An Open Letter to Republicans

Dear Fellow Republicans,

Well, that pretty much sucked, didn’t it?  We were hoping and expecting one outcome, and then got smacked in the face with the re-election of Barack Obama.

It’s been a tough month and, like you, I think we’ve all been at a different phase in the Five Stages of Grief at any given day.  There is no way around the fact that were beaten because the Democrats were playing "small ball"–and that’s the most bitter pill to swallow, in my opinion.

By focusing (read: pandering) to specific groups of people, the Obama campaign was able to pull a victory from what the polling seemed to indicate was an almost certain Romney victory.  Team Obama didn’t need to hit home runs, they just needed to keep getting on base–by focusing on what ABC likes to call “women and non-whites”–and then the math did the rest  Essentially, white men turned out in large numbers to vote for Mitt Romney and that was about the only demographic he carried heavily.

To quote the ABC piece linked above:

Mitt Romney won the white vote handily, 58 to 40 percent, the biggest lead for a Republican since 1988.

Romney’s most reliant bloc the whole campaign was white men. He led by 25 points with them today. But in 1976, white men were 46 percent of voters. Today they’re at a new low, 34 percent.

Therein lies the problem.  The core white bread and butter, if you’ll pardon the play on words, is shrinking over time and now the GOP finds itself at a point in history where it needs to appeal to everybody.  We’ve always taken great pride in saying that the GOP is a “large tent” organization, but that tent has been getting smaller and smaller over the last forty years.  Without a change in focus, the Republican Party could very find itself relegated to “minority party” status for quite a long time.

Put simply, the Grand Old Party needs to outreach in new ways and make that tent even bigger than it thought possible.  In order to do that, we may have to look in the mirror and we might not like what we see.

Why Mitt Romney lost isn’t important anymore.  It serves us no purpose to hash and re-hash the possible reasons for not taking back the White House.  Moreover, there’s no point in playing the blame game.  What’s done is done and, at the end of the day, Governor Romney failed to get enough electoral votes. We need to look ahead to 2014, 2016, and beyond.

I’m not naïve. I know the remedies I suggest are not going to be popular with a lot of people, primarily because they strike at the very core at what some people believe the party stands for.  Believe me, I respect and appreciate that but the fact is that those things are only going to get us so far.  Republicans must evolve–as society has evolved–or else we will find ourselves in the wilderness.

We are not a party in distress.  We are not over.  We are a party that needs to re-establish and present itself to new generations of Americans.  We need to redefine our brand and change how people perceive Republicans.

One of our biggest problem is that we turn a lot of people off.  We need to be honest about that, with ourselves and with everyone else.  They think we’ve abandoned what people view as our core principles–limited government, personal freedom, and laissez-faire capitalism–and concentrated on moral issues to the detriment of our constituents.

There, I said it.  Morality.  That’s our first problem.

I can sense the hackles going up already. I’ve mentioned the sacred cow of the Grand Old Party and it’s not setting well with some and, believe me…I understand.  Please, hear me out, though.

We do not need to move to the center.  When we move to the center and try to become more moderate, we lose. When the electorate is given the choice between a Democrat and a more moderate Republican, they typically opt for the Democrat.  Moving to the center is not an option for us no matter how many high-profile people think it’s the solution.

What we need to do is take a lesson from the more libertarian element of our Party.  I do not mean that we should become Libertarian (with a capital “L”) and talk about how great Ron Paul is–that’s not even close to what I’m talking about. I mean that we should look to some of the aspects that people now associate with Libertarianism that used to be Republican values and champion those.

In other words, we need to leave people alone and just let them be.  We spend too much time and effort focusing our platform on moral issues and not enough on personal freedom.

The perception many have of this party is that we’ve allowed the wing most refer to as the “Religious Right” to dictate the platform and, to be candid, that perception is essentially correct.  In the eyes of many, we are too religious and that turns many away from our message.  We focus so much on what people should and should not do instead of championing personal freedom.  People want us out of their homes and lives and they just want to be left alone.  Yet, we see fit to stick our noses into their bedrooms, doctor’s offices, and every other place we feel they may need to rely on religion.  Let’s look at a few of the key topics in this area that turn people off.

