PJ Media

I think some of the posters on this thread understand the mounting challenges facing our party. I, for one, have been voting libertarian since 2004 due to the failures of the GOP under the Bush Administration. There have been some great points on here, especially the need to separate conservatives from the GOP. By this I don’t mean a night of the long knives-type purge, but the ability for conservatives to think of themselves as conservatives first and Republicans by accident.

Additionally, conservatives have to re-embrace their intellectual roots; simply castigating someone because they use a big word or make a sophisticated argument isn’t the way to return to political power. As has been said before, calling someone a “raghead” or a “socialist” makes for an interesting soundbite (and an interesting row), but doesn’t win voters. To that end, Sarah Palin and others of her ilk are no savior. This kind of language only further divides our country and, unfortunately, leads to the Knoxville Unitarian incidents. If we truly believe we are better than liberals who do namecall, then simply rise above it and admit that you don’t need to stoop to their level to win debates.

Finally, voters in this day and age have sophisticated demands and complex questions, not only about the future of our country, but the future of their family. They want to know how they are going to be able to send their kids to college, they want to know how they’ll be able to get medical coverage, they want to know how they be able to keep/save their job. Simply responding, “tax cuts” isn’t effective policy. We need to expand the policy playbook, and then communicate these ideas to the public in a way that informs, but doesn’t patronize.

PS – As it concerns social conservatives, I have no idea what to say. I have many profound disagreements with social conservatives and feel that they are a blemish to our movement, but I think we can engage them more fully and more civilly in a dialogue within our movement.