Call Me GOP

The Dems may have hit a rough patch, but that doesn’t mean the Republican Party is in the clear yet. At least, that’s Gerald F. Seib argument in today’s Wall Street Journal. He points out that Obama’s falling approval rating alone won’t fix the party. To get ahead, what challenges does the G.O.P. face and what issues do its members need to address?

Every political party will inevitably try to put a favorable spin on things. Currently, Democrats are concentrating on a so-called “nonsense feedback loop” — highlighting the theories of Birthers and fears over “death panels.” It seems to be a common political strategy: focus on the lunacy of extremists more than a moderate, rational voice.

The Daily Beast argues that having a Democrat in the White House could have possibly created a more passive party. The energy has dissipated. Momentum has been lost. Well, have they lost the edge? Are the Democrats feeling too secure in their position? What can the G.O.P. do to take advantage of the situation?

In Washington and all around the country there’s a political battle for America’s future. And while Americans are beginning to find faults in the Democrats’ proposals, an article in The Examiner claims that they’re not being presented with any alternatives. For the G.O.P. to be successful, it needs to “get their act together” and engage in a debate that does more than just criticize liberals and their plans. What’s your advice to the G.O.P. for moving forward and taking on the Democratic Party?

A recent Rasmussen report states that support for Republican congressional candidates is at its highest level in over two years. 42% polled said they’d vote Republican while only 38% would back their district’s Democratic candidate. But is the G.O.P. counting its chickens before they hatch? Is this gradual trend toward the G.O.P. a result of failures from the Democratic Party or positive efforts from the Republicans?

What are the unique characteristics that define the Republican party?

Since our real goal here is to find the voice of the G.O.P. by identifying the core values he/she should uphold and the characteristics he/she should embody, maybe it’s time to stop in our tracks and determine exactly what those are.

As a Democrat with a staunch Republican father and many Republican friends, I often pose the question, “What is it that makes you a Republican?” In doing so, I always find that there’s flawless consistency in these three answers:

• High taxes suck.
• No one’s going to tell me I can’t own a gun.
• My dad (or mom) is a Republican.

And that’s where the consistency ends. As a fiscally conservative Democrat, I usually offer that:

• I also hate, nay, loathe, high