If the events of last week told us anything, it’s that Republicans are behind the times. A great illustration of this was when Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana was shocked over the backlash of his state’s religious liberty law. Any casual political observer could see that Indiana was playing with fire.
The Grand Old Party is simply stuck in the past. It is sticking with the political playbook that won them decisive elections back in the ‘80s, ‘90s and ‘00s, when the Republican Party was the political party to beat. Because Republicans were so successful then, the political operatives on the right — many of the old white men who run the party and comprise its base — believe the playbook can still be used to win elections today. This, unfortunately, is not true.
The GOP playbook of yesteryear banked primarily on social issues geared toward the “moral majority.” In 2004, Karl Rove designed a strategy that divided the country on moral issues. This caused the more galvanized Christian right to go to the polls in droves. When Pence followed the game plan, it backfired.
America is at a “hinge” moment, as Democratic strategist Doug Sosnik likes to say. Demographic, economic, international and cultural forces have been silently transforming the country. Ethnic minorities are growing in size and influence. The economy is improving, but the future is still uncertain. The world is on fire, and foreign relations continue to be dealt with haphazardly. Millennials are making their voices heard more than ever before. The country has a new face and new political beliefs. Republicans have to realize this.
In order to appeal to the changing nation, the Republican Party must change its playbook and undergo an evolution of sorts, though it may not be comfortable with this term. This is another reason for the party’s need to change. The simple fact of the matter is that the emerging Republican base is extremely different from the base of the ‘80s and ‘90s. New Republicans are more secular and business-oriented.
But even the moral voters are different now, too. More evangelical millennials are comfortable with same-sex marriage, evolution and social issues. The GOP must adapt with these developments in mind.
The emerging GOP base is not copping out or capitulating to socialist, godless Democrats. The country is simply changing. In the 2012 election, pollsters liked to say that America was divided into left-leaning Starbucks voters and right-leaning Wal-Mart voters. However, Wal-Mart recently came to oppose Arkansas’ religious freedom bill that mirrored Indiana’s. Wal-Mart also raised the minimum wage of its workers. What has the country come to?
The nation should now be divided into Starbucks voters and, say, NASCAR voters. But even NASCAR opposed the Indiana religious freedom bill.
The situation the right finds itself in is very unfortunate. Talk to any run-of-the-mill American, and he or she probably agrees with the views of the GOP: strong defense, low taxes, accountable and limited government and pro-business sentiment. This is the bread and butter of the right. In an effort to gain an advantage over the Democrats during the last few decades, the right invested itself in issues like same-sex marriage and hard-core religious positions. Those divisive issues are no longer divisive for millennials. There is a palpable consensus on them.
The choice for the right is not change or die out. It’s more or less change or become irrelevant for a period of time. This happened during the Great Depression when Republicans found themselves out of sync with the improvised working class. The GOP bounced back in time, but the New Deal and other liberal programs were law. From that moment on, government played a more important role in the lives of Americans. That was a hinge moment for the country.
If the right wants to be relevant and, more importantly, prevent Democrats from capitalizing on a hinge moment, it needs to get in front of the times and evolve.
Michael Beato is a UF economics junior. His column appears on Thursdays.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 4/9/2015]
