Can the Republican Party recover?

#1
Roustabout

Roustabout

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#1
Although conservative, I haven’t voted Republican in a presidential election in over 12 years. I’ve been dissatisfied with the direction of the party and based on this last election, I could see things going down pretty fast. Looking back, the idea that a guy like Trump could even be seriously considered, much less win, was beyond reason for me.

While I believed Trump would shake up the party, I didn’t know if it would for better or worse. Four years later and the swamp isn’t drained. Trump galvanized a particular base, and quite frankly, those people scare me as much as the most radical liberal. After his tenure, I see a country more divided, more misinformed, and more hostile towards one another. Trump was polarizing and brought out the worst on both sides.

I would love to see the Republican Party redefine itself and evaluate its platform.

What are the main areas and issues that you see needing a rethink for the GOP to avoid its demise?
 
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#5
#5
Chris4Vols22 said:
Give me an R who actually is fiscally conservative and not batsh!t crazy on social issues, and I actually would vote R. Until then, I'm most likely continuing voting libertarian.
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Same here, I'll continue voting libertarian, but as long their batsh!t crazy anarchist members are the face of the party they're hopeless too.
 
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#8
#8
The GOP is scared to death of Trump. It’s looking more likely that Trump will just form his own political party. That would be a death blow to the GOP as we know it. It’ll be an interesting next few years for the GOP.
 
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#9
#9
Orangeslice13 said:
Exactly. There’s still a glimmer of hope with the Rs. I see no hope the Ds will ever recover. 3rd party for me.
Sometimes 4th
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Just speaking for myself, Dems are looking less crappy than Rs at this point in time. I generally disagree with the overarching fiscal philosophies of Ds, but since Rs aren't offering anything satisfactory, it's difficult for me to hold any sort of candle for them. Both parties act like they're beacons of civil liberties, but neither have it right. At least Ds are more liberal in that regard.

In any case, none of it is satisfactory for me, and I'm trying to keep an open mind. I resent the current binary nature of politics, and I can't help but laugh when someone gives me a similar spiel and concludes it with any variation of "that's why there's no hope for x party." That just digs deeper into the BS. Any party can restructure, even if it's small, and that could make all the difference in the world.

I will agree with you that it's more likely the Rs could adapt to my satisfaction than Ds. But Rs currently disgust me more so than Ds. Jmo.
 
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#13
#13
hog88 said:
I opened this thread sure it was another stupid LG thread, I wasn’t far off.

Trump saved the Republican Party, without him they would have been in the minority for the last 12 years.
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That’s funny. It seems that the Republican voters saved their own party by jettisoning Trump this last election. They still made gains in state legislatures, the house and will most likely retain the majority in the Senate. The only R that lost bigly was Trump.

It’s ok. It was a marriage of convenience. Mitch put lists of judges he wants Trump to nominate and legislation to sign. He was a useful idiot for the GOP.

But now Trump’s going to try and play Kingmaker under threat of turning his base against any GOP pol he disagrees with or doesn’t kiss the ring.
 
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#14
#14
Roustabout said:
Although conservative, I haven’t voted Republican in a presidential election in over 12 years. I’ve been dissatisfied with the direction of the party and based on this last election, I could see things going down pretty fast. Looking back, the idea that a guy like Trump could even be seriously considered, much less win, was beyond reason for me.

While I believed Trump would shake up the party, I didn’t know if it would for better or worse. Four years later and the swamp isn’t drained. Trump galvanized a particular base, and quite frankly, those people scare me as much as the most radical liberal. After his tenure, I see a country more divided, more misinformed, and more hostile towards one another. Trump was polarizing and brought out the worst on both sides.

I would love to see the Republican Party redefine itself and evaluate its platform.

What are the main areas and issues that you see needing a rethink for the GOP to avoid its demise?
Click to expand...
Glad to see sane R's still exist. Wouldn't know it browsing this forum.
 
