For the past five years, the GOP has been labeled the party of “No”. The charge is not unreasonable since Conservatives have disagreed with the Obama administration on nearly every item on his agenda. It is only natural to respond negatively to ideas that we find ideologically wrong and in a practical sense, unrealistic or misguided. The Left isn’t completely wrong when it says the GOP is being uncooperative, but their goal of guilt-tripping us into going along with their dangerous ideas is an odd method of trying to create bipartisanship. If they desire cooperation, perhaps they should try tempering their desire for radically socialist policies and find a middle ground that we can work together on. Instead the Left insists that their ideas must be accepted as is, with no debate or consensus building. If the GOP will not bend to their demands, then they will use every trick in the book to force their agenda through, as they did with Obamacare.
That being said, merely blocking the Left’s attempts to socialize the country does not constitute a strategy. Over the past few years we have seen a complete disintegration of the unity between people who vote for Republican candidates. Those who support Ted Cruz are not going to support Jeb Bush and vice-versa. The biggest reason for this divide between sections of the party stems from the fact no one has been able to present a coherent plan for the future. Everyone is laser focused on their tactics for small skirmishes such as the debt ceiling or Benghazi without a long term vision on how to prevail in our ultimate objectives. In order to succeed, the GOP must begin to present detailed ideas for rescuing our country and be able not only to defend these ideas, but also convert new followers. It’s time to stop seeing the forest for the trees.
The most obvious example of our failure is the battle against Obamacare. We all agree Obamacare is bad and should be repealed, yet no Republican has managed to offer a viable alternative. Instead of offering a solution, the GOP has dug its heels in and obstructed Obamacare at every step, but a head on fight is not going to succeed. Simple arithmetic and a basic understanding of how the government works will show you that the GOP cannot defeat Obamacare on its own, it needs Democrats to go along with it. Except the Republican’s tactics have made it easier for the Dems to avoid taking a true stance on the issue. No Democrat will join ranks with the GOP since we offer no viable strategy for moving forward. Instead, the Dems have staked out the position of calling the GOP extremists and blaming Obama himself for any failures of the Dem’s agenda. We have given the rank and file Dems a gray area to take cover in and retain their offices.
If we are going to repeal and replace Obamacare, a real alternative must be brought forward that can gain the support of the Republican base and the independent middle ground. Reagan forced this type of choice during his tenure and produced a bloc known as the Reagan Democrats.
The Republicans in office and in the media need to stop fighting small scale political battles and lead the intellectual war against the Left. Our party is very keen on quoting the Founding Fathers and other great Americans from history, yet those men did not attain their status by fighting in the weeds with no viable path to victory. Instead they seized the initiative and forced their opponents on to the defensive.
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