Posted on 12/21/2004 10:16:54 PM PST by kattracks
ARNOLD Schwarzenegger, Republican governor of California and the biggest celebrity in the world, is still a political novice. His recent advice to the GOP reflects this.In an interview in Germany last week, Schwarzenegger said he wanted to see the Republican Party move to the left politically so it can win more elections.
“The Republican Party currently covers only the spectrum from the right wing to the middle, and the Democratic Party covers the spectrum from the left to the middle,” he said. “I would like the Republican Party to cross this line, move a little further left and place more weight on the center. . . this would immediately give the (Republican) party 5 percent more votes without its losing anything elsewhere.”
First, it is a bit disturbing that the GOP’s biggest celebrity indicates he is more concerned about the party winning elections than standing up for principles. Arnold is no social conservative, so maybe he is trying to pull the party to the left so it will fit more closely with his own ideals. But that is not what he said.
Second, the Republican Party tends to do better at the polls when it stands firm on conservative ideals than when it moves to the left to attract new voters. It cannot out-Democrat the Democrats. Those moderate voters Arnold wants are unlikely to become permanent Republican voters unless the party jettisons a good number of its conservatives. In that case, the party will have gained the moderates but lost the more loyal conservatives.
Schwarzenegger is right that the Republican Party needs to appeal to more moderate voters. But it needs to do this by convincing those voters that the party’s ideas (to the extent that it upholds them) are right, not by pandering.
I think politics is a bit about popularity.. Do you think Arnold was stumping in Ohio because of his ideas? Umm no.. its because he is strong image, and popularity. Id say a good 10% of the vote is last minute. The last minute voters think of very very strange reasons to vote. Things like "wow, i didnt know Arnold liked Bush! Shyt.. ill vote for him too!". As strange as it sounds.. its true..
Not everyone looks at the issues. If i can get a vote for Bush because of the color pants Arnold is wearing.. ill take that vote too.
Politics is now about show biz. That's why the RNC crowd was grooming Arnold and had no use for McClintock. McC thinks ideas have consequences, the movers and shakers in the Cal GOP just want power.
Only one thing counts in Politics or anything else-->WINNING
That's what Vince Lombardi said, and it is so true. Losers
in politics, no matter how good their ideas get no chance to
implement them, so they are as useless as spoiled milk.
Only winners in elections get a chance to implement their
ideas. If republicans are to stay in majority, the FIRST
job is winning elections. So long as Arnold can win in
California, he is 100 times better for GOP than others who
have no chance at winning such as McClintock.
I can't help but think that we have ultimately lost in the arena of ideas versus emotion. The nation's morality has already severely decayed, in my opinion. That is why people think that if something is legal, then it is okay - if the government sanctions it, then it must be moral! When most people think like this (and it is my observation that most do) then you have a society that wants to plunder from others, so long as said plunder is legal, or can survive a test of legality in court. Such individuals will never want to get rid of Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid or Welfare (corporate or social) or SSI or the other litany of "entitlements" and bogus social programs, because they see my money as their fundamental human right. So, perhaps pop culture is the way to go. People clearly don't think in terms of right and wrong, but they do seem to think in terms of - "I want to be like that guy" or "I like that person" or "Wow, she's really hot" and so on. Pop culture has effectively destroyed countless trillions of braincells. Why not use it to our advantage, rather than to our continued disadvantage. Go Arnold!
So, you think we should become liberals so we can win elections. Why don't you switch to the Dems then? They embrace the left. The republicans don't. We won the Presidential election because we stood strong on our right wing politics. That is what won. We won by 3 million votes. If the republicans swing left then conservatives will leave the party for the libertarians or some other party. You won't get my vote if you go left I will gaurantee you that.
Ditto.
The President's platform included touting his record of giving more money to the education department, expanding Medicare, saving Social Security, and plans to give amnestry for hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of lawbreakers.
In order to support the President's domestic agenda, versus simply opposing Kerry's, one must assume that other people have a fundamental right to my money on the basis of some arbitrary "need". That is the essense of collectivism.
I'm not saying vote for the bigger pinko, just because the guy closer to your views isn't perfect, but really, to say that Republicans don't embrace the left and/or that Republicans won the election because they stand for right wing politics is an exercise in fantasy.
Brilliant post!
First, I thought we were talkng about Arnold. Which means we
are implicitly talking about California politics. Which means
smart republicans embrace Arnold's politics, a PROVEN WINNER.
When we talk about Idaho, Wyoming, Texas or other such strong
GOP states, politics will take on different emphasis. Die
hard, one issue voters (such as anti-abortionists) will be
huge losers in states such as Cali & MA, NY.
In the end Vince Lombardi was a lot smarter than you or me,
and I suscribe to his idea "Winning is Everything". If you
want to be a loser, its your prerogative and right.
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