If the GOP listens to this writer, we could be in trouble. Your thoughts on this op-ed?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

By Brian O'Leary Bennett

For the first time in 24 years there's an open U.S. Senate seat in the state, and there's no viable GOP candid
California Republicans under Reagan led a national revolution. Now they must lead their own evolution.

Delegates to the California Republican Party state convention that begins Friday in Sacramento should be asking themselves just two questions: Why can't they find an electable U.S. Senate candidate and how do they revive a state party that's become irrelevant?

This state went from red to blue because the California GOP lost its Reaganesque compass and, alarmingly, a willingness to discern between moral absolutes and generational evolution. Ronald Reagan brilliantly never let himself be the captive or defender of the status quo or party orthodoxy. He embraced broad principles and found ways to solve problems without selling out.

Voters, popes, presidents and even some elders have evolved. The state party has not and seems to be perversely proud of it. Political parties are meant to win elections, not be martyrs to lost causes of bygone eras. Republicans need their own rhetoric of reliance


For the first time in 24 years there's an open U.S. Senate seat in California, and the party should be ashamed it has no viable candidates. The problem is “us” not “them.” What are some of the changes the state party needs to make to return California to a truly two-party state?

The brand: The California party would be smart to develop a playbook from many accomplished conservative governors. Four full months after a stunning rejection of the president's policies, the GOP as a whole has no defining principles or programs. A work in progress, they tell us. Many GOP governors are having remarkable success in blue states. But here in California, sections of the party platform read from the Dark Ages. The state GOP is squandering a historic opportunity to rebrand with voters who don't trust any party, most of all a GOP held hostage to itself.

The entire article at the link:
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0226-bennett-how-to-revive-calif-gop-20150226-story.html

[trumad]

1. LOL...

and therein lies the problem, they don't listen.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. We can only hope!

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Not to worry,there are a couple

of wannabe candidates Fiorina,and Whitman and probably some other losers.

[TheMastersNemesis]

4. Tear Down The Reagan Library/Reaganism Has Pretty Much Destroyed The US.

Reagan and the GOP policies he established has probably killed the middle class, enslaved working class Americans, expanded racism and bigotry, and diminished our country in countless ways. We will cease to be a super power because of Reagan and the GOP. We now have a military where poor kids fight super rich people's wars. We have veterans who have been abandoned to an uncertain fate. And Reagan helped unleash and extremely radical religious right that is intent on overthrowing our democratic government to replace it with a religious dictatorship.

I know what am saying sounds just awful. But think about it. How will we ever survive Reaganomics what will our children have to look forward to. Because of Reagan oligarchs like the Kochs may well succeed.

This may get hidden, but we are going down because of what Reagan started.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. I'm not sure he hated the country. I agree with the rest of what you've said.

[R B Garr]

7. Okay, he only hated half the country. Guess which half. n/t

[TheMastersNemesis]

8. I Modified My Rant. We Are Still In The Grips Of Reaganism.

We are now seeing the extreme forms of Reaganism. We are seeing the final solution to the Reagan Revolution in so many way. And the damage probably will not be repairable. I am glad I do not have any kids because I would still be supporting them and they would probably still be at home the way the economy is. Anyone under 50 is doomed unless we get rid of "tinkle down" economics. The kids have no future the way we are going.

And a lot of boomers who probably voted for Reagan are screwed too. A lot of union workers and blue collar workers put him in office and now they are paying the price along with the rest of us.

[upaloopa]

6. We had a post this morning that showed California

will become a minority-majority next year.
So when the repubs preach their trickle down ideology it doesn't register with over half of the population.
They remain anti union, anti pension, anti minimum wage, anti education and anti immigrant. They are pro fracking, anti health care and pro tax cuts for wealthy.
I don't know how many times I have heard that the poor wealthy people are leaving the state because the tax rates are too high or that workers have to expect less if they want a job.

[LeftinOH]

9. If the Republican party were to change with the times, they

wouldn't be the modern GOP. It's too late to change, anyway: With the religious right on board (and pretty much running things) and right-wing ignorami being proudly ignorant, the party has turned too toxic to evolve.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. Too toxic to evolve is exactly right.

[Dawson Leery]

11. Nonsense.

Democrats will continue to hold both Senate seats from California for sometime.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

12. I think you're right about California. I'm not sure about the rest of the country.

The author's focus was CA. But I think his ideas apply nationally too.