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Can We Save the Soul of the GOP?
Townhall.com ^ | Feb 22, 2014 | Steve Deace

Posted on 02/22/2014 3:21:09 PM PST by callthemlikeyouseethem

The “Republican” brand is severely tarnished.

Currently just 25% of Americans identify themselves as “Republicans.” On the other hand, 38% of Americans identify themselves as “conservative,” which is more than any other ideological group by 15 points.

These numbers are prompting a national conversation about how to “save the soul of the Republican Party” among conservatives, or if the party is still worth saving at all.

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


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: conservatives; election; gop; soul
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To: arderkrag

I don’t know what you were trying to say, but I imagine it was another way of trying to promote abortion, gay power, and anti-God social liberalism.


41 posted on 02/22/2014 9:52:28 PM PST by ansel12 (Ben Bradlee -- JFK told me that "he was all for people's solving their problems by abortion".)
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To: callthemlikeyouseethem
Probably the only thing allowing the GOP the tenuous existence it still has is the fear of the Democrats that dwells within the hearts and minds of reasonable American voters. That is perhaps 30% of the electorate.

There is also the understandable fear of a Third Party, something like the Ross Perot Problem that gave BJ Clinton two terms. This is the trick of the century ... how to allow the Republican Party to die without handing the reins over to the Democrats for at least half of the century. If that happens, in all likelihood there will be no republic left for the 22 Century.

IMNVHO, it is not reasonable to assume that the GOP will "reform" itself. The deal incumbent Establishment Republicans have is simply too good a deal for them to give up. The GOP will have to be voted out of existence.

So far, no one has a viable idea of how the Hell that is supposed to happen. Are ww wrking on it?

42 posted on 02/22/2014 10:04:39 PM PST by Kenny Bunk (Don't let the aftershave and embalming fluid fool you. Many RINOs are actually dead meat.)
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To: ansel12

What I was saying, obviously, was that the party should be pro-life, but on a legal, rights-based strategy, not a social one.


43 posted on 02/22/2014 10:37:12 PM PST by arderkrag (An Unreconstructed Georgian, STANDING WITH RAND.)
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To: arderkrag

I don’t know what that means either, it is a political party, it elects people to decide law.


44 posted on 02/22/2014 10:45:36 PM PST by ansel12 (Ben Bradlee -- JFK told me that "he was all for people's solving their problems by abortion".)
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To: ansel12

I’m not abandoning anything. Social legislation belongs at the State level, not the Federal level. The states are doing a good job of curtailing abortion, for example.

The states were meant to be “laboratories” for social legislation, to see what worked and what did not work.

Too bad that wasn’t done for prohibition. We could have, as a nation, saved a lot of trouble and money.

The statement was found on a blog concerning the founding of the Republican Party. And I have tried to find it again after my computer was hacked, again, last year but no luck.

Does this mean I want the Republican Party to refuse to support social conservatism? No, it does not. I want us to win nationally and concentrate on conservative issues that will appeal to most Americans.


45 posted on 02/22/2014 11:23:35 PM PST by SatinDoll (A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN IS BORN IN THE USA OF USA CITIZEN PARENTS)
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To: SatinDoll

You have to abandon that silly claim that the Republican party “”Originally, back in the 1850s, they promised not to get involved in social matters.””.

For one, they wanted slavery to be made against the law, just as we want abortion to be made against the law, they were for preserving marriage, just like now.

You already have the libertarian and democrat party if you are a social liberal, conservatives will continue to fight to keep the GOP a conservative party, in fact more so, we are trying to turn it right, not left, as you are.

Your last paragraph didn’t make any sense, unless you are agreeing with me and conservatives.


46 posted on 02/22/2014 11:44:55 PM PST by ansel12 (Ben Bradlee -- JFK told me that "he was all for people's solving their problems by abortion".)
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To: ansel12
You already have the libertarian and democrat party if you are a social liberal, conservatives will continue to fight to keep the GOP a conservative party, in fact more so, we are trying to turn it right, not left, as you are.

Replacing left-wing authoritarianism with right-wing authoritarianism is not the answer.

I'll remained focused on Liberty, which transcends the phony left-right political spectrum.

I'm not interested in being bounced between competing visions of Tyranny, which is what has been happening in America for at least the last century. I reject any embrace of Tyranny, whether it be "conservative", "liberal", or any other label...

47 posted on 02/23/2014 12:22:30 AM PST by sargon (I don't like the sound of these here Boncentration Bamps!)
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To: sargon

LOL, you must despise the pre-1960s America before you guys moved the nation so far left and destroyed our culture and traditions, and made it a social liberal paradise that the left loves.


