Great point and the elephant in the room here on FR. Many are saying we need a "real" conservative to win, someone who is unapologetic about their opposition to gay rights and abortion. But, unfortunately, I truly believe we are way past that place. If we continue to believe that the evangelical vote is our "base" and that we must have it to win, we will never win another election. I am personally pro-life and support traditional marriage, but I am also coming to terms with the fact that insistence on including them into our political platform is a losing proposition. If our country goes under financially, none of that will really be important anymore, will it? If we can't find work and feed our families do you really think anyone will care? What we need is a platform that appeals to all the factions that go nearly 100% to the Dems - they outnumber us, and if we fail to appeal to them, fiscal conservatism will wither and die. We MUST figure out a way to effectively get the message out that good fiscal policy is their road to success and happiness.
A lot of people are wrestling with this very thing.
The new generation is far more libertine and there is just no stopping that now. I still think our loss can be mostly attributed to rapidly changing demographics (Hispanics primarily) that want free stuff, but there is no doubt that the GOP is increasingly out of step with the new generation on social issues. I am in a suburban area and I am taken aback fairly often at how 20 somethings I run into regularly at the office and elsewhere won't even consider the GOP because of their social issue stands. I mean, these people have a stereotype of a Republican party that is backwards and they won't even consider aligning with it.
I don't know the answer here. I think you will probably start seeing Republicans opposing social order laws to attract the libertine younger crowd. Probably still going to be nominally pro-life, but I suspect Republicans will more and more back ending drug laws, gambling laws, prostitution laws, etc. Social order laws look increasingly doomed since there won't be anyone to support them among the major party's.
Thank you for pointing this out. This is exactly what lost NH. We are a fiscally conservative socially liberal state now. ALL the MEN running for major offices lost because the dems promoted the lies that they did not care about womans issues. We lost in NH because we did not win WHITE WOMEN.
Unlike other states we do not have much hispanic or black population. We are better educated on average. We do not have a big welfare state. Our unemployment is lower than the rest of the northeast. We are NOT a big union state. YET, WE GOT OUR BUTTS KICKED. We even lost the NH state house to the dems this year.
IF we want to ever win a national election again we need to stop putting up candidates that they can fear monger us with a womans right to choose. It is a personal issue. Woman do not want anyone telling them what they can do with their own bodies. Especially young women. We need to take this issue off the table.
We also need to stop blaming the media. We all know the MSM is biased. It always will be. However, why didn’t Romney go David Letterman, The Tonight Show ,etc? We need to appeal to younger voters. Did RR spend any time on college campuses?
We need to appeal to Hispanics. This voting block is growing. As they grow, they are becoming wealthier. They have good family values. They are willing to work hard to get ahead. I recently bought a Toyota pickup from a hispanic immigrant. He grew up in Mass. His parents probably came here illegally. I did not ask. He worked 6 days a week, about 10+ hours a day. He was making about 100K. He was married with a new baby. I tried to hire him to work at my business because I was so impressed with him. This is the type of person that belongs in the Republican party. Yet, I would bet if he voted, he probably voted dem.
We NEED to bring these folks into the Republican Party. If we do not, put a fork in us were toast.