Isn't it time for the republican party to recognize this?

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While i'm the furthest thing from "conservative" in any sense of the term, (at least if we're using the term in a political/ideological context) I do think a majority of Americans ARE conservative to some degree or another. Therefore, one would think the Republican party (who, after all, claims to be the sole political representative of conservatism) would be stronger than it has been in recent years.




I believe one major factor working against the republican party is the self-defeating strategy they've adopted towards the most radical social/religious/cultural "conservatives" in America. They've been pandering to this element since the late 70's and regardless of how the media portrays the religious/cultural right, they ARE a minority in this country. The republicans have long viewed this strategy as a winning one and to some extent at least, I think it has helped them. Nonetheless....I firmly believe it's a losing strategy in the long run and I think the folly of it is beginning to come to pass. It is alienating a lot of Americans who are more/less conservative on economic and foreign policy issues. TRADITIONALLY SPEAKING....American conservatism, the conservatism of Barry Goldwater that is, never had anything to do with religious/cultural issues. It was strictly focused on small government, fiscal restraint and a muscular foreign policy. Again....I don't really hold any brief for this sort of conservatism either....., but that's beyond the scope of this present discussion.

Bottom line....i'm sure there's tons of secular/atheist/agnostic (or simply liberal/moderate religious ones) businessmen, attorneys, doctors, professors, etc....who would *normally* find the republican platform appealing. It is these very people who the republican party is scaring off since it insists on appealing to a bunch of wild-eyed, ill-educated, redneck religious zealots in the so-called "red areas" of this country. The aforementioned economic conservatives want fiscal austerity, cuts in social programs, low capital gains taxes, etc....

What they DON'T WANT, however, is a bunch of semi-retarded religious zombies telling their daughters they can't have an abortion or telling THEM that their beloved strip clubs are "dens of iniquity" which ought to be burnt to the ground in the name of King Jesus.

In this sense (and others)....the republican party only has itself to blame for its cynical and disingenuous love affair with this motley crew of cabbages in the religious right.

i think you have to bear in mind the role of prominent clerics in the Republican party.

Mitt Romney himself is a devout mormon. Many of the big financial sponsors into the GOP have direct ties to the churches; people who moonlight as multi billionaire CEO's, which is one reason they wont burn these bridges so easilly. Another factor is arms contracts. Christian rhetoric sits well with their alliance with Israel and their crusades into Islamic countries and 'godless', socialist dictatorships like Gadaffi's Libya and Venezuela. Without an enemy, then the arms manufacturers become redundant. Capitalism 101.

They have to keep the oil flowing somehow.

I think the GOP will turn towards secularism only when more of its sponsors become more outspoken about their (lack of) belief, where applicable.

Speaking as someone from outside America, I am pretty astounded by this phenomenon. Our last prime minister to wear his faith on his sleeve was Tony Blair, and every time he mentioned it it was almost regarded as a taboo. In America faith is almost preferential, if not mandatory for the president or presedential candidate to show when and where the opportunity arises. So in all its quite hypocritical for them to distance themselves from Iran and the like. Its certainly quite sad when it can act as a deal breaker in deciding who is and isn't elected.

Everything you've said here is difficult to disagree with. Still.....barring any acts of electoral fraud on the part of the republicans, it's ultimately the American electorate that matters and I have been sensing an increasing amount of alienation towards the republican party for the reason I mentioned. I think the strategy worked for them during Bush's first term, but the religious right started to become too strident and arrogant because of the impressive gains it perceived at the time. They started to believe Bush's self-proclaimed "mandate" was their own as well. I believe this gradually awoke a "sleeping giant" within the collective American mentality which, for the most part, is strongly opposed to any religious meddling in public affairs and policy. This "giant" can only become more and more virulent in a nation whose population is becoming more atheistic/agnostic every year.

Younger people in America today are the most atheistic/agnostic generation the country has ever known. The WW-II generation is all-but gone and the days are numbered for the baby boomers. The Judeo-Christianity faith and worldview in this country is undoubtedly moribund. It is simply a relatively impotent and moronic astral corpse which doesn't have the sense to lie down. It can still cause a good deal of mischief in some "mean and petty ways", but that's fairly typical of a cornered animal facing a superior opponent whose victory is inevitable.

You have to remember that neither political party in the United States is a singular entity. All of them are loose associations of people with wildly divergent ideas thrown together like ferrets in a bag.

Within the Republican Party, the tea partiers, the religious right, small-government libertarians, military-industrial statists, fiscal conservatives, farmers and big business are all thrown together. Within the Democratic Party, organized labour, urban liberals, social progressives and environmentalists all get flung together.

Each party is bound by its membership. So long as the religious right is turning out in droves at the precinct level, it is the delegates that they elect that are going to be setting party platforms.

The difference is that the GOP is ruled by its extremes--and that leaves the Democrats free to play to the center.

It seems in this day and age the Republican party is the one constantly pushing ideological purity.