Republican Party Must Broaden Its Outlook

Sunday, November 18, 2012

There are many excellent and deserving Republican men and women who have been lost in the avalanche of ultraconservative misconceptions that marked this year's presidential campaign.

These good people are not racists, hatemongers or clowns. They are people who have much to contribute to our nation's future.

But they are drowned out in the cacophony of animosity and loathing that has gradually overtaken the GOP since 1968, when Richard Nixon put forth his "Southern Strategy" during his second and successful run for the presidency.

Although this approach works to some degree at the state level, such as was demonstrated in North Carolina's strong Republican showing, it was a total failure at the national level this time around.

The Archie Bunker types, most of whom are elder white folks, use stereotypical, incorrect generalities to depict minorities as those who take, take, take while all of the good, upstanding Caucasians of America pay the taxes to feed welfare programs for African-Americans, Latinos and other minorities.

In reality, the old white folks of this wonderful country, me included, are on the take much more than any other single group in the nation. We are on Social Security and, when necessary, we are using Medicare to assist us in paying medical bills. The seniors of our nation consume more government outlays than any other folks.

I do not know of a single one of these seniors, rich or poor, who returns his or her Social Security check uncashed or refuses Medicare assistance in order to pay entire medical bills out of his or her own pocket. Take away those two programs that were created by liberals, and these conservatives would scream like stuck pigs.

There were major issues that got addressed almost tangentially during the recent ugly presidential campaign. Unfortunately, serious debate was lacking while negativity won the day as millions and millions of dollars were poured into messages of hate - on both sides.

But in the long run, the Koch brothers lost buckets of cash betting on the losing horse in the race, as did many other conservative rich folks.

Big corporations that are now classified as people by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court also threw away tons of money by backing Romney. The next thing you know, that court majority might give the vote to robots, but only if they are conservative robots.

Trickle-down economics has never worked and never will work. Thus it lost in this presidential election.

Attempts to disenfranchise minorities through Republican-led state voter suppression laws did not work and, in fact, generated such resentment that the un-American process enhanced the turnout for Obama. This proved once again how adept the GOP is at shooting itself in the foot.

Repulsed by the old white men of the GOP insisting that women do not have the right to decide what is proper for their own bodies and that rape is no worse than a case of the flu, women voted overwhelmingly for Obama. The GOP stand against a fair immigration policy led Latinos to vote more heavily for Obama than they did in 2008.

The race card failed nationally as the repugnant words of a once- disgraced White House chief of staff, John Sununu, fell on deaf ears. Those two buffoons of the right, Donald Trump and Rush Limbaugh, could only stir up the already-angry conservative base. Thus, birthers and the like were of no help to Romney.

The result of all of this is that a good and honest man, born in the USA, is still our president while the lies and hate of the racist right are seriously threatening to destroy one of the two major political parties in our country.

I am and always have been a very proud liberal and usually vote Democratic. But one of the worst things that could happen to us all is to have our political system reduced to where there is really only one major party.

The disintegration of the GOP has been gradual and even unnoticed by many as the Democratic Party, despite not controlling both houses of Congress at times, has won the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. This trend is very important.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party is beginning to dissolve into nothing much more than a Southern white man's religious cult of some sort. The GOP must broaden its outlook, include minorities, end obstructionism, rid itself of racism and hatred as policies, and admit that government is the only viable entity to handle recovery after disasters such as the super storm Sandy and admit only government can manage Social Security and Medicare.

Well-led government is good. Racism is a cancer. The Grand Old Party can't be led by the likes of Archie Bunker, who once said, "Things go bad when the whole neighborhood turns into a smelting pot."

Gordon White served 43 years as a sports reporter for The New York Times. His email is sports@ thepilot.com.

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OldPilot 6 months, 1 week ago

Well said

The_AnonymusProfit 6 months, 1 week ago

Not Bad.

JD 6 months, 1 week ago

Nice article, Meathead ;)

Nezumi 6 months, 1 week ago

Nice article, Gordon.

