Lotsa good stuff going around in the new subforum, and kudos to all of us for keeping it under control! No terribly inflammatory or insulting remarks that I've seen so far.
I'll throw this out as something I see as a bit of an outsider. I think Republican candidates and probably some voters felt the backlash from the Tea Party so much that now in the Republican world there is a fear of not being considered conservative. I think this gets some folks into trouble, whether as a candidate talking a bunch of junk that the record doesn't reflect or as voters who vote without stopping to think and inform themselves.
Certainly this doesn't apply to everyone, and I don't mean to imply that conservatism is bad. At its root, it's good, it's what we need. But candidates who aren't conservative but feel they have to represent themselves as such are worse than if they just represented themselves as moderate to begin with. Why? Because it comes across as phony, which the last thing a politician in a federal position needs is to look even more phony. Why else? That person isn't going to actually do anything to further the support of conservative philosophy if they do get elected.
So, for my first salvo, my thought is for the truly conservative groups/voters to take it down a notch in the criticism. Seems counterintuitive given just how scary the left has become, but I think the unbendable, very vocal far right will help the right more by chilling out and bring generally supportive than by playing tug of war with the GOP middle. Not saying abandon your principles, but consider being silent instead of vocally opposed. Hopefully this would get the GOP back to a more unified voice instead of the very fractured 18 candidate variation of BS that is currently seen. I think of it subtly guiding a horse in the direction you want to go instead of yelling, pulling, and going nowhere.
Or do you think the hardline conservatives can't afford to back down for fear of the country slipping further to the left? I think it's slipping anyway and a new tactic is needed.
I'll throw this out as something I see as a bit of an outsider. I think Republican candidates and probably some voters felt the backlash from the Tea Party so much that now in the Republican world there is a fear of not being considered conservative. I think this gets some folks into trouble, whether as a candidate talking a bunch of junk that the record doesn't reflect or as voters who vote without stopping to think and inform themselves.
Certainly this doesn't apply to everyone, and I don't mean to imply that conservatism is bad. At its root, it's good, it's what we need. But candidates who aren't conservative but feel they have to represent themselves as such are worse than if they just represented themselves as moderate to begin with. Why? Because it comes across as phony, which the last thing a politician in a federal position needs is to look even more phony. Why else? That person isn't going to actually do anything to further the support of conservative philosophy if they do get elected.
So, for my first salvo, my thought is for the truly conservative groups/voters to take it down a notch in the criticism. Seems counterintuitive given just how scary the left has become, but I think the unbendable, very vocal far right will help the right more by chilling out and bring generally supportive than by playing tug of war with the GOP middle. Not saying abandon your principles, but consider being silent instead of vocally opposed. Hopefully this would get the GOP back to a more unified voice instead of the very fractured 18 candidate variation of BS that is currently seen. I think of it subtly guiding a horse in the direction you want to go instead of yelling, pulling, and going nowhere.
Or do you think the hardline conservatives can't afford to back down for fear of the country slipping further to the left? I think it's slipping anyway and a new tactic is needed.
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