by Jack
This might make for a lively discussion… why do you think the Republican party is losing so many of it’s members? In CA the independents and declined to state have surged while the GOP dropped about the same.
Are you one of the growing new class of independent voters? If so, what motivated you to re-register? Don’t worry, I won’t be criticizing your move either, because I’m pretty ticked off at the GOP.
This is just my take, but I think the GOP in CA has not been true to conservative principles and the candidates they’ve backed for high office were too often RINO’s. Voters like me feel like the party left them, they didn’t leave the party. Your thoughts?
When the GOP started acting more wishy washy on Conservative fundamentals and more like “want to be Dem’s” they lost my support and funding.
If it going to take a loss of support wake up call to represent me and mine then so be it! It is apparent the RINO’s need to all be replaced with solid Conservative practitioners!
I’ve been a Republican since I was 18. My dad and mom talked it over with me long before. She was a democrat and he was a republican. After weighing the two position, I decided the republicans had the best ideology. I ever it took it too seriously until my mid 40’s and by then I seen so many things the democrats did that I took exception too I became an activist for the GOP. At that point I learned a lot about how elections are won and what it takes to pass legislation. I wasn’t too thrilled by everything I learned. Having watched some the dirty tricks from the inside, observed many rep candidates that did not adhere to GOP values and witnessing some desperation plays that wound up as selling out for the money, I was downright disgusted with my party! But, I kept hoping for a change, hoping for better. There’s no worse place on earth to crush hopes than to be a republican in California! I’m throughly disgusted with the whole game. I feel the GOP still has right ideas from time to time, but they are incompetent when it comes to implementation. The last presidential election really turned me off.. nuff said.
I didn’t leave the party it left me. It no longer represents my fiscal and conservative values.
I was at the 2011 CRA conference in Sacramento when it imploded because of a successful takeover by liberal republicans who’s goal was to further their professional careers.
I watched in disbelief as Karl Rove lost the Senate in 2010 to the democrats by attacking a Tea Party candidate resulting in a win for the democrat opponent and enough votes to pass ObamaCare.
For over a year I’ve watch Boehner and Issa refuse to subpoena those involved in the IRS scandal because they don’t want the Tea Party groups involved in the election process even more than the democrats. Hopefully, Trey Gowdy will agree to run for Speaker of the House and will win.
I no longer support financially the GOP, but give to various conservative organizations and individuals like Matt Blevin who is running against Mitch McConnell. Calls for donations have finally stopped after getting an earful about why they’ll not get another dime from me…. Heard Karl Rove’s Cross Roads PAC was down 80% so he started new ones all over with different names.
I don’t want a one-party government any more than I want a single-payer health care system. Politicians who vote to get reelected instead of representing their constituents all need to go and replaced with those who do.
I’m a Fiscal Conservative, Small Government supporter now with no party that represent me who likes the idea of a new party that supports Liberty and our Constitution.
My financial support of the GOP has backed off considerably; if I donate it’s targeted to individual candidates or groups that reflect my views. I have not left the party and won’t until/unless another party emerges with some clout. Generally I still prefer to pressure from within but my participation has been focused to word of mouth enrollment behind ideals and values. Thanks to Jack the opportunity exists here.
Despite the visible fighting currently going on I perceive a few fissures in the old guard; I think they sense they are on the way out and had better step up their game or they will find themselves unsupported. This should be a very interesting election cycle.
Jack, I’m glad the democrats now have total control of Calif. They can now clean up the mess they made and deal with all the angry voters demands to fix it.
The farmers and farm workers held a protest today and Brown made a boneless statement meant to appease their demands for water to grow crops and secure jobs. Brown will protect the smelt or face the rath of environmentalists who got him elected.
The same applies with the federal level. The democrats passed ObamaCare when they had control of Congress and the WH, now they can clean that mess up too or pay the price come November.