Yukonjohn 6 months, 1 week ago

Good article. I agree with much of what you say, although l still desire a small fed. govt. that has a primary mission of keeping our nation secure, period. Well said though. If we had more like you, l think we could have a civil discussion of where we are going as a nation.

JRowerdink 6 months, 1 week ago

I get a kick out of it when people who have never had a Republican thought in their lives try to tell Republicans what they need to do to be “viable”. If Gordon understood how Republicans think, he would be one.

John Rowerdink

Thatcher 6 months, 1 week ago

Mr. Rowerdink-- Well said! Cheers!

SH59 6 months, 1 week ago

Great article.

njc17 6 months, 1 week ago

SOOOO capitulate on personal responsibility, capitulate on fiscal responsibility, capitulate on moral values, capitulate on religious ideology, in other words be democrat.

Yukonjohn 6 months, 1 week ago

njc17, And your comment is what is killing the Republicans. The conservative movement is going to have to find a different way to reach the masses. If they want to continue to preach their same message, they will continue to lose.

njc17 6 months, 1 week ago

It's what is killing this nation. The land of whoredom and taxes, both the oldest of professions. The conservative should breach honor for the sewer? Not likely

Yukonjohn 6 months, 1 week ago

The conservative should breach honor for the sewer? Not likely

And that is what l mean njc17. If they keep on this message, they will continue to lose. Did you, by chance read that article that packwilleat put on another thread? It shows, our nation was not founded by the religious right. Here is that link, thanks to packwilleat.

http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html

fugitiveguy 6 months, 1 week ago

I agree with John Rowerdink. The writer of this column hasn't a clue of what he is talking about. Other than that, great column.

fugitiveguy 6 months, 1 week ago

This column is based on one false premise after the other.

DannySteen 6 months, 1 week ago

Isn’t it touching how the left is so concerned about the fate of the Republican party. You would think they would relish being the only game in town. Maybe, instead, they are just continuing to beat them while they are down hoping they do not get up. They have everyone including members of the Republican party convinced they should become the Democrat party 2.0. I don’t know but once there was a time that proof had to be needed to make a statement. I guess that is not so. Now, it seems all it takes is for a lefty to say it and it is gospel. They call you a racist, you are a racist. They say you hate someone, you hate someone. Amazing the power of persuasion the left has. Now all you hateful racist just do as the left tells you to do and maybe they will let you join them in their grand plan. Hallelujah!

Phoenix 6 months ago

I enjoyed the first few paragraphs of this column until I started getting preached at...

How quickly the truth changes! Did we forget what happened in 2010? The Democrats were crushed in the mid-term elections. And I'm sure the the Republicans were lining up to give advice to the Democrats! Reality is that if you look at our history you can see how fickle the American people really are - with both parties swinging back and forth in control.

Now for the Republicans - what they must do is get back to basics. Tell the American people the truth - we are broke. And in order to fix this mess that we all have a piece of - it's going to take the entire country. We simply can't continue to spend like a bunch of drunken sailors. Before it's all over we all must contribute - or leave a mess for our children. Republicans have a tradition of being fiscal conservatives - they must get back on that message.

I consider myself a moderate - fiscally conservative and socially moderate. If the President told me that I'm going to pay more taxes that will be used to pay down our debt - sign me up. But don't ask me to pay another dime if it's going to be used to support more spending programs that we can't afford.

And for the Democrats - be careful in predicting the demise of the GOP - 52% to 48% ain't exactly a mandate...

cheers, chris

rabbita78 6 months ago

EVERY White country on the planet is forced to become multicultural and multiracial.

EVERY white country is told to end its own race and culture.

No one asks that of ANY non-White country. Immigration and forced-assimilation is for ALL & ONLY White countries.

Anti-Whites call themselves "anti-racist", but their words & actions lead to the genocide of only one group: White people.

The true goal of anti-racism is to genocide my people.

Anti-racist is a codeword for anti-White.

SH59 6 months ago

Phoenix, fugitiveguy, njc17, if the Republicans stuck to the financial issues of our country as their platform they probably would have won. When you bring in your moral issues telling everyone how to live their lives then you loose. It's that simple.

