Yes indeed. Here we go again. I shall try, once again, to make a feeble attempt at making blogging a habit in this post-election, politics starved era we are currently entering. In case you're a diehard Republican who has been sleeping under a rock for the past 48 hours here's what's been going on: We lost. Obama won. And no, it's not the end of the United States of America... not yet.
As a 21st Century Republican, it pains me to see the direction the Republican Party is headed. America as we know it is still a center-right country. We are not, however, a far right country. The Republican Party is the party of Lincoln. President Lincoln fought against all odds to ensure that all men (and women) were treated equally. He fought for what he knew was right, but he knew there'd have to be plenty of compromise along the way in order for anything to ever change.
Social issues aside, the GOP platform still resonates with Americans who are, on the whole, fiscally conservative. The nation likes what we're saying. But they don't like how TEA Party darlings are A) making social issues the focus of campaigns when "it's about the economy, stupid" and B) taking a hardline, no compromise stance on every issue. Now before you go and call me a RINO, hear me out.
Republicans and Speaker Boehner still hold the US House. This means that we can essentially block any legislation the President Obama wants to pass. But should we? Why can't we work Democrats and ensure that our values are reflected in legislation. We have the chance to truly turn this country around and work with Democrats to fix our nation's many problems. Is it time to fight like hell to get Republican leaders elected? You betcha. Is it time to drag our party even further to the right? Absolutely not.
I'm afraid that if we keep dragging our party further and further right that we'll lose the youth of this nation, that we'll lose people of color, we'll lose women, and we'll lose many, many more elections. That's when America as we know it will end: when the Republican Party is so far to the right that we lose every election in this center-right nation of ours and hand Democrats the next century of political power. We can't afford to be the party of the old white man anymore. We have to find a way to be more inclusive. This is coming from a 19 year old kid who worked his tail off to try and get Mitt Romney elected. It's time to do some soul searching in the Republican Party. It's time to move this party out of the 20th century and into the 21st. Of course, what do I know? I'm only a 21st Century Republican, a dying species, if you ask me.
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