Just like an alcoholic that has to hit bottom the democrats in office and all those who voted for them will have to want a better life before they’ll willingly give up fighting to keep the poverty level life paid for by others.
I’m sure you heard Mrs. O is going to China with the girls, family, friends and aids later this month. Last count was $18 plus million for prior vacations.
I’m sure you heard Mr. O held a private screening of Cesar Chavez’s movie today. With Putin laughing at him, one would think having friends over to watch a movie with fat-free popcorn wasn’t what we wanted hear about when faced with the comeback of the mighty force of the Soviet Union’s threat to destroy us after Reagan managed to end the cold war. Guess that plastic “Reset” button Clinton gave them as a gift, that was take off of some hot tub, has come back to slap them in the face.
Most folks I know are sick and tired of the RINOS currently elected to Clowngress.
And on another topic – HOORAY!!!!!!
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/19/judge-states-can-demand-proof-citizenship-voters/
Maybe a better question is how will those independents and declined to state vote…and will they vote.
The problem remains which of the available candidates will more likely vote to move the ball in the direction I favor? I’d take a Rhino over a radical or strong Democrat and between a Rhino and a blue dog I’d have to take a close look. I can’t stay home; It makes no sense to me to protest because of a single issue or because a candidate isn’t conservative enough. The contest is no longer just between candidates but for the preservation of our nation…not sure the state is lost. People are tired of the lousy economy, the lack of good jobs, the mess made of our healthcare, the hysteria that runs environmental concerns and even government inserting itself into our personal lives.
So…how will independent and decline to state citizens vote?
I also think people are leaving both parties because they are tired of dysfunctional government and bickering between those who are tuned in and vocal. I don’t see any way around the bickering. A ssaller, less intrusive government would end at least some of the dysfunction.
I find it really interesting that everyone here seems to think that the Republican party is getting smaller because it’s not conservative *enough.* Have you guys talked to any younger voters about this issue? Do you know why younger voters are turned off by the messaging of conservatives, and why they think the party mostly appeals to old white people?
Chris, no offense but you would have to have been a republican for at least a few years, backed a few candidates, attended a few rallies, study a little doctrine and participated in GOP committee meetings for awhile, to even begin to understand and appreciate what is being said here. However, republicans of any age, race and experience who are fed up with the some of the party antics seem to have a common thread and it has nothing to do with old white people, although I know that is what you have been taught to think. Our perspective is much broader and deeper than you could imagine. The Republican party was built on the same principles that founded this nation. In contrast, the democrat party has always represented something else, like the founding principles of a socialist nation.
The concerns you see expressed here are steeped in the belief freedom is slightly more important than a safety net. We value the sanctity of new life over those who value convenience in their life. We believe in personal responsibility over personal advantage. We believe in common sense and fairness over emotional knee jerk responses to feel good issues. When our party of choice does not provide these thing…we tend to get a little hostile. This is just a glimpse why the GOP has been losing members and the rest of the story is much more compelling, but I leave that to other voices now.
Answer in post 8 has more merit than the relevance of question in Post 9.
Chris, I think the young Americans are realizing they were lied to by the Democrats for years and are now turning to others be they Republicans or Independents for a better tomorrow.
The CRP conference I went to last year was filled with young people and the CPAC conference held a couple of weeks ago was also well attended by teens and college age students which was noted by several speakers.
Check out CSPAN for CPAC videos and the below links if you want to see what non-democrats think.
http://www.yaf.org/
http://www.yaf.org/featuredstory.aspx
And then there’s the minority conservatives.
The Making of a Black Conservative:
By Lloyd Marcus
http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/01/the_making_of_a_black_conservative.html
Conservative Blacks Rising Up Against Obama:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=906ouIDUdOw
There are young people in the Republican Party but they lack visibility. One thing that assures Democrats an advantage with young people is the activist pressure to deny conservative voices on campus. Not all young people are PC and progressive…may have not had the opportunity to hear and understand an alternative point of view. It’s also not unusual for the young to be attracted to the progressive siren song which is much different than the ideology in practice.