OldSpook 6 months ago

SH59 - Are you saying the Democrats are not bringing their moral issues into the game by telling everyone how to live their lives? I will beg to differ on this issue. In fact, I will go so far as to point out how the Democrats have so abused their position that Ambassador, J. Scott Gration formerly of the American Embassy, Kenya resigned his post on 29 June, 2012. It seems the Embassy was directed (ordered) to hold a rally in support of homosexuality in another nations capital where homosexuality is extremely frowned upon. Further, Washington is now holding AID monies until Kenya endorces homosexuality.

Now, I know Kenya is a Christian nation so the haters can jump on this a their single point of poison. However, most tribes the Kikuyu (22%), Luo (11%) and Akamba (8%), (The Kikuyu dominate politics and the economy. Especially the Masai, Turkana and Samburu peoples have largely kept their traditional lifestyles.) openly discriminate against homosexuals as this practice is against their tribal customs and teachings. So, here we have our Democrats holding their morals over another Christian country if this country wants the American dollars.

HOWEVER, I note that no Muslim country that receives American dollars is being held to this requirement despite the Muslim's even more open hatred and abuse of homosexuals. {from LGBT in Islam} [1] Scholars of Islam, such as Sheikh al-Islam Imam Malik, and Imam Shafi amongst others, ruled that Islam disallowed homosexual activity and ordained capital punishment for a person guilty of it. Homosexual activity is a crime and forbidden in most Muslim-majority countries. In the Islamic regimes of Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, North Sudan and Yemen, homosexual activity is punished with the death penalty. In Nigeria and Somalia the death penalty is issued in some regions.[2] The legal punishment for sodomy has varied among juristic schools: some prescribe capital punishment; while other prescribe a milder discretionary punishment such as imprisonment.

So, does Washington have a double standard? Are the Democrats endorsing Muslim's while tearing down Christian's? Or are the Democrats supporting homosexuality only in Christian countries? Or maybe, politics are not as simple as black/white, homosexual/heterosexual, rich/poor. Maybe politics are simply about egos and power.

clarabelle 6 months ago

" JRowerdink - I get a kick out of it when people who have never had a Republican thought in their lives try to tell Republicans what they need to do to be “viable”. If Gordon understood how Republicans think, he would be one."

But that would mandate his IQ to be 30 points lower, be old, white, staid in his outlook, bigoted, and out of touch.

OldSpook 6 months ago

Wow Clarabelle,

That was certainly an ignorant, immature, naive and racist assessment. Perhaps you are what you hate?

teufelhunden 6 months ago

That's a whole lot of assuming on your part CB!!! Just lump 'em all together if you don't agree with 'em-must be terrible people, huh?

packwilleat 6 months ago

I think it might be time to play match maker on the Pilot. Clarabelle have you met Southerngjdodhvnblr yet? You two sound like a match made in "hate".

SH59 6 months ago

OldSpook ,is this what you are talking about?

The event was a “small invite-only forum,” attended by “activists, allies, and diplomats,” Voice of America reports, but was nonetheless a milestone. It, like pride observances being held at other U.S. embassies around the world, is part of the Obama administration’s effort to fight anti-LGBT discrimination.

This was an effort to fight discrimination which I believe is a good cause.

As for moral issues in this country, nobody is telling Christians or anyone else to change their lifestyle, we all have the right to live our own lives according to our values. It isn't your right or the Republican right to MAKE those who don't choose to live the Christian way to change how we live. There's room in this country for diversity and acceptance for ones choices.Someone here suggested that the Democrats are trying to tell Republicans to change their lifestyle, that's not it a all. Live the way you choose and let us live the way we choose and let it go.

teufelhunden 6 months ago

There are wolves in sheep's clothing in both parties, are there not?

The truth about some things might not be comfortable and convenient, yet they are still truths, are they not?

Sometimes it's okay to lose when you know what you stand for is right.

