A Letter to the GOP
Dear Chairman Priebus,
I have to admit, I am not happy with the way things have been going these past few years with the GOP. My disappointment goes beyond the party’s inability to run respectable candidates for public office. It goes beyond the crazies like Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin who make ridiculous claims about rape. It goes right to the core of the party’s platform, operations, and values.
Two very important things before I point out some major problems. First, I want to make myself clear. It is inexcusable that Republicans are trailing in the polls. Unemployment is still above 8%, the government has adopted drastic quantitative easing methods, and public debt is soaring with no end in sight. This should be a favorable climate for Republicans. Even though every other phrase Mitt Romney utters is a gaffe, there is no valid explanation for a second Obama term and a Democratic majority in the Senate.
Second, my enthusiasm for Republican candidates has never been lower, and I am strongly considering voting for a third party candidate. I volunteered for John McCain in 2008 and supported Republicans across the board in the 2010 midterms because of Republicans’ economic and foreign policies, the promise of smaller government, and my hatred of Obamacare. I identify as a Republican because our political system encourages two parties, and the Democrats’ solutions to solve the US’s major problems are delusional and naïve.
There is a lot that Republicans can do. Yet at times, it seems like Republicans are their own worst enemy. Are Republicans intentionally trying to dissuade all non-white older males from supporting them? Republicans are scaring away women with the emphasis on anti-abortion policies, young voters with their anti-gay marriage views, and Hispanics with their inability to effectively communicate their immigration policies. It is time to realize Republican hypocrisy when it comes to social issues: Republicans are okay with the government telling Americans they can’t have abortions or marry the person they love, while completely ignoring the fact that small government is the party’s most fundamental value. If Republicans don’t make a change soon, the party may go extinct.
Asking for major changes to social policies will alienate much of the Republican base, and I actually believe that some Republican social issues should be kept as part of the party platform in order to remain competitive in the South. The big problem is that these social issues need to be a distant priority. Republicans should focus their efforts on debating issues that give them an advantage over their Democrat counterparts – which the debating of social issues fails to do. In a recent Gallup poll, Independents supported legalizing same-sex marriage by a 17-point spread, and these independents are a voting block that Republicans must win to win elections.
To make the Republican Party more competitive, Republicans must focus on the issues that give them an edge. They must emphasize core principles that resonate with the average voter such as smaller government, lower taxes, and pro-energy policies. I want to hear more “Drill, baby, drill!” I want to hear “Read my lips: no new taxes” like it’s 1988. I don’t want to hear “My job is not to worry about those people.”
Republicans running for Congress and the White House can use the 10th amendment as a way to defer controversial issues to state governments. Think about it for a second: it is a win-win. Republicans can emphasize their belief in smaller government while avoiding issues that are either nationally popular or easily manipulated by the liberal media. Let issues like same sex marriage and abortion (which Americans in my generation generally view more liberally) be decided at the state level.
As for the partisan battle over the Bush tax cuts, it is time for Republicans to attack Democrats on Obama’s desire to increase taxes on dividends and capital gains. If anything these taxes need to be lowered to encourage investment. Republicans can win this partisan battle by informing and educating Americans on the benefits of lower taxes. Once the Bush tax cuts expire and the tax rates rise, stock prices will drop significantly as the price of a stock is the present value of all future dividends.
I understand that my plea for change will go unnoticed. Be warned: if Republicans continue to be inept social martyrs, the party will die. When GOP candidates and Mitt Romney get trounced in elections on November 6th, I won’t be upset like I was in 2008. As bleak as the next four years look under a continued Obama Administration, it may actually be a blessing in disguise for Republicans for two reasons. First, Obama and the Democrats will have four more years to dig themselves in a deep enough hole that no one will remember George W. Bush. Second, Republicans will have four years to realize how to not alienate half of the country and nominate a candidate for president that isn’t a notorious flip-flopper. Republicans must gain more support from Hispanics, women, and young voters in 2014 and 2016 in order to have a strong chance of winning the White House and taking a majority in the Senate.
Sincerely,
Gavin Frisch