Our kids are rarely exposed to conservative ideas and ideals unless they get them at home. Heck they aren’t even exposed to the heritage of America unless its discussed at home.
The landscape is changing. I’m not sure after the last five years that progressives hold quite the hand they once had with young people. We’ll see soon enough…only about seven months to the election.
Does it seem to anyone else that both parties are holding back this time? I, for one, am glad.
Tina, the Democrats won’t hold back, they’re just loading their verbal guns. They took out Palin with every type of attack from her kids to calling her a dumb bimbo. Then they took out Herman Cain with accusations and Reid’s unknown source for Romney’s taxes.
But they will and are trying to keep young voters from hearing from conservative role models. They’ve already tried to stop young voters from hearing Condoleezza Rice speak, but the threat of high school students to withdrawal their applications may have changed their minds. She was the first black woman Sec. of State and they tried to silence her. Shameful!
Faculty at Rutgers vote to cancel Condoleezza Rice’s commencement speech:
“Some members of Rutgers University voted to cancel plans for Condoleezza Rice to speak at the May’s commencement ceremony.
Professors at Rutgers-Newark voted to call on the administration to disinvite the former Secretary of State because of her role in the Iraq war.
From Huffington Post:
Last month, professors at the larger Rutgers-New Brunswick campus voted in favor of an almost identical resolution.
“This is not good for Rutgers,” Rutgers-Newark English and American Studies Professor H. Bruce Franklin told The Star-Ledger on Friday. “What we’re doing is awarding an honorary degree and having a commencement speech from someone who is a war criminal.” […] Rice will receive a honorary doctoral degree from the university, as well as $35,000 for her commencement address.
Read more at Huffington Post
Rutgers President Robert Barchi wrote a letter to the university’s community members announcing that Rice will still speak at the commencement. He says that the administration has “heard from high school students who have written to say that they would withdraw their Rutgers applications if we rescind — or fail to rescind — our invitation to her.”
Faculty at Rutgers-Camden, the smallest of the school’s three campuses, voted not to join their counterparts in protesting Rice’s speech.”
http://www.blackyouthproject.com/2014/03/faculty-at-rutgers-vote-to-cancel-condoleezza-rices-commencement-speech/
Hopefully, this is an indicator of more good news to come.
“Republican businessman Scott Wagner dealt a stunning blow to both Democrats and Republicans in Pennsylvania by becoming the first person ever to win a state Senate seat as a write-in candidate. Many are now wondering if the election has some national implications for the 2014 midterm elections.
The tea party candidate defeated both of his party-endorsed opponents, Republican Ron Miller and Democrat Linda Small. He received 48 percent of the vote to Small’s 26 percent and Miller’s 27 percent. In other words, it wasn’t even close.”
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/03/19/if-historic-pa-senate-race-has-any-national-implications-democrats-and-some-republicans-should-start-worrying/
Peggy those elites at Rutgers were probably in the front row of persons applauding the awarding of the peace prize to Obama when he had not done a thing…and the kicker, now he’s a “war monger”.
The progressive elites are such phonies!
I think a few bright young people are beginning to notice.
The most interesting thing about conservative views on social issues is the exaggerated and twisted image created by progressive activists. Standing up for the rights of the unborn is not such a terrible thing and thinking that the definitions and meanings of words are important isn’t wither. In fact doing so does NOT mean one is a hateful person. Difference of opinion is only tiring when one side insists on demonizing people for their opinions. Some now admire those who are true to their values and beliefs and are willing to compete for agreement in the arena of ideas. It has to do with respect and freedom of thought, something the PC progressives have set aside to win. Young people might at least be waking up to the fact that disagreement isn’t as threatening as the PC elites would have us believe. I sure hope so…it would mean a return to civility and live and let live. I also hope they are awakening to the idea that smaller federal government would be a boon to the pocketbook and to job opportunity something that is far more important in the scheme of things than how we organize our personal lives.
when a write-in candidate can win over party backed candidates that is a true victory for democracy and it’s very telling about that State’s politics. Sure glad he won!