Marriage Equality.  Marriage may have started as a religious institution but over the last several centuries, it’s become a status taxed and regulated by the Government.  When the Government began to decide who could marry whom, they created this inequity to begin with.  Three states voted to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote this month and one state saw an amendment to define marriage as being “between a man and a woman” go down in defeat at the ballot box.  America is evolving on this issue and it’s time we realized that.

Abortion.  I do not favor abortion, but the fact of the matter is that access to it has been the law of the land for forty years now.  A third generation of women are now being born in an era where Roe v. Wade is being upheld.  It’s not changing.  Even if a challenge was presented to the Supreme Court and Roe was overturned, abortion would still be legal in the United States under the 10th Amendment.  (Y’know, the one that assigns things not delegated to the Federal Government in the Constitution directly to the States.)  Abortion isn’t going anywhere in this country, as horrible as I think it is.  Every four years now, all Democrats have to do is say, “[Insert Republican's Name Here] want to take away your right to have access to an abortion and send America back to the 1950s.”  It happens everyelection.  They make it the centerpiece of our campaign and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.  There are a lot of women who are against abortion who still think it should be legal–either because they want it to remain safe or because they don’t want the right to have one taken away.  We need to learn from that and take the talking point away from them.

Birth Control.  Often disguised on the agenda as “women’s health,” people have the perception that we’re against it just because we don’t want Government to pay for it.  Forget the fact that you can get it at Walmart or Target for $9 and that’s been the case since 2007, many think that on some level it makes more sense to pay $9 per month than $150 (or whatever the cost)/month for another person on welfare.  We aren’t against birth control, but people think we are–and that’s a problem.

Legalization. I’m no fan of marijuana. I’ve never used it and, personally, I find it disgusting.  The smell makes me nauseous. I have a strong personal bias against it.  That said, I’ve had to re-examine that bias and determine whether or not it makes sense for it to be illegal anymore–and I’m not sure it does.  It’s not for the reasons you might think.  I don’t believe that taxing it is going to be a huge revenue stream.  I don’t believe it’s got uses we haven’t figured out yet.  I don’t believe that people have any grand intent for it other than to smoke up.  That said, we keep seeing States vote to legalize it on some level–whether to make it available for medicinal purposes or to decriminalize it entirely.

Moral issues aren’t the only area in which we might need to adjust our thinking. There are plenty of other issues in which could assist with our re-branding.  These are just a few:

Taxation. Saying we support lower tax rates for everyone isn’t good enough because that gets turned into we love lower tax rates for the “rich.”  We know the IRS data says that the “rich” pay more than anyone, but that message doesn’t resonate.  A minority may pay more taxes, but they still have the same number of votes. We already have a progressive tax system, so the Fair Tax (which is horribly named) doesn’t make sense, but perhaps it’s time to revisit whether or not a Flat Tax does.

Spending. We spend too damned much. Period.  Regardless of party, Washington is addicted to a substance that it requires us to produce–tax dollars. Republicans are just as guilty of this as Democrats are (and, yes, even Ron Paul).

Term Limits. Many Republicans say they’re in favor of term limits, but there’s never a serious movement to amend the Constitution. In fact, Congress is usually too chicken to actually pass an Amendment but the time has come for term limits at every level.

I keep using the term “re-branding,” and that’s genuinely what I mean.  This isn’t about changing the GOP into something we no longer recognize, it’s about re-claiming what made this party great in the first place.  There are some, perhaps even many, who will describe what I suggest as an abandonment of principles and, while I can understand why they feel that way I vehemently disagree.  Continuing on the path we’re on ensures that we will receive fewer and fewer votes.  We can’t compete playing “small ball” like the Democrats, but we can re-align ourselves with values the party used to hold without pandering and offering payoffs.