Stay vigilant because a lot goes on right under our noses that should be cause for concern but it's just glossed over for the masses-to keep 'em happy little minions. Just watch and observe and listen because the writing is on the wall.

clarabelle 6 months ago

why thank you OldSpook - just giving back some of that love you guys are so prolific at!

nothingspecial 6 months ago

Mr. White, go back to sports, you're trying to write about something you obviously have no idea about. But always funny how human nature comes out when so called enlightened, humane liberals become so mean and nasty when discussing folks who disagree with their viewpoints. Know it alls always seem to be the blindest among us.

SH59 6 months ago

101jackson, have you ever considered the bravery it takes to leave your home and family, move to another country whose language you don't know, find a job so your children can eat? Some people don't have the choice but to break a law in order to survive. If that same person is a hard worker, is able to contribute taxes, pay for insurance and become educated why wouldn't we want to make him lligal?

Courseaire 6 months ago

SPUW - Yes, we can believe that your support for Obama has nothing to do with the color of his skin, so why can't you believe that those that don't support him has nothing to do with the color of his skin and that they don't agree with his political policy, QUESTION MARK?

JD 6 months ago

RonCoffmanJr 6 months ago

As bad as this article is, it's still better than when he writes about Sports.

skylinefirepest 6 months ago

SPUWS...Coursaire asked you a very simple question...your answer?? And do you really expect us to believe that racism wasn't a factor when supposedly ninety six percent of the black vote went to the annointed one?? If that percentage of the white vote went to Romney there would be all kinds of hell raising on your side, wouldn't there?? Now, back to my questions that you haven't bothered to answer...you say that you agree with his policies...is it the six trillion in new spending that you approve of? Was it the twenty some odd million un or under-employed people that you approve of?? Was it the hatred of business? The lack of security on our borders? The second raising of our debt limit? The lowering of our credit rating? The hob-nobbing with the Russians? Is it the public support of Israel ( a sovereign land being attacked by terrorists ) while stabbing them in the back? Is it the appeasing of radical terrorist supporting Muslims? Is it the un-bridled spending that obama has no clue how to correct? Is it his attack of Romney because of his money?

skylinefirepest 6 months ago

Still haven't answered MY questions SPUWS...I presume that means you really, like the rest of the liberals, have no cogent answer!! And I'm at least glad to know that you lump all the anti-obammers into one racist group...makes it so much easier to give you a hard time!!

Phoenix 6 months ago

Sounds like a stereotype to me... come on SPSW, you can do better than that! I think the question deserves a better answer - remember, you are talking about the "other" 48% if you lump them all in the racists category...

SH59 6 months ago

101jackson, that's so pathetic. Why are you even here.

packwilleat 6 months ago

I thought the "race card" was sooo 2008. I guess when they run out of attacks they revert back to stupid. By the way southern, I hate poor old disabled black lesbian women. Keep the stupid strong my brother!!

packwilleat 6 months ago

If you need a 1 iron I got one in the garage!

packwilleat 6 months ago

Dude you crossed "poliitcal" a long time ago. Actually, ever since your first post. Good luck redeeming yourself.

skylinefirepest 6 months ago

SPUWS...while you're up get me one too, please!

packwilleat 6 months ago

Me too! Anyone know what soup kitchen is serving tomato soup?

Phoenix 6 months ago

@SPSW - you still haven't answered the question so I guess you can't... and still stereotyping...

You are forwarding the opinion that a Republican who opposed the election of President Obama is obviously doing so because of his race. Can't you believe that someone can oppose the President because of his policies or ideology?

BTW - last time I checked our President is mixed race...

packwilleat 6 months ago

I'm looking "forward" too! Well actually I looked backwards, into history to see that your "forward" has failed many times over. March on brother!!

packwilleat 6 months ago

Everytime southern post, this is the only thing I think of.............................

Private Parts - Kill The White Man by smellslikevanilla

skylinefirepest 6 months ago

Actually Americans ARE having it...at our expense. Get people back to work and out of the welfare rolls and you'll find that the loonies who voted demo to get goodies will magically deflate right back down in numbers. And make the union pay the 18k that voted to let their company go bust rather than take a reduction. In this obama economy a job is mucho better than no job.