Illinois, Obama’s home state, looks to be another one to watch.
CHICAGO — The race for Illinois governor is shaping up as a battle of vastly different visions on how to revive a lagging economy in one of the Midwest’s last Democratic strongholds, and the candidates wasted no time Wednesday shoring up those distinctions.
While Gov. Pat Quinn has increased taxes and pushed for raising the minimum wage, multimillionaire venture capitalist Bruce Rauner wants to curtail government unions and run President Barack Obama’s home state like a business.
Rauner’s win in Tuesday’s Republican primary against three other candidates sets up a November matchup with Quinn that’s expected to be one of the hardest fought and most expensive in the nation. As Republicans attempt to reclaim the state’s top office for the first time in more than a decade, labor unions — traditionally aligned with Democrats — are trying to avoid the kinds of blows they’ve felt under GOP governors elsewhere.”
Read more: http://www.journalstandard.com/article/20140319/News/140319105#ixzz2wYl8BdEB
Jack asked “… why do you think the Republican party is losing so many of it’s members?” These folks are registering as independents and decline to state (DTS). For what it’s worth, here is my reasoning as a former Republican who is now registered as a DTS.
I used to feel that if the Republican Party stood for the three principles that the Tea Party Patriots now headline, a Limited Constitutional Government, Fiscal Responsibility and Free Markets. The TP also says it does not want to get into social issues where good people on both sides disagree about different values. That all sounds pretty darned reasonable to me.
Several of the previous comments here have mentioned the “RINOs”. It seems to me that the Republican Party is now a party led by “RINOs” and support mostly “RINO” candidates. In their speeches they make a lot of promises but their actions are pretty much “Democrat Lite”.
So, can we change this through the election process? In this country today, independent candidates have very little chance of getting into office. And, 3rd. party candidates don’t have a much better chance, especially in California since we passed the “last 2 men standing” law. So what’s left? Change the Republican Party in a major way. What would happen if it were to commit to and fight for a Limited Constitutional Government, Fiscal Responsibility and Free Markets? Certainly it could regain a lot of former members that left in disgust. It could also gain the support of a lot of Libertarian Party members who certainly embrace those 3 principles. Finally, the largest group of all, the independents and DTSs, undoubtedly have a huge no. of folks who would vote for Republicans who had integrity fought for the above 3 principles.
Is there a way we can get the Republican Party that will fight for these principles? Or is this just a pipe dream?
Mike, great comments.
I think the Republican Party is absolutely prepared to give lip service to all these noble things you mentioned, but, first they need us all to write them a big fat check. I’ve got their letter right here, and it says in order for them to continue to sound sincere and make big promises they need our support. Support means … check the appropriate box, $100, $150, $200, $500 or other and then inclose a check. Well, what happened to their promises after we voted them into the White House, the Senate and Congress? They didn’t do squat.
I’ve heard all the promises I care to hear, what I would really like to see are some results because I’m not sure I can believe them anymore.
Until then they are just a party of nice sounding words.
And that’s my honest opinion -Jack
Mike it would sure work for me. I’m one of those annoying people who believe in the rights of the unborn and marriage as traditionally defined but I’ve always thought the three principles you name, Limited Constitutional Government, Fiscal Responsibility and Free Markets should remain the focus of the party. We need a leader who can create excitement behind them and I think we have a number of good candidates that might be able to do just that.
I sure hope so.
Well Said Mike, Those three points, in my opinion is what has become lacking in the GOP these days, and I would say you have identified what is the major reason for concerned Conservatives leaving and seeking alternatives in fledgling parties.
Older voters do not especially like this melting of principles, let alone abandonment of core principles. Then there is the younger voters, and why they think the GOP is just “Older White People”, Well my vote goes to the majority of Educators and the bias they spread about the GOP on every Campus these days.
