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Middle-Class Heroes? To take on Big Business, the GOP needs more than rhetoric.
National Review Online ^ | December 31, 2013 | Andrew Stiles

Posted on 01/02/2014 10:59:13 AM PST by steelhead_trout

[W]hile crony capitalism has certainly flourished under the Obama administration, the GOP hasn’t exactly gone out of its way to combat the trend.

Many have argued that taking on crony capitalism, and perhaps adopting a more populist tone that emphasizes the needs of working-class Americans, should be an important aspect of the GOP’s rebranded agenda. By advancing a message and a policy agenda that combat the stereotype of Republicans as beholden to Big Business, the party could go a long way toward regaining some lost trust with the American people.

But the party’s actions haven’t matched this desire to change tone. Entrenched special interests still hold political sway. The status quo ... is hard to crack. Additionally ... Republican efforts to strike a more populist tone and reach out to target demographics of minorities, single women, and millennials run the risk of alienating the party’s traditional base. Old habits have been difficult to break.

The Republican National Committee’s own post-2012 autopsy report suggested that the GOP embrace “comprehensive immigration reform” in an effort to appeal to Hispanic voters.

Senator Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) and others have argued that opposing this effort would cast Republicans in the role of standing up for working Americans, who are likely to be the most harmed by the massive influx of low-skilled immigrants contemplated in the Gang of Eight proposal. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill would have a negative impact on wages over the next decade. Big Business is eager to get its hands on cheap immigrant labor, never mind the still-high unemployment rate among native workers.

“Republicans need to start addressing the insecurities of the poor and middle-class, and convince them that conservatism holds the solutions,” says a senior GOP aide.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: conservatism; cronyism; gop; populism
How does the GOP reconcile it's Chamber of Commerce types and the tea party with the needs of the American working/middle class? Tough needle to thread.
1 posted on 01/02/2014 10:59:13 AM PST by steelhead_trout
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To: steelhead_trout

i think the GOP needs to turn up the rhetoric....what do the rats offer other than rhetoric??


2 posted on 01/02/2014 11:10:29 AM PST by God luvs America (63.5 million pay no income tax and vote for DemoKrats...)
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To: steelhead_trout
To take on Big Business, the GOP needs more than rhetoric.

That's not going to happen any time soon. I mean look at all of their party planks:

Firearms When was the last time the Republican party fought to repeal the NFA or GCA?
Abortion When was the last time the Republican party fought to repeal overturn or repudiate Roe v. Wade?
(It was an illegitimate ruling, asserting that the federal government is superior to the States in all cases — not in merely those cases where the US Constitution says.)
Accountability When was the last time the Republican party pushed for severe punishment of government agents behaving illegally?
Waco? Ruby Ridge? Fast & Furious? Benghazi? Libya? NSA? IRS? BATFE?
Fiscal
Responsibility
When was the last time the Republican party offered a budget that would cut whole agencies from the FedGov?
When was the last time they seriously pushed to reign in the Federal Reserve?
Constitutionality When was the last time the Republican party really fought over something because of the contra-constitutionality?
(Individual members like Ted Cruiz and ObamaCare/Amnesty don't count. Neither do issues where they roll over and take it, like ObamaCare or eligibility.)
In short, it seems every single thing that the Republican Party says its about is all talk and no action.
3 posted on 01/02/2014 11:13:29 AM PST by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: OneWingedShark

But those are precicely all things that appeal to the base, but not Joe and Jane Sixpack. All they care about is pocketbook issues, jobs, and the rich getting richer and everyone else barely treading water. Yelling about Benghazi and Fast and Furious won’t get them on board.


4 posted on 01/02/2014 11:18:55 AM PST by steelhead_trout (MYOB)
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To: steelhead_trout
How does the GOP reconcile it's Chamber of Commerce types and the tea party with the needs of the American working/middle class?

It can't.

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. - Matthew 6:24

So the GOP can just go on representing the Crony Corporatist and then the TEA Party can represent the rest of America.

5 posted on 01/02/2014 11:19:26 AM PST by Count of Monte Fisto (The foundation of modern society is the denial of reality.)
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To: steelhead_trout

If the GOP does not figure this out they will be outflanked by Elizabeth Warren types from the Democrat side.


6 posted on 01/02/2014 11:20:50 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: OneWingedShark
"the Republican Party says its about is all talk and no action re-election. "
7 posted on 01/02/2014 11:23:10 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: Buckeye McFrog

If the GOP does not figure this out they will be outflanked by Elizabeth Warren types from the Democrat side.