When presented with more Government or freedom, people choose freedom.  It’s time we made that the chief export of the Republican Party again and did so in spades.

So, then…what do we do to prepare for 2014 and 2016?  I think the following are a good start:

1. Drop the “GOP” name and lose the elephant.  We need to stop being the “Grand OLD Party” and start being a new, vibrant, and young party. We can’t do that if people keep equating us with old men in rooms filled with cigar smoke.  We’re Republicans and that’s what the party should be.  Instead of the old Elephant logo, we should adopt the Eagle.  It’s synonymous with liberty and freedom, and that’s our brand.
2. Drop morality from the Party’s platform and embrace personal freedom.  People don’t want to be told how to live their lives–and that’s what a lot of people think we do.  People should be free to do what they want  and, as long as it’s legal, why do we really care?
3. Distance ourselves from religion in the Party’s platform. The Founders were brilliant men and they were prescient enough to know that Freedom of Religion in this country must also include people who observe no religion at all.  Our politics also need to be as thoughtful.  People who either don’t believe in religion or don’t practice don’t think there’s a place for them in the Republican Party and, honestly, shame on us.  I’m one of the people who fit that description and I tell people all the time that you don’t have to have religion to have an “R” next to your name–and it surprises many I talk to. The Party doesn’t need to be atheist, but it does need to respect that people who don’t have a religion have ideas and issues that are just as vital to victory.
4. Re-think the way we use the Internet and Social Media. Andrew Breitbart was truly a great voice for the movement.  He understood better than anyone that the Republicans were stuck in neutral when it came to how we used the Internet to aid the cause. His passing was not only a shock, but a setback.  We’ve made strides, but we’re still far behind some of our counterparts on the other side of the aisle.  Instead of being reactive, we need to find more ways to innovate.  Just having a website or a Twitter account won’t get it done and this needs to be the Republican Party’s “moon shot.”
5. Change the media narrative. Forget that FOX News exists. People view it as the mouthpiece for the Party and that doesn’t help us.  Yes, more people watch FOX News on cable, but a lot of people still get their information from sources that are not cable news outlets.  It’s time for a media strategy that uses the low channel numbers again and more than just Sunday morning.  A new message requires new outlets to champion on both the local and national levels.
6. A new party needs new faces. There’s a reason people don’t get interested in politics and that’s because they think it’s a complete evisceration of their private lives.  The Republican Party needs new blood at every level–from School Board to State Representative and everything in between because all of those positions advance the movement.
7. Unity.  I believe that it was Theodore Roosevelt who once said that when we hyphenate our nationality we lose our soul as a nation–and I think the same is true with our Party.  Moderate, Conservative, Neo-Conservative, Log Cabin, Evangelical, Libertarian–every one of these prefixes has been used in front of the term Republican and it’s a word that needs no modifier.  We need to be one tent and not a variety of separate encampments.

I know that the previous two thousand words will not be popular ones.  I will likely be called everything from a RINO (Republican in Name Only) to a traitor with a few more colorful metaphors in between. Some will say I’m not Conservative or that my ideas are those of capitulation.  Perhaps even that I’ve burned a bridge.  While I have strong disagreement with those characterizations, people will have them and they will dismiss what I’ve said using that basis, ignoring the fact that we’re going to continue to suffer defeat.

I truly believe that nature abhors a vacuum. We must adapt…we must evolve…or we will most certainly lose repeatedly.  No one in this party wants that.

It is not simply enough anymore to get more votes than the other guy in the most creative fashion.  We need to lay a foundation for the future of the Republican Party–and for America–or watch the agenda be paraded by us as we stand on the sidelines, helpless.

There is a lot to do and, now, we’re the ones who must do it.  Together.

Respectfully,

William Smith

(You are reading "Nature Abhors a Vacuum: An Open Letter to Republicans" by William Smith, originally posted on FirstInTheNation.us)