The New Republican Party

[mudminnow]

What would you want it to look like? Here is what I would like to see

1. Stance on abortion: Leave it up to each state to decide
2. Marriage equality: see #1
3. Education: See #1
4. Foreign Policy: Bring troops home and give the other nations free reign to destroy themselves, knowing that if they touch us on our soil, they won't have any soil left
5. Taxes: Flat tax across the board
6. Drugs: Legalize them and tax the "smell" out of them


I think the GOP can negotiate abortion, marriage, and education issues by informing the public they will have more power if the states get to decide.

What do yall think?

[Daniel J Simoens]

nothing's going to change.

[Franco]

What would you want it to look like? Here is what I would like to see

1. Stance on abortion: Leave it up to each state to decide
2. Marriage equality: see #1
3. Education: See #1
4. Foreign Policy: Bring troops home and give the other nations free reign to destroy themselves, knowing that if they touch us on our soil, they won't have any soil left
5. Taxes: Flat tax across the board
6. Drugs: Legalize them and tax the "smell" out of them


I think the GOP can negotiate abortion, marriage, and education issues by informing the public they will have more power if the states get to decide.

What do yall think?

That's all fine but two things;
1) The Repubs would never support that kind of personal Liberty and

2) We already have a political party that supports those propositions!
http://www.lp.org/issues

[HPL]

That's all fine but two things;
1) The Repubs would never support that kind of personal Liberty and

2) We already have a political party that supports those propositions!
http://www.lp.org/issues

Would it be OK with you if the Republicans co-opted the libertarian position? I voted Republican for pres, senate, house, state house, and state senate, libertarian for judges and prosecutors.

[Franco]

Would it be OK with you if the Republicans co-opted the libertarian position? I voted Republican for pres, senate, house, state house, and state senate, libertarian for judges and prosecutors.

Only if they truely embraced it! However, with as much power and influence that the religious right holds in the GOP, I doubt that would ever happen.

It is easy for anyone or party to proclaim Liberty. I suspect that the vast majority don't understand what it really means under the context of which the word and idea was given to us by the French is the late 1700's. True Liberty is the freedom to beleive and practice whatever one wishes as long as it does not interfer with the freedom and rights of others. What it doesn't mean is that one is free, just as long as they believe like me.

[mudminnow]

The republicans, if they want to survive, need to lean libertarian. Especially with guys like Christie and such who are merely fiscal conservative. Every lib i get the chance to explain the way our country was supposed to be run with more power to the states, agrees that that would be a good compromise. Nobody has said, thats an awful idea yet. Repubs should take note

[mudminnow]

I am a former religious righter, and i think if we could have a leader who can explain in a theologically sound way that "if God is in control, the federal government doesn't need to get in the way" People would switch.

[Franco]

[QUOTE=mudminnow;1030937]The republicans, if they want to survive, need to lean libertarian. I couldn't agree more! Especially with guys like Christie and such who are merely fiscal conservative. I don't think Christy could ever be Libertarian. He is too much of the old guard GOP. Every lib i get the chance to explain the way our country was supposed to be run with more power to the states, agrees that that would be a good compromise. Nobody has said, thats an awful idea yet. Repubs should take note What some don't realize is that the Libertarian movement in the USA attracts from both parties. There are Dems that value their Liberty as well. Not all of them are nanny state queens. There are many who vote Dem because of the Draconian social agenda that is the GOP Platform. I soon learned after getting involved with our state Libertarian Party that many have come to us from the Democratic Party.[/QUOTE]

My comments in red.

[BonMallari]

What would you want it to look like? Here is what I would like to see

1. Stance on abortion: Leave it up to each state to decide
2. Marriage equality: see #1
3. Education: See #1
4. Foreign Policy: Bring troops home and give the other nations free reign to destroy themselves, knowing that if they touch us on our soil, they won't have any soil left
5. Taxes: Flat tax across the board
6. Drugs: Legalize them and tax the "smell" out of them

I think the GOP can negotiate abortion, marriage, and education issues by informing the public they will have more power if the states get to decide.

What do yall think?

I could live with that except # 6 other than that it's good by me

[HPL]

The republicans' position on abortion, gay rights, and the environment are at odds with mine. As an agnostic (on a day when I'm feeling extra open minded) I find the religious right a serious annoyance. I find the Democrats' position on the second amendment just totally against reason (see my earlier post on the second amendment and check out the link), and their instance that they know how to spend my money better than I do completely unacceptable. I would like to see us end the war on drugs and at least decriminalize drug use reducing the portion of my tax money spent fighting what is clearly a losing battle. I find the dems' pandering to political correctness absolutely nauseating and want to slap folks who think it is perfectly OK to scream F**k at the top of their lungs in public but would have you arrested for using the word n***er (both terms not acceptable in my family, by the way). And so on and so on. Point is that no party suits me completely. I feel like Roe v. Wade is pretty safe and that gay marriage will be allowed soon enough, but also feel that the second amendment is in real danger, so basically vote vote Republican as the lesser of the evils available. Clearly, much of the values that the republicans' purport to back (fiscal responsibility, smaller government, free markets, lower taxes) line up with what a large portion of the country also says is important to them. The just lose too many folks by insisting on touching the third rail issues of reproductive rights and immigration. Alienating the largest voting bloc (women) and the largest growing minority (latinos) is just STUPID.