The Republican Party, in no small part, was created as the abolitionist Party (aided by many Christians to whom slavery was abhorrent). Yet, even though it was the Republicans that actually pushed LBJ’s Civil Rights Act of 1964 to completion, the Democrats have taken credit for it ever since.
(Where do you think the Palestinians got, in part, their blueprint for calling the Israelis racists?)
Since then, pretty much silence from Republicans. They ceded this social issue other than quietly saying (every once in a long while) “but WE were the ones that passed the bill.” No fight in those wusses.
The GOP has only paid slim attention to the Culture War that started back in the 1960s and now is starting to pay for that long, long mistake. Again, I bring up Doug Scammon, who said, the NH GOP just ought to drop Abortion as an issue.
“…a prominent New Hampshire Republican said the party lost the White House and U.S. Senate two years ago because of abortion. “The far-right Republicans don’t understand that winning is the most important part of an election,” said Doug Scamman, a former New Hampshire House speaker who called himself a pro-choice Republican. “If Republicans are going to win in the future, they’ve got to put that behind them.”
Sure, just give up that battlespace in the Culture War which gave rise to my “All Social issues have a Fiscal Cost“.
And then Steve Duprey made it clear that the NH GOP shouldn’t IGNORE the issue but this NH GOP Committeeman (at the time) was helping to FUND abortion. And supported Gay marriage. And I’ve written a few times now that the Liberals’ use of our common language, and its redefining, is now leaking into the NH GOP and RNC.
Wet paper bag. They have yet to figure out that Politics is driven by the Culture and the Left has put their imprimatur on the Culture for the last 6 decades. The Republicans?
Our Founders pledged their honor, their fortunes, and their lives in their war. Republicans, mostly, just issue Press Releases. Usually defensive ones (and we all know in politics, if you’re explaining, your losing). The Left has been “full-spectrum” for decades – Republicans decided only politics was the place to be. The Left has set the agenda AND the language in which the debate will be had. The Republicans haven’t figured out how to handle that.
Well, Trump has, truth be told – and is not just fighting their fight but taking it, often, to the next level with his Shiny Objects strategy. He realizes that full spectrum is the only answer but is taking to the Left on HIS terms, not theirs. He’s doing the feints, flanking them, and then attacking from the rear. Establishment Republicans just don’t get it – they’ve refused to go head to head on ALL issue (and not just the shopworn “tax and spend” and the platitudes of “Freedom” and “Liberty” (and then done very little to back it up – simply platitudes). If they and their donors would just start some actions to campaign full time / all time, the ground lost to the Left in the Culture Wars might start to be reclaimed.
Maybe. It can’t be just weeks, months, or even a year or two before elections. It has to be now, tomorrow, next week…you get the idea. Look at how the Left took over the ramparts of Culture – and do the same.
So other than Trump, when will the “Elites” of the Party man up and take it to the Left? Start putting their words into actions?
And in this war, starting with the advice at the top, constantly reminding the electorate who REALLY freed black from slavery, would be a good place to start. The question is, are they willing to stand up against Black Lives Matter NOW – or is it a case of “Runaway to run away again another day”?
Wait too much longer and the history you would need will have ended up like the statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Grant, and the rest of our Founders and their philosophy.
