NOTE: This is not to be a bashing of the Republican party or other political parties. It is a discussion on the party's course: past, present, and future.

The Republican Party has been handily defeated in the 2006 Midterms, the 2008 General, and appears to be on course for another losing streak for 2-6 years. Since electing Reagan in 1980, the party has taken a much more Conservative base, attracting religious types and alienating minorities and groups such as blacks, Latinos, and women. John McCain had to sell him self off as a Conservative to his party in order to receive the nomination, even picking Sarah Palin to reinforce the point, and arguably only won the nomination because Thompson, Huckabee, and Romney split the Conservative vote.

Many people across the political spectrum are calling for the party to reassert its self and find its true calling, whatever that may be.

I personally believe the party should move toward the centre of the political spectrum, or risk alienating the remaining moderates and liberals that hang onto the party, along with independents and swing Democrats. It has taken the side of issues that a minority of the country opposes or soon will( abortion, War on Iraq ). If the party elects another die-hard Conservative, whether it be a Palin or Jindal , I believe the party is in for a handy defeat. It had long abandoned moderate positions that the party used to call their own.

Your thoughts?

The republicans will falter one way or another, and we will see another political party rising.

And if I hear another "Ron Paul for President" or "Sarah Palin 2012", my head will explode.

I believe it has a lot to do with timing.

We just came off a very unpopular 8 years of a Republican President with the lowest approval ratings ever; because George W Bush is a figure head of republicans/conservatism the tendency for people, especially the younger ones, is that they will be like "Oh wow, look what a conservative republican did to our country." This in short sways a lot of people, especially the ones who haven't really seen much politics in their lives, towards the other side of the spectrum.

Another thing is just the demograph of our people. Nowadays, younger people and minorities are becoming a much more influential force in the voting process. Those two said groups are typically more democratic. For the young people however, many of them as they grow older will shift more towards the middle or even rightwards. Democratic policies are heavily favored by minorities, especially the low income ones and as we all know the hispanic group is like the fastest growing ethnicity in our nation.

It's not so much the ideology that is bringing the "downfall" of the republican party. Because Bush was so unpopular, many people, particularly the indecisive or independents would want a chance of having something new for a change (hence Obama.) If Obama fails to live up to his expectations of bringing change (for the greater good) to our country or ends up like Jimmy Carter or LBJ, chances are many people will sway back towards the republican side.

Another thing is, a lot of people do not truly understand the ideals that each party cherishes. As well as apathy. For instance, there are so many black people out there who only voted for Obama because he's black, not because of his ideals. There are quite a few people who only associate themselves with parties or ideologies based on social values alone. A lot of young people tend to be more liberal but once they actually start managing their own finances, homes, and lives, many will tend to favor many of the Republican ideals having to do with fiscal/economic policies.


So regarding the question, I believe they (the Republican Party) should first regroup themselves (because right now, the main problem i see with this party isn't necessarily the flaws in their beliefs, but their lack of sense of unity/organization as of this moment), get their ideas and plans for the future straight, and then wait and see.

You have a good point, but I'm saying that a party is rarely this disorganized coming out of an election.

While the older you get, you tend to be more Conservative, that is generally fiscally. On social issues, the nation is moving to the left. Mentioning civil unions 20 years ago would have gotten you smeared and labeled as sinful and shameful. Also, the country is becoming more and more diversified with minorities. The White majority will be gone by 2050.

If the Republican party keeps on taking orders from el dictator Limbaugh, then we can expect it to be replaced by some other party. There is absolutely no indication that the Republican party has any cohesive plans whatsoever at this point. It's sad, actually, because regardless of my own political affiliation, I'd like to see the Democrats' power checked.

Obama will run for a while, everyone will get mad at the Democrats, and then it'll turn back around. That's exactly how it has happened over and over, it's just a cycle.

If that happens, Obama made, not only a humane mistake, but a pattern of big mistakes. And I heavily doubt that people will get mad at Obama unless they are conservative, republican and/or doesn't like the sound of large spending. And Falkoner, you cannot imagine how much hate that Bush receives from all around the world. And you can't just say "it'll turn back around" if Obama is President for too long, and you have yet to see the hate the republicans in congress are receiving lately.

Obama has 90% approval ratings in Canada (I don't know why republicans would want to go there once Obama was elected), and I know for a fact that they protest whenever Bush vists.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Feb 22 2009, 6:04 am by John F Kennedy.

I think this is a major problem for the Republican Party. Under Republicans for two terms, our debt and deficit tremendously increased, so the challenge for the Republican party is to regain a record as fiscally conservative without sounding hypocritical. Though the Republican party has ideals of fiscal conservatism, it cannot be doubted that the past 8 years have seen anything but proper fiscal management.

We've gotten used to this idea of "Political Turnaround", but really it doesn't work that way... plenty of Presidents went in popular, went out popular. The world is not always built out of automatic cycles, politics is not a washing machine.

I'm sure people thought the Whigs would cycle around, but parties do fade away, split, etc, and things do gradually change.

Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and any FOX News anchor are only making the republican party look like trash because of their opinions. It will be very challenging for the republican party to gain power unless the Americans that follows them are doing it for the lulz.

Those guys aren't the only ones who make their party/ideology look bad. Keith Olbermann is *literally* a left version of Bill O'Reilly. Rachel Maddows is a left (and female) version of Sean Hannity (or at least when he does his "Hannity's America" show late at night.) Chris Matthews is probably the only or most respectable prominent left-winged reporter on that station.

But they hardly ever have any major (or minor) controversial opinions.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Feb 23 2009, 8:48 am by John F Kennedy.

Because the only people who watch them are those whose views suit perfectly with them. Conservatives will simply dismiss them (or bash them via youtube video comments or any small conservative blog site.) Normally the liberals are the ones that spend time to do "research" on their conservative counterparts. e.g. Olbermann's nightly "worst persons list."

Actually, the funny thing is, CNN is the first (and only) major news station I've seen that's spoken lowly of Olbermann (It happened shortly after the Shoe throwing incident couple months ago.)

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Feb 23 2009, 9:47 am by Mini Moose 2707.

What did they say?

Something about how people shouldn't listen to Olbermann or take his opinions as the opinion of the America people when regarding how bad Bush is/was and the shoe throwing incident. Couldn't remember their exact words though; it was one of those early hour segments in the morning.

I saw eliminate parties in America and represent Americans instead of 'ideals'.

But for the sake of this argument, they should go back to being Democrats of old, seemed to work better for them that way.