundations hold. The list is long. Here are a few core ideas/strengths:
Jun 25, 2009 - 8:47 am 14. clare spark:Term limits including the judiciary
Less government intervention
Secure the borders
No deficit spending/Yes to balanced budget
Free enterprise
Government as the referee, not the player
Those that don’t work, don’t eat, end handouts
Equal application under the law
State rights, 10th Admendment over federal omnipresence/omnipotence in matters less than national security
Beware of political/social experimentation
Warning labels on the MSM as to fact/opinion
Stringent voting rules and punishment against any fraud, tandamount to treason and forfiture of citizenship
Transparency and uniformity in budgets and taxes
No Pork!
If the block voting public is too ignorant to make solid choices, then we are all damned anyway.
Although I have been voting for Republicans of late (call me neocon), I cannot stomach the strong biases against science among many conservatives. I would add that if any one group attempts to impose its rigid morality on the rest of the population, you will lose the young voter.
Jun 25, 2009 - 9:30 am 15. "progressive"watch:As American democrats we have both rights and duties. For the authoritarian among conservatives, there are only obligations. For the extreme libertarians, there are only rights. Surely there must be a way to create and analyze public policy that recognizes both the autonomy of the individual and the need to acknowledge obligations to others.
Graham is right,right and right. Giving up your values is a lose-lose situation. If you win,you’ve lost yourself.
Jun 25, 2009 - 9:55 am 16. JED:To the party of “No”: Stop allowing the civil servants to become our civil masters.
Jun 25, 2009 - 10:52 am 17. Big Red:An Independent and Tax Payer
14 – Clare. Not trying to be snarky, but could you define the science conservatives are biased about? It usually means “embryonic” stem-cell research. Most of us do appreciate the fruits of science in our lives and those who are blessed with the intelligence to pursue it.
Jun 25, 2009 - 11:24 am 18. Tristan:Yes, there are both rights and obligations in life. We just resent those claiming to be our “betters” sitting in Washington and defining them for us. As for the young, they have a funny way of growing up. As did we all, well maybe except sheesh, but where there is life there is hope.
As one poster here says “Welcome to the Dark Side. We have cookies”.
Good article. The Democrats were teflon going into the election, far too small of a portion of the voters connected the party to its long legacy of economic, social, and foreign policy failures. That’s because the GOP did not do its job, both in the ‘06 and ‘08 election. The answer is to get some fresh blood into the party. A related issue is that Barack Obama is *not* Bill Clinton yet was allowed to run on his Democratic coattails and the memory of a good economy and relative peace. Clinton was/is a centrist Democrat, although you could make the argument that was because of Newt in Congress. Centrist Democrats understand that if you trash the economy, all of their social programs go bust too. Barack Obama, as a progressive, feels that it is the government’s duty to replace the private sector, and that will obviously be a disaster. GOP did *not* draw that distinction and should have. Centrist Democrats have both a heart and a brain, to use the old Winston Churchill categorization. Chicago machine politicians co-opting the anti-war movement have neither.
Jun 25, 2009 - 12:17 pm 19. skydiver:#8, I agree with you wholeheartedly.
We should not try to be everything for everyone. But we should hold on to our principles, and maybe, just maybe the others will understand, that conservative values are not just a word.
If only we can persuade our elected officials to listen to us and do as they are told and not as it suits them.
Can not wait for 2010.
Jun 25, 2009 - 1:23 pm 20. skydiver:JED #13,
Hear, Hear!!!
Jun 25, 2009 - 1:31 pm 21. Blarty Blarckleblart:Along with most of you, I strongly encourage the GOP to continue on its present path towards becoming a regional, racially homogeneous party. That would be the best thing for the country.
Jun 25, 2009 - 2:52 pm 22. Rev316:Republicans would be quite foolish to listen to the liberal opposition to become more like liberal Democrats if they want to grow the Republican party. The Republicans are weak because they have turned their backs on conservative, Christian, small government values. McCain was a Gang of Fourteen RINO whose presidential campaign was stillborn until SARAH PALIN gave CONSERVATIVES something to get excited about–and scare the heck out of liberals who know Palin has what it takes to lead conservatives. I don’t care what the name of the party is, I vote conservative and socially conservative, to be more specific. Whichever candidate is the most conservative gets my vote.
Jun 25, 2009 - 2:56 pm 23. Whistler:I don’t know the statistics but the independents are growing at a faster rate than the Republican party. These people are going to be the king makers. They don’t like the political slop from the left or the same old reactionary stuff from the right. He who grabs the center will control this country.
Jun 25, 2009 - 3:06 pm 24. Whistler:Here is what the main problem is. Republicans tend to be one issue voters while most of America is conservative without the one issue dogma. The one issue Republicans turn off the rest of the country. Just as Obama is bad on the left, one issue Republicans are as bad on the right. Nobody likes to have something crammed down their throat. The next election will be up for grabs as center America gets sick of the new status quo. If the Republican party is going to let the tail wag the dog, they’ll hand Obama a second term. In my thinking this is a lot worse than a little hard headed compromise. If the ultra Conservatives refuse to show up at the polls, they will deserve to have Obama as their grand leader again.
Jun 25, 2009 - 3:19 pm 25. Warren Bonesteel:The party of principle keeps shooting itself in the foot…ignoring The Constitution, promoting big government, ignoring ethics and ignoring morals and honor which they claim to live and to value. Now, Conservatives and Republicans are looking for a Great Leader of their own, contrary to the narrative of small government and self-reliant individualism which they espouse.
Start local. Town councils, county commissions, county sheriffs, state legislatures, Congressional and Senate meetings.
Free men and women don’t need leaders.
They are leaders.
Jun 25, 2009 - 10:38 pm 26. sheesh:25. Warren Bonesteel: . . . “The party of principle . . . ignoring The Constitution, promoting big government, ignoring ethics and ignoring morals and honor . . . ”
Then what makes you think they’re the party of principle?
Jun 26, 2009 - 3:25 pm 27. Patrick of Atlantis:If Republicans want to win, they must disabuse voters of the notion that Republicans are for the rich and Democrats are for the “poor working man”. Republicans must show that the Democrats’ “empathy” for the poor is as phony as Nancy Pelosi’s face. And they must refrain from running candidates who have zero sex appeal to the largest voting bloc, young women between the ages of 18 and 45. Sex appeal is important to most of them although they would probably tell you otherwise.
Jun 27, 2009 - 7:02 am 28. Northern Light:#14 Clare Spark and #17 Big Red. I think that Clare was thinking of anti-science arguments like,
- Evolution is a secular humanist ploy to remove God from creation
- The Earth is 6000 years old
- Dinosaurs existed up until the Middle Ages
- Human beings are incapeable of damaging the environment
- Oil is not produced from ancient decayed matter, but is constantly being replenished by God.
I’m sure there are other lovely examples, but these ones so boggle my mind that I haven’t had time to look for others.
Jun 27, 2009 - 11:08 am 29. Marc Malone:#28 Northern Light – Thanks for clearing that up for me, because I had never heard those things.
All my friends are Conservative. The only Dems I know are my aged Mother, and one Sister, whom I never call anymore, because her worthless boyfriend answers the phone. So, as I don’t waste my time on HuffPo, and I have no liberal friends to give me the Dem talking points and propoganda, I would never have known what clare was going on about. Thanks again.
Jun 28, 2009 - 3:23 pm 30. Will:Move to the center and be wishy washy,over the fence with no mind of your own.
Jun 28, 2009 - 3:52 pm