Tyler Bilbo, Staff Writer
Ideology: Liberal, Writing From: Tulsa, OK
The Republican Party is in disarray. The effort to renew the GOP’s viability, however, should not be framed as a simple struggle between moderates and conservatives. This dangerous frame implies that the party’s identity ultimately rests with a particular intra-party faction. This line of thinking is precisely what has driven the party into the dustbins of irrelevancy.
The GOP could learn a lot from my party’s return to power. Although we were undoubtedly assisted by George W. Bush’s disastrous second term, we did not reclaim control of the House and Senate by running reliable liberals. From Senator Kay Hagan in North Carolina to Representative Harry Mitchell in Arizona, our rapid return to power was made possible by moderates. Despite the prevalence of political moderates throughout both chambers of Congress, the party still maintains a progressive identity at the national level. This is precisely how the Republican Party should function in relationship to conservatism.
The aptly named “GOPosaur”
The GOP’s decline began in the 2006 midterms and their journey back to power will also begin at the Congressional level. To fulfill this chapter in the GOP’s restructuring, the party must make inroads in some of the country’s more Democratic-trending areas. Just like Democratic leaders pragmatically recruited moderate Democrats in conservative areas, Republicans cannot sacrifice their viability at the altar of ideological purity. While my party has its fair share of purists, purists within the Republican are far more organized. Groups like the Club for Growth, who specialize in purging moderate Republicans from representing ideologically compatible districts, do nothing but help Democrats.
While I concede that the Republican caucuses in the House and Senate need to recruit more moderate candidates, the GOP would be foolish to emulate this strategy at the Presidential level. Turnout matters and the party’s conservative base will not turnout for a moderate candidate that cannot excite the base. Ohio, a perennial swing state in American politics, swung to the Democrats in 2008 because the GOP base did not turnout like they did for a more conservative candidate in 2004. Even though Democratic turnout was relatively weak, Republicans could not capitalize on this opportunity because GOP turnout dropped nearly 300,000 voters. Ohio, however, is only a microcosm of what will happen if Republicans continue to nominate candidates like John McCain.
This strategy of opening a big tent at the Congressional level while maintaining a tradition of nominating all-around conservatives at the Presidential level would serve the GOP well. It’s exactly how my party has operated in relationship to our progressive values and after only two election cycles, we control both the Congress and the White House. If Republicans figure this out, then us Democrats can once again be afraid of the GOP.
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We were returned to power by moderates, but look how much good they did for us — what progressive plank of our platform have we been able to pass, with the exception of raising the minimum wage by $1?
Noah,
Perhaps there is some safety in that fact that neither extreme can advance its agenda unless it passes through the center.
If centrists won’t agree with a progressive agenda it’s likely because the country doesn’t want it.
Here we go again, with liberal lies about the GOP’s “irrelevance.” It’s so hard to take anything any of the liberals say with a grain of salt when the first sentence is about the destruction of the GOP.
We lost one election. And we’ll be winning plenty in 2010. Calm yourselves.
Alec, it’d be a lot easier to take you seriously if you got your metaphors straight and didn’t use phrases like “liberal lies”. Do you get your news from Sean Hannity or something? Jeez.
Conor,
Actually, something I learned last year in one of my classes it that moderates in our electorate tend to be the people who know the least about what’s going on in the world, who are the least knowledgeable about how our government works, and who are the least competent, in all frankness, to make any real decisions about the direction of this country.
Noah,
Well obviously. Moderates, at least by plurality, tend not to be as deicated to a cause and thus less educated in what is going on.
At the same time, they are the largest ideological political group and in American Democracy, that’s what counts.
I don’t think you are about to suggest the majority should be over-ruled by a small group that is subjectivley viewed to be “more informed” so I won’t accuse you of that – but that is what that line of thinking can lead to.
If I got my metaphors straight? What are you even talking about?
For what it’s worth, I’m not a Republican but I don’t buy this at all.
Republicans have sought, gained, and retained power by appealing to their base, not by betraying it. In fact, there have been studies that show that the Republican party’s base stays home when the party moderates its platform.
The GOP has nothing to gain by moderating itself in the face of this presidency. McCain is living proof of that.
The GOP ought to stand on its principles, even if they are wrong from my perspective. That is how the GOP is to gain….not by trying to appeal to people that’d never vote for a Republican dog catcher like Noah and Tyler.
“If centrists won’t agree with a progressive agenda it’s likely because the country doesn’t want it.”
The liberal base is holding the democratic party together. Progressives are not only a small minority, but their viewpoints are a death blow to the Democratic party. Just ask Bill Clinton, who was more of a free marketeer than G.W. Bush could have ever been.
A progressive agenda under the cloak of the Democratic Party is the surest way to see that they are out of power as quickly as moderates can go to the ballot box.
It amazes me that the liberal roots of the Democratic Party never come out until it is marginalized in elections. If the liberal base was actually represented, I might even consider voting for a Democrat.
Unfortunately, this seems to be like looking for hen’s teeth.
“Republicans have sought, gained, and retained power by appealing to their base, not by betraying it.”
I absolutely agree, Tim, and that is why candidates like John McCain will always fail at the national level. To remain viable at the Congressional level, however, Republicans need moderates like Chris Shays in the same way that Democrats need guys like Ike Skelton and Jason Altmire. As long as conservatives dictate the nomination of the Presidential nominee, the party will be able to maintain a conservative identity that is needed to sustain high turnout. Nominating equally conservative candidates for Congress in competitive districts, however, is tantamount to ceding the Congress to Democrats.