Do Republicans Want to Win National Elections?

Welcome to another Palin fan, OpinionatedCatholic, whose blog is listed on the roll. He's also a LSU Tiger fan and has great insight into FL politics. Welcome.

Mike Huckabee, "I'm a conservative, but I'm not mad at everybody over it."

"To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you." C. S. Lewis (from ThePinkFlamingo blog)

Many years ago, I used to go to meetings of a group called The Philadelphia Society -- which met not in Philly, but in Chicago. The members included a variety of conservatives -- ranging from social traditionalists (like me) to economic and social libertarians.

I was amazed by the libertarians. Many of them wanted to do things like privatize fire and police departments, as well as correctional institutions and public parks -- ideas that may make some economic sense. Others wanted to decriminalize drugs and repeal laws against pornography.

I'd ask such people how they would ever sell such views to the American public. In other words, how could candidates running on such programs ever get elected? They'd look at me as if I were from another planet.

It soon became clear they weren't interested in policy proposals that would win votes. Instead, they were committed to ideological consistency and to keeping government entirely out of people's lives. They had no interest in appealing to ordinary voters -- most of whom are moderates -- whom they seemingly saw as The Great Unwashed.

Nowadays, I sometimes feel the same way when I read the comments on Townhall or Red State. On those sites, people who claim to be conservatives spend most of their time attacking elected officials who are, well, conservatives, such as George Bush, Jon Kyl, and John McCain. They're much more interested in preserving ideological consistency than in winning elections. Most ominously, they're willing to offend any group, no matter how large and important, that doesn't agree with their political "philosophy."

One concept I've lived by says: "Politics is the art of the possible." I'd modify it to add the following: "Politics is the art of the (ideologically) imperfect." Also, "Politics depends for its success on compromise." It does so because any politics worthy of the name demands building coalitions of diverse people that add up to electoral majorities.

Let's get very specific about what we Republicans -- a group consisting of conservatives and moderates -- need to do to win elections. If we don't win at least some of them, then we'll have no real say on issues like immigration, the appointment of Supreme Court justices, and the War on Terror.

Right now, we Republicans have a problem getting votes from many large groups, including: Blacks (40 million in the U.S.), Hispanics (45 million legal ones in the U.S.), women professionals (teachers, journalists, doctors, lawyers, businesswomen), and young people 18-30 (who voted Democratic in 2006 by 61% to 39%). Gee, why did we lose the 2006 election so badly?

In the 2008 election, it looks as if we'll get less of the important Hispanic vote -- perhaps a lot less -- than we did in 2004 and 2006, and that's downright ominous. On CNN's "Wolf Blitzer" program yesterday (Sunday), Ken Blackwell, a Black conservative who ran for governor of Ohio, discussed Republicans and the Black vote.

Blackwell, a fine man, was very candid in his remarks. He said it now appeared the Republican candidate for President in 2008 would get about 8% of the Black vote. Of course, that makes it very difficult to win states like California, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois.

Along with another guest, the head of the National Urban League, Blackwell noted that only one Republican candidate -- Mike Huckabee -- has appeared at the recent Urban League conference. All had been invited.

Ken Blackwell suggested that the Republican candidates had largely written off the Black vote. He added that the Party's main concern was "to stop the bleeding" with the Hispanic vote. The main reason that vote is bleeding away is the perception that Republicans are anti-Hispanic, one of the sad results of the recent immigration debacle.

Republican congressman Bobby Inglis of South Carolina spoke some months ago about a racial issue confronting Republicans. He said that the Party was in danger of becoming a Caucasian people's group, mainly male. That's in fact happening, and it's an electoral disaster in the making.

Any Republican candidate for President who isn't talking regularly -- and compellingly -- about what he'll do to attract new voters, including Blacks, female professionals, and Hispanics, is just blowing smoke. He would be setting himself up to lose not only the states I've mentioned, but also Florida, where the Hispanic vote is essential to Republicans.

Giuliani is talking about it some and so is McCain, and more power to them. But where are the others?

I frankly have no interest in ANY candidate -- no matter how much he wants to preserve life or secure our borders -- IF he insists on putting himself in a position to be a sure loser.

The winner gets to appoint the Supreme Court justices. The loser gets to complain about them.

One reason I support Sarah Palin so strongly is that she's a candidate who can gain approval from people who disagree with her on one or more significant issues. A person like that is known as a leader.

The most recent poll from Alaska shows that only 5% of the residents of that state disapprove of Sarah's leadership. She's a healer, not a divider or polarizer, and this is a country desperately in need of healing.

Republican candidates for president and vice-president need to stand up and face political reality. Merely pandering to a tiny conservative base is not enough to make the Party a real player in national elections.