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#18
#18
I miss the days of politics being boring and focused on policy debates. We definitely don't need this reality show version of politics to continue. It's all about conflict and drama with a drive to turn out voters based on fear of the other side as an enemy instead of just fellow Americans with different policy opinions. Trump thrives off divisive rhetoric and is the type that will do whatever he thinks will benefit him. Both parties have been moving away from the center and I think Republicans moved to their extreme with Trump. The extreme on the other side is Bernie Sanders, and credit to the Democrats for at least electing a boring moderate instead of him. I'm honestly just sick of the two party system where we're basically electing people to represent a party and not the people they should represent. It would be nice to have more good independent candidates. We have too many people on both sides getting elected simply because of the R or D next to their name on the ballot and they have no business being in office.
 
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#19
#19
The GOP will never recover as long as they continue to compromise and move the country toward the leftist commie cliff. They had the 1st 2 years under Trump to bury the leftists and failed to do so because they are weak and spineless.
 
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#20
#20
utvols83 said:
I miss the days of politics being boring and focused on policy debates. We definitely don't need this reality show version of politics to continue. It's all about conflict and drama with a drive to turn out voters based on fear of the other side as an enemy instead of just fellow Americans with different policy opinions. Trump thrives off divisive rhetoric and is the type that will do whatever he thinks will benefit him. Both parties have been moving away from the center and I think Republicans moved to their extreme with Trump. The extreme on the other side is Bernie Sanders, and credit to the Democrats for at least electing a boring moderate instead of him. I'm honestly just sick of the two party system where we're basically electing people to represent a party and not the people they should represent. It would be nice to have more good independent candidates. We have too many people on both sides getting elected simply because of the R or D next to their name on the ballot and they have no business being in office.
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I mean Tommy Tubbs got elected to the senate and he doesn’t even know basic information on how the government works. He fits right in with the electorate that voted for him.
 
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#21
#21
VolinMichigan said:
I mean Tommy Tubbs got elected to the senate and he doesn’t even know basic information on how the government works. He fits right in with the electorate that voted for him.
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What difference does it make? They all vote straight party line anyway, except for a couple of Republicans, and maybe Manchin on occasion.
 
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#22
#22
Chris4Vols22 said:
Just speaking for myself, Dems are looking less crappy than Rs at this point in time. I generally disagree with the overarching fiscal philosophies of Ds, but since Rs aren't offering anything satisfactory, it's difficult for me to hold any sort of candle for them. Both parties act like they're beacons of civil liberties, but neither have it right. At least Ds are more liberal in that regard.

In any case, none of it is satisfactory for me, and I'm trying to keep an open mind. I resent the current binary nature of politics, and I can't help but laugh when someone gives me a similar spiel and concludes it with any variation of "that's why there's no hope for x party." That just digs deeper into the BS. Any party can restructure, even if it's small, and that could make all the difference in the world.

I will agree with you that it's more likely the Rs could adapt to my satisfaction than Ds. But Rs currently disgust me more so than Ds. Jmo.
Click to expand...
Fair enough.
 
#24
#24
TNVOLNAVY said:
The GOP will never recover as long as they continue to compromise and move the country toward the leftist commie cliff. They had the 1st 2 years under Trump to bury the leftists and failed to do so because they are weak and spineless.
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Burning the other guy is what’s causing the problems we have. From both parties. How about we seek common ground for everyone
 
#25
#25
Roustabout said:
Although conservative, I haven’t voted Republican in a presidential election in over 12 years. I’ve been dissatisfied with the direction of the party and based on this last election, I could see things going down pretty fast. Looking back, the idea that a guy like Trump could even be seriously considered, much less win, was beyond reason for me.

While I believed Trump would shake up the party, I didn’t know if it would for better or worse. Four years later and the swamp isn’t drained. Trump galvanized a particular base, and quite frankly, those people scare me as much as the most radical liberal. After his tenure, I see a country more divided, more misinformed, and more hostile towards one another. Trump was polarizing and brought out the worst on both sides.

I would love to see the Republican Party redefine itself and evaluate its platform.

What are the main areas and issues that you see needing a rethink for the GOP to avoid its demise?
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting. We don’t seem to agree on much but you are 100% correct here.

A truly fiscal conservative that leaves my decisions alone as long as I’m not hurting anybody else will get my vote every single time. Right now libertarian is the closest thing to that. After putting Trump in office there isn’t much of a leg to stand on with family values anymore.

It’s all about the economy. Cut spending and decrease the debt, leave people alone, and I really feel like they could run away with every single election.
 
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