Michael Powell thinks that the Republican Party is on the precipice of irrelevance.
Cranky Greg thinks the GOP is already irrelevant in California.
Here are the money paragraphs:
I believe the Republican Party is on the precipice of irrelevance if
it cannot rebuild a respect for civil debate-including self-criticism.
The formation of powerful ideas requires the push and pull of varying
viewpoints testing and informing one another. The litmus test politics
that has abducted the party, has dulled the edge of its ideas,
discourages those who respond to intellectual rigor, and repels too
many from the party who are unwilling, as a condition of admission, to
sign an oath of allegiance to a set of talking points.
Additionally, to have a future an institution must appeal to
generations of the future. Appealing to youth is vital for rebirth.
Yet, we seem trapped in a time warp. The Party has failed to fully
comprehend how the young interact and communicate in an era transformed
by the digital revolution. We do not yet appreciate their passions and
their fears, nor pause to look at the world through their eyes.
Battling to be a voice of technology and innovation is vital. In the
world of youth, you must first “get it” before you are listened to.
The Party also must be more sober about the demographic
transformation that is taking place in America. We are a browning
nation, but a Party seemingly incompetent in connecting with America’s
diversity and its ascendant multiculturalism. We are stuck in
antiquated notions of race. My kids saw Barack Obama not as black but
as modern. His race and enlightened manner of dealing with it captures
how the young see themselves.
Cranky Greg could not agree more. The GOP is loaded with people who thought that Americans would never elect a woman or a black man to be president. Cranky Greg would argue that was the case up to about 1980, but now things are different.
Many Republicans just do not get it. We all admire Ronald Reagan, but those born in 1980 when Reagan was elected are 28 years old now. They don't remember Reagan - they remember Clinton, and then the incompetence of George W. Bush.
They remember Republicans grousing about excessive government, yet spending more and more and growing government faster than any Democrat president or Congress ever did.
The McCain campaign exemplified all that is wrong with today's Republican Party, even though most Republicans weren't wild about McCain.
Obama was young, organized and had a message. He ran a disciplined campaign. He used new technology like the young people do. He didn't carry on with the race card like the Jesse Jacksons and the Al Sharptons do. He's the new guy who slew Hillary and her machine and then ran over McCain like he wasn't even there.
Had the GOP nominee been Fred Thompson or Mitt Romney or Rudi Giuliani, the same thing would have happened.
The Republican Party has a lot of thinking to do. It needs to purge itself of the Congressmen and the Senators who lied about being conservative. The new GOP must make its way into the Latino and African American communities.
Unfortunately, Cranky Greg isn't very optimistic.
