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My advice to the Republicans

by Neil Rickert

The Republicans have not asked for my advice.  And I am quite sure that they will ignore any advice that I give.  Still, they do seem to be in a quandary, so I will offer my advice anyway.

I suppose I should be suggesting a 12-step program, but I will content myself with two steps:

  1. Adopt a pro-choice position on abortion.  This should actually be a no-brainer.  It fits with the traditional Republican view of favoring a small government.
  2. Welcome the log cabin Republicans into the party, and pay attention to what they say.  Decisions on gay marriage should, in the main, be left to the culture and not controlled by politics.  Again, this fits with the traditional Republican view of small government.

This will, of course, be a painful step.  The Republicans will lose those conservative evangelical Christians from their party base.  But that is actually the point of my suggestions.

The Republicans made a Faustian bargain when it went after the Christian coalition.  And that has been destroying the soul of their party.  They need a clean break.

The Republican party has become addicted to those evangelical votes.  And, like all addicts, it has been destroying itself from the inside as it seeks more and more of what it is addicted to.  As they have been following the demands of their addiction, they have managed to piss off more and more of the American people.

So I am suggesting that they break that addiction by going cold turkey.

Sure, they will lose the next election if they do this.  But it is surely better to do it now and cede the 2014 midterm election, with the possibility that they might be able to recover well enough to be competitive in the 2016 presidential election.

Posted on November 20, 2012 at 02:08 (UTC) in opinion, politics   |  RSS feed

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4 Comments to “My advice to the Republicans”

    
  1. Poppy
    November 20, 2012 at 02:31 (UTC)

    I gave the same advice, and I was sure they would ignore it too.
    I have been pondering where would the Christian Right go? Form their own party like the Green Party? The Republicans will most likely keep losing elections if they don’t change some of their stances on social issues, so let them form their own party and split the vote in 2016.

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    • Neil Rickert
      November 20, 2012 at 02:47 (UTC)

      It’s hard to guess what the Christian right would do. My guess is that they would withdraw from politics. That is, they would stop preaching politics from the pulpit, and leave it to their members to individually decide how to vote. And that would be good for the nation, and probably even good for the Christian right.

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  2. imaconstitutionalist
    November 20, 2012 at 07:19 (UTC)

    Neil (and Poppy), I completely agree. As a woman, my decisions for my body belong to ME. And federal monies spent on programs such as the “Healthy Marriage Initiative” is wasteful and invasive. The Christian Coalition belongs in a Church, just as the Jewish Federation belongs in a Synagogue. Who is this government to dictate marriage? Let everyone pay the taxes! It’s fun! This government has gone too far in overstepping their bounds altogether.

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