48 posted on 02/23/2014 12:25:09 AM PST by ansel12 (Ben Bradlee -- JFK told me that "he was all for people's solving their problems by abortion".)
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To: FReepers; Patriots; FRiends


WE 'Conservatives' renounce the clowns on the right.

WE 'Conservatives' have yet to see you, 'LIBERALS', renounce the clowns on the left.

We 'Conservatives' are not holding our breath.

THIS is what makes us different than you.

WE are beholden to principle, not party.









WOO-HOO & AMEN!

PLEASE Make Your Donation!

Go Monthly if you possibly & reliably can!

49 posted on 02/23/2014 12:32:48 AM PST by onyx (Please Support Free Republic - Donate Monthly! If you want on Sarah Palin's Ping List, Let Me know!)
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To: arderkrag

Jefferson wrote: “Endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are LIFE...”


50 posted on 02/23/2014 2:00:16 AM PST by xzins ( Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for victory!)
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To: xzins

Rights are a legal matter. They are granted by our Creator, but our discussion of them should remain purely legal in nature.


51 posted on 02/23/2014 6:33:29 AM PST by arderkrag (An Unreconstructed Georgian, STANDING WITH RAND.)
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To: sargon

At least I’m not the only one who gets it.


52 posted on 02/23/2014 6:35:53 AM PST by arderkrag (An Unreconstructed Georgian, STANDING WITH RAND.)
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To: ansel12
...Really? You don't know the division of social and legal issues?

A social issue is one that is purely morally based, but does not interfere directly with the rights of the citizenry. A good example would be small towns having curfews.

LEGAL issues, like abortion, DO directly interfere with the rights of the citizenry. Killing another is always a violation of rights.

Unless you can show that something directly (not indirectly, not might in some bizarre unlikely circumstance) interferes with the rights of the citizenry, then it shouldn't be listed in the party platform. ANYTHING less is support of tyranny.
53 posted on 02/23/2014 6:43:03 AM PST by arderkrag (An Unreconstructed Georgian, STANDING WITH RAND.)
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To: callthemlikeyouseethem

“Currently just 25% of Americans identify themselves as “Republicans.” On the other hand, 38% of Americans identify themselves as “conservative,”

That could mean that 25% of Americans are RINOS and 13% are “non rino conservatives” (do the math, non rino conservative equals 38-25 or 13)

It seems to me that 25% rino conservatives is larger than 13% not rino conservatives.


54 posted on 02/23/2014 6:56:38 AM PST by staytrue
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To: ansel12

Ansell, sweetie, I won’t abandon the U.S.Constitution, period. That document gives us the greatest amount of liberty for the largest number of people. You and the left want to narrow those liberties. Marriage and abortion aren’t mentioned in the U.S.Constitution so the power to regulate those are left to the states. And accusing me of being “left” demonstrates how ridiculously destructive you are towards other Conservatives.

You, and “social conservatives”, are making the same mistake the liberals-Democrats-Progressives-communists have promulgated in the past 200 years. Using non-existant ‘powers’ in the U.S.Constitution in an attempt to manipulate human behavior has resulted in terrible laws such as prohibition.

That wasn’t what the framers of the U.S.Constitution intended.


55 posted on 02/23/2014 8:23:07 AM PST by SatinDoll (A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN IS BORN IN THE USA OF USA CITIZEN PARENTS)
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To: arderkrag

When you can make sense, then try again, your posts are too vague to make out.


56 posted on 02/23/2014 10:58:45 AM PST by ansel12 (Ben Bradlee -- JFK told me that "he was all for people's solving their problems by abortion".)
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To: SatinDoll

Abortion as “liberty”, gay marriage, as “liberty”, it doesn’t get much more left than that.


57 posted on 02/23/2014 11:13:18 AM PST by ansel12 (Ben Bradlee -- JFK told me that "he was all for people's solving their problems by abortion".)
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To: arderkrag
They are granted by our Creator, but our discussion of them should remain purely legal in nature

LOL!

58 posted on 02/23/2014 11:25:22 AM PST by xzins ( Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for victory!)
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To: ansel12
LOL, you must despise the pre-1960s America before you guys moved the nation so far left

There's lies and there's damn lies, and that's a damn lie...

59 posted on 02/23/2014 1:35:46 PM PST by sargon (I don't like the sound of these here Boncentration Bamps!)
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To: SatinDoll

You’re wasting time trying to explain it to that one. I think he’s purposeky being obtuse, not to mention making incredible assumptive leaps of reasoning regarding other posters. Anyone who can’t tell the difference3 between a social issue and a legal issue isn’t worth the time, honestly.


60 posted on 02/23/2014 1:58:05 PM PST by arderkrag (An Unreconstructed Georgian, STANDING WITH RAND.)
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