[Cross-posted from OC Blog]
Although I’ve hardly blogged on the topic, I’ve done a good deal of thinking about the November election and what it portends for the Republican Party and conservatism (and they are two different things).
Much ink and many pixels have been spilled writing prescriptions for the GOP’s recovery, so I don’t see the need to add to the pile of punditry. Suffice it to say I don’t think the GOP needs to gin up a new set of principles, or even that the election constituted a rebuke of the center-right physiology of the Republican Party. No political party can win every election, and the GOP has done much to merit back-to-back defeats for reasons that have been amply commentated on.
There is one particular argument for restoring the Republican Party that merits some scornful attention, however: the idea that religious conservative, or cultural conservatives, are to blame for the GOP’s woes. I have seen this argument made by some Beltway conservatives like Kathleen Parker, and locally by libertarian editorialist Steve Greenhut.
I’m not certain what drives this analysis, but it certainly can’t be familiarity with politics or history. It ignores the verity that elections are won by addition, not subtraction. The trick is attracting enough voters to your coalition (which is what American parties are) while not getting too big to hold the coalition together. And religious conservatives are an indispensable pillar of the Republican center-right coalition.
The attitude of the secularizers ignore also the lengths to which national Democratic candidates to make themselves palatable to voters with a traditional view of religion — an strong indication of the power of this voting bloc. Barack Obama and Joe Biden were conscientios in letting swing state voters know they opposed gay marriage and regularly attended church.
I’ve yet to hear how those with the urge to purge cultural conservatives from the GOP plan to replace them, or how they propose to win elections without what has been the most loyal constituency of the GOP coalition? Perhaps they believe there is a huge, secret army of right-wing secularists hiding in the political mists, who would join the conservative cause were it not for the presence of those religious conservatives and their refusal to keep their beliefs to themselves!
This is not a new argument. The same tune was being played in 1992. Fortunately, that advice was ignored and we were able to bounce back and take over the Congress two years later.
NRO’s Jonah Goldberg wrote an insightful post on this phenomenon today. Among other things, he points to the prevalence of secularist thinking among some precincts of conservatism and most precincts of libertarianism as a factor in this antipathy toward religious conservatives. Personally, I’d go further on the subject of libertarians, who increasingly have adopted an almost atheistic contempt for religion as hokum reserved for the intellectually feeble.
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 am
Common sense, Matt, thanks. But, of course, what really needs to be purged from the GOP is the lack of common sense.
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 am
The problem is not religious conservatives, but the socialists and “progressives” who call them selves conservative based on abortion/gay marriage.
And there really is not divide between religious conservatives and libertarians, since society and the state are not, and ought not to be, the same thing.
But moreover, religious conservatives need to start explaining why their policies are consistent with freedom and antithetical to any idea of “social engineering.”
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 am
Mr. Rego:
Consult a map of the world. The predominantly Christian and Jewish
countries are nearly all Democracies in which personal freedom thrives.
The predominantly athiest nations (North Kora, mainland China, and
Vietnam) are Stalinist nightmares.
Do you think this is merely coincidence?
Christians and Jews believe in the essential dignity and value of every
man and woman. Christians and Jews don’t need to explain their
commitment to freedom to anyone. It is the Secularists who have a
lot of explaining to do.
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 am
Mr. Sills,
Consult your world history. I will assume that when you say “personal freedom” you mean the right that each citizen has to choose freely when exercising his or her vote. This idea does not find its origins in the Old or New Testament.
The call to “cast out religious conservatives” fails to grasp the true cause of the parties meandering. As the author states, as you start throwing people out of the party, you lose voting power.
If we are to celebrate ignorance and belittle elitism, we’re going to drive people away. Rationally, who wants to be just average. Sorry to insult, but I don’t want to be a plumber! That’s not my goal in life! I want to strive for *gasp* an elite position! We need to embrace that in the party. Celebrate it. Promote it. Being an elite Navy SEAL is a damn good thing! And you know what, there are plenty of “elite” religious conservatives who are great, great people. Great citizens of this country.
The idea of throwing them out ignores the root cause of the fall of the GOP.
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 am
California is much different from the rest of the US. What works in Kentucky or Georgia won’t fly here.
Perceived religious tilt and continued harping on “pro life” stance have alienated a broad middle swath of voters – esp mid/upper income suburban educated professionals.
These folks run scared of R’s because they’re afraid the already poor schools will decline further given risk of Creationist nonsense being taught. They want their kids to have successful tech jobs, perhaps in the biotech sector. A ‘Bob Jones’ degree ain’t gonna fly at Genentech; it might work in the seed shop of a Kansas farming supply.
Also, choice continually ranks #1-#3 concern of CA voters. When CA R’s keep harping on ‘pro-life’ (even though it’s irrelevant given US Supreme Ct) The moment CA R’s totally shuddup about ‘choice’ and start talking about fixing CA gov’t is the moment they’ll win.
BTW, I’m not prochoice, etc. I just don’t give crap about it and I want the R’s to win to save us from a locked-down future of Bass, Villaraigosa, etc.