Next, add in peer pressure, so you become way more acceptable in groups, and you freely follow along.
Bias Educators and young impressible minds, seeking freedom from parental structure can become a dangerous breeding ground of false hope and direction. Additionally Students supported by funds from Liberal entitlement programs, and no real thought is given to how or where the money comes from as long as benefits them as the recipient.
Well its like pouring gas on a fire, at least for the impressible years of growth.
Once they start to understand the next gravy train for the entitlement crowd is going to be them, understanding takes place and they wake up to more Conservative thinking as they become the next generation of funding their beloved failing progressive political ideology.
While young voters support that gays should be able to marry they are becoming more pro-life too.
“When it comes to youth and their attitudes on social issues and elections, there are a lot of assumptions made,” Kristan Hawkins, executive director of the SFLA, told CNSNews.com. “However, what we have been witnessing and what has been reflected in our poll and others is that the tide is turning in this generation on social issues, especially abortion.”
“Young adults don’t believe that unborn babies are just a cluster of cells,” Hawkins said. “They can easily see sonograms of babies and know instantly that it is a life and they want a leader who protects that life.”
The key findings of the study are:
• The mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) requiring institutions to provide and pay for procedures or prescriptions that violate their religious beliefs is rejected by 42 percent of respondents, while 24 percent favor the law.
• The percentage of respondents that identified themselves as “pro-choice” and “pro-life” was evenly divided at 44 percent. But when “pro-life” respondents were asked if or when abortion should be legal, 27 percent agreed with the statement: “Abortion should only be legal in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.”
• For those self-identifying as “pro-choice,” 21 percent agreed with the statement: “Abortion should be legal for any reason, but not after the first three months of pregnancy.” Only 9 percent of the “pro-choice” respondents agreed with the statement, “Abortion should be allowed at any time during a woman’s pregnancy and for any reason.”
• 74 percent of respondents said they support making sex-selective abortions illegal in the United States.
• 77 percent of respondents said they would be voting in the 2012 elections. The results suggest youth engagement in the 2012 elections will be more similar to the youth vote in 2008 (49 percent) than in the 2010 election (24 percent).
– See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/poll-young-voters-lean-conservative-abortion-religious-freedom#sthash.GvcSnD9i.dpuf
“Nancy Keenan, leader of the nation’s largest pro-choice organization, announced this week that’s she’s stepping down amid concerns of a lack of abortion support among young voters.
Pro-life groups see the decision as proof of a growing revolution against abortion in America.
“The actual abortions, babies losing their lives, will probably decrease in this generation,” said Chuck Donovan, president of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the education and research arm of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List.
He added that Americans can expect to see more activism as young people mobilize.”
The NARAL survey found that 51 percent of pro-life voters age 30 or younger feel abortion is a very important issue for them at the polls. Only 26 percent of pro-choice voters feel so intensely.
“We’re basically seeing twice the intensity among pro-lifers than among young pro-choice voters,” Donovan explained.
Pro-life voters are already making an impact at the polls. Donovan said pro-lifers were a crucial part of turning 15 state legislatures conservative in 2010, along with sweeping many Republican governors into office.
The result has been a huge wave of new anti-abortion laws across the U.S.
“The first quarter of 2012, 75 pro-life bills have made their way through at least one chamber of a state legislature,” he explained.
Last year, 91 pro-life bills became law.
Full article:
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/healthscience/2012/May/Abortion-Groups-Alarmed-at-Growing-Pro-Life-Support/
Majority of Young Americans Pro-Life, Want Abortions Made Illegal: (Article includes links to report and poll data)
http://www.lifenews.com/2013/06/13/majority-of-young-americans-pro-life-want-abortions-made-illegal/
Jack, has it occurred to you that it might be those folk you like to call RINOs who are leaving the party. You TPs will have it all to yourselves.
So what’s the problem?