Wednesday, September 2, 2009

GOP as Cultural Dissent Movement

Syndicated conservative columnist Kathleen Parker offers a suggestion to the GOP as a way to broaden its base using black South Carolina politician Marvin Rogers as an example.

The way for Republicans to attract black voters is pretty simple, says Rogers: Show up and solve problems.

Parker is dead-on with the observation that the GOP must show a renewed interest in "showing up and solving problems" (aka governing). The problem is nailed by former Reagan budget official Bruce Bartlett on New Majority.

Mindless partisanship has replaced principled conservatism. What passes for principle in the party these days is “what can we do to screw the Democrats today.” I think the Republican Party is in the same boat the Democrats were in in the early eighties — dominated by extremists unable to see how badly their party was alienating moderates and independents. The party’s adults formed the Democratic Leadership Council to push the party back to the center and it was very successful. But there is no group like that for Republicans. That has left lunatics like Glenn Beck as the party’s de facto leaders. As long as that remains the case, I want nothing to do with the GOP.

--Ballard Burgher

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