Courseaire 6 months ago

SPUW - Actually, in all your comments, you've only characterized Republicans a racist and only voted for Romney because he was white. You are the antithesis of 101Jack, meaning you are just as racist as he.

Courseaire 6 months ago

SPUW - I like the way your screen name is abbreviated because it pretty much describes what you do here.

Courseaire 6 months ago

101Jack - I was just stating that SPUW was just as racist as you, only he's racist against white's where you're racist against anyone who is not white. I never mentioned trailers, rebel flags, etc. Racists come in all colors & nationalities, but luckily they are few, dying out and mostly ignored.

Courseaire 6 months ago

Yet, almost 4 years later we're still waiting and deeper in debt.

Courseaire 6 months ago

Sounds like excuses to me or justification for failure - but he fooled have the people, ya gotta give him that. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

JD 6 months ago

by JD

Courseaire 6 months ago

JD - I know, I know, we've been trying.

Noluv4thugs 6 months ago

SPUWS "let me get my lazy,disabled,foodstamp getting,medicare,medicad,public assistance living ass up out of this chair and go check to see if its raining,right after i finish my free government grill cheese sandwich"

Psshh. Everybody on this site knows your are not disabled.

JD 6 months ago

At this point Courseaire I am just enjoying the show.

The Great Union will endure, the ground under our feet will not give way, and the sun will come up tomorrow. Until all the Chicken Little's settle down it's just fun watching them squawk. Hopefully we can get some Fair Tax talk in two years when the next election bout starts.

Courseaire 6 months ago

I'm affraid it'll just be talk until we get term limits on the House & Senate.

dustyrhoades 6 months ago

Good to see the "conservatives" here are sticking to the same old messages and attitudes that are going to keep them falling farther and farther behind.

GO LEMMINGS GO!

skylinefirepest 6 months ago

I got to give you credit SPUWS...that was a funny comment!! But it seems that the INTELLIGENT democrats voted Republican this time because they simply coudn't stand another four years of out of control spending and people out of work! ETC!!! You know the rest of my spiel because I've said it several times and you haven't got an answer for it. When you put the good of the party ahead of the good of the country you should be ashamed.

dustyrhoades 6 months ago

by dustyrhoades

teufelhunden 6 months ago

Your cartoon is funny. But I'd rather tell the truth and lose than lie to win.

packwilleat 6 months ago

Dusty ~ please explain to me how the message of the "left" is new. I'll promise to burn all my history books if you're able to surprise me.

teufelhunden 6 months ago

It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit. ~Noël Coward, Blithe Spirit

dustyrhoades 6 months ago

pack: Who said it was new? Fundamental fairness is not new. Protecting people from the depredations of the powerful and rapacious is not new. Equal rights for all is not new. Helping those that need it is not new. Caring for those who can't care for themselves is not new.

Your premise is faulty, your question foolish.

packwilleat 6 months ago

So if conservatives offer the same old message and the liberals offer the same old message. There really is nothing new, but more of the same old failed policies by both parties.

SH59 6 months ago

The bottom line is to the republicans, I don't give a rats a** what deity you choose to worship, whether you are married, who you sleep with or what you choose to do in your bedroom. Why the hell do you care what I do and why do you think you have the right to dictate over me? That's why you lost!

peterprints 6 months ago

I would like to make a simple request of local democrats...shut up! I know it's inviting to remind the LOSING party of what you have tried to say for two years (which they blugeoned you with although you turned out to be right) we should not be stepping between the gun that the GOP has to its head in terms of ever winning another election and their own suicide by telling them where they went wrong. The bulk of the leadership of the Goofy Old Party has totally misread the electorate. Unfortunately Democratic egos who want to gloat by offering advice, may eventually hoist themselves on their own petards. For those young people who don't understand the term, google: Hamlet/hoist petard. It's not the job of the librals/progressives in this country to grease the slide into power for a scientifically backward, basically racist and ultimately elitist political party. So, as I said...SHUT UP!