Yes, and that’s what is dangerous about the Indian Princess. She is right (i.e. correct) about economic issues, but bloody awful on social issues. We need someone who is Elizabeth Warren on economic issues, but Sarah Palin on social issues. Tough find.


8 posted on 01/02/2014 11:23:57 AM PST by steelhead_trout (MYOB)
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To: Count of Monte Fisto
So the GOP can just go on representing the Crony Corporatist and then the TEA Party can represent the rest of America.

Pretty much.

9 posted on 01/02/2014 11:24:36 AM PST by TADSLOS (The Event Horizon has come and gone. Buckle up and hang on.)
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To: steelhead_trout

The Chamber of Commerce is becoming a tool of mega-corporations and Wall street. Not main street American Businesses. I don’t think any reconciliation is necessary. Amnesty is great for big business. They avoid ACA fees and can lower wages. It is terrible for the rest of the nation. When demand for labor is low why would you ever try to increase the supply?


10 posted on 01/02/2014 11:28:55 AM PST by stuckinohio
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To: steelhead_trout
Yelling about Benghazi and Fast and Furious won’t get them on board.

I dunno — a lot of people are pissed off (or at least weary) due to the NSA-spying… if you could connect the two in their minds* then they'll be PO'ed.

* Fairly easy, the irresponsibility/unaccountability breeds corruption and lawlessness that both are a symptom of.

11 posted on 01/02/2014 11:38:38 AM PST by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: steelhead_trout

The Chamber of Commerce represents big businesses, that want government to provide them with special laws and regulations to increase their profits.

The Chamber of Commerce is an establishment organization, and has declared itself to be an enemy of Conservatives and the Tea Party.


12 posted on 01/02/2014 11:44:10 AM PST by Oak Grove (H)
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To: steelhead_trout
“Republicans need to start addressing the insecurities of the poor and middle-class, and convince them that conservatism holds the solutions,” says a senior GOP aide."

The way the Pope's trickle down warning was received, there is little chance the GOP's controllers will fetter those exporting poor and middle class jobs.

13 posted on 01/02/2014 11:58:52 AM PST by ex-snook (God is Love)
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To: steelhead_trout

Why would any politician fight against his primary source of wealth? That would be fighting for cutting his own financial throat.


14 posted on 01/02/2014 12:30:50 PM PST by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINEhttp://steshaw.org/economics-in-one-lesson/)
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To: steelhead_trout

Screw the GOP.

Tax Revolt!

Starve the snake!

Why should we trust them?

The fight starts at the grass roots.


15 posted on 01/02/2014 12:40:20 PM PST by right way right (What's it gonna take? (guillotines?))
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To: steelhead_trout
"How does the GOP reconcile it's Chamber of Commerce types and the tea party with the needs of the American working/middle class?"

The Tea Party is the American working/middle class.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

16 posted on 01/02/2014 2:02:18 PM PST by wku man (We are the 53%! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUXN0GDuLN4)
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To: steelhead_trout

Working people are being ripped off by the welfare state. We should ensure that wealth goes to those that create it, not those who whine the loudest — Makers vs Takers. We’re on the side of fairness, not the left.


17 posted on 01/02/2014 2:09:41 PM PST by ArcadeQuarters (Socialism is slavery.)
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To: BinaryBoy

“Working people are being ripped off by the welfare state. We should ensure that wealth goes to those that create it, not those who whine the loudest — Makers vs Takers. We’re on the side of fairness, not the left.”


Yes but which “makers”, the workers who actually produce stuff, or the One Percent, aka “job creators”?


18 posted on 01/03/2014 5:41:05 AM PST by steelhead_trout (MYOB)
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To: steelhead_trout
I love when you 99%'ers get pepper-sprayed.


19 posted on 01/06/2014 7:56:56 AM PST by Lazamataz (Early 2009 to 7/21/2013 - RIP my little girl Cathy. You were the best cat ever. You will be missed.)
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To: steelhead_trout
Elizabeth Warren is RIGHT on economic issues? Really? Is THIS the Elizabeth Warren you're talking about?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=htX2usfqMEs#t=53

She is the inventor of "You didn't build that".

20 posted on 01/06/2014 8:44:17 AM PST by Cymbaline ("Allahu Akbar": Arabic for "Nothing To See Here" - Mark Steyn)
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