Delusional and arrogant message of the day from the RW
Building a bigger GOP
By Jennifer Rubin
Yesterday I wrote that Republicans must recruit more voters since there are more D’s than R’s out there in presidential races, at least races in which Barack Obama is a candidate. Glum conservatives have been arguing that this is useless because the Republican message of hard work, achievement, limited government and the rule of law falls on deaf ears with a majority of the presidential electorate, which has lost its way culturally, is economically unsophisticated and lacks an understanding of constitutional principles. It is a nice way of saying the presidential electorate isn’t capable of rational self-government.
Well, I’m not ready to write off representative democracy quite yet. Nor am I convinced that Americans went to seed since 2004. I am willing to make the case, however, that when it comes to the broadest electorate that turns out in presidential races, the Republican message and the messenger must adapt.
To be blunt, it is easy to tell apolitical voters our fiscal problem stems from rich people not paying taxes. It isn’t true, but it’s a simplistic message. It is really, really hard to explain why capital-gains tax rates should be kept low or why Medicare needs to introduce competition. Yes, millions and millions of conservative and politically engaged independents get that, but the majority in a sufficient number of key electoral battlegrounds don’t.
What do Republicans do about this? Well, seriously, nothing is more important than educational reform to teach each generation of Americans some basic U.S. history, simple economics and even ethics. The long-term solution to the problem of a clueless electorate rests with clergy, teachers and parents. (Let’s not kid ourselves that the mainstream media will enlighten the public.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/building-a-bigger-gop/2012/11/08/0fddbf26-29a2-11e2-bab2-eda299503684_blog.html
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