I will reiterate that the CA R’s platform (driving its irrelevance) is so extreme – or at least perceived to be that way – that it drives a key segment to vote against it. The dogs ain’t eating the dogfood anymore: the marketers and flavormakers need to be blamed.
This is why no Republican can get statewide office (plus or minus a downlist one like insurance commissioner).
When Steve Poizner is the only hope you have for governor, and the only R holder of a statewide major office, you know your party has self-destructed.
There aren’t that many Bible Thumpers in CA. Kicking these people to the curb may well be a profitable trade to recover the otherwise- conservative middle zone who’s worried about high taxes, bad schools and excessive business regulation. These are the folks the R’s have alienated so much they’re willing to pay higher taxes to avoid ’em.
Go around suburban metro areas with a high fraction of college educated homeowning professionals. Ignoring national issues, when you ask ’em about CA Repubs, invariably religious-taint issues quickly emerge.
Bill Wiese
San Jose CA
December 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Mr. Wiese:
There are over two BILLION Christians and Jews in the World, and over 25 million
of them live in California. Nobody is going to “kick us to the curb”, as you so
wittily suggest.
And No political party is going to win in California without our help.
Here is a late breaking news bulletin: People who believe in the Bible you sneer
at, are starting to resist the openly anti-Semitic and anti-Christian haters.
Look at those odds, and then you figure it out Mister.
December 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Mr. Sills,
No one here is suggesting a purge of all Christians and/or Jews. The problem is when socialists and progressives join the GOP and fight those who oppose large and expansive government, and do this to the GOP while calling themselves “conservative.”
One can oppose gay marriage, abortion, teaching evolution, &c. and NOT be a conservative. It is THOSE people who are the problem, NOT those conservatives who happen to have a strong relationship with God.
December 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Mr. Rego:
Can you offer some Examples, please, of the “socialists and progressives”
who joined the GOP, while calling themselves conservatives?
I don’t recall seeing these folks.
December 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I don’t think it’s the so called ‘religious conservatives’ that’s an issue, it’s the leadership of the religious wackjobs.
Conservatives are humble and hardworking–those that are speaking are not humble and only work hard to oppose another party.
What is needed is to eliminate the Religious Wackjob’s financial tie with this party. When they pull the strings (Prop 8) and fund an initiative that is only intended to attack a segment of the population, they are causing harm to the party.
Conservative is an ideology and Republican is a caucus. One is a belief system, the other is a fundraising vehicle. Same comparison for Liberal and Democrat–we’re talking 4 entities here and not left or right.
December 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Mr. Banish:
Same challenge… name some names, who EXACTLY do you want to
purge from the California GOP?
And why is Proposition 8, which won by almost 600,000 votes, a bad
thing for the Republican Party? Exit polls show 77% of rank-and-file
Republicans voted YES on 8. Do you want to purge those 77% from
the GOP as well?
* 77% figure is from the new Public Policy Institute of California
report on the Nov. 2008 ballot measures.
December 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Mr Sills
Will you explain to me how moderates, and specifically John McCain are the ones responsible for Americans facing the possiblity of loosing a house, having a car reposesed. Getting layed off, having to shop for clothes at the goodwill, and cutting back on groceries?
December 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Mr. Jordan:
This thread has focused on whether religious conservatives should be booted out
of the Republican Party. I’m in favor of keeping moderates, social conservatives
and economic conservatives in the GOP. That worked for Ronald Reagan, and it
will work today if we give it a try.
December 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Mr Sills
51% or more of the US population wants abortion to remain legal. by your methodology, it’s good for America to keep abortion legal and the Republican Party should immediately return to it’s roots of the 50s & support keeping abortion legal.
The Prop 8 issue was bad for the party because it continued to decline support for the party. It used to be 59%, now it’s 51%–and the extra 8% are people that are added to those that HATE the party.
On a side note: I must commend the folks that ran the mailer that pointed out that Obama does not support gay marriage. That made certain that prop 8 passed by involuntarily enlisting African Americans to oppose gay marriage–a great manipulation to have African Americans support Republicans during a huge Democrat cycle.
Here’s the problem, after prop8, what is the CRP known for?
a)fiscal conservatism, or
b)fascists trying to control other people’s lives
Select 1, but I’ll give you a hint, it’s B.
People I want out of the Republican Party:
James Sills
Neocons
Pseudo-religious Right
Anti-gay activists
Gun Lobby activists
Anyone in leadership over age 30
It’s not the rank & file members that’s the problem, it’s the management. What’s wrong with GM is what’s wrong with this party. Top-down management choices are declining support for the party.
Mr Sills
I believe you have a problem differentiating the difference between conservative thinkers and religious thinkers–they are 2 different groups.
Religion is a collection of beliefs. Conservative is a collection of ideas, ideals and principles.
The problem with pseudo conservative religious members is they truly believe in regulating everyone else’s lives and that’s not what Republican is all about.
December 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am
PS stop trying to resurrect Ronald Reagan. He was a tax N spend liberal Republican governor of CA until he started accepting National GOP funding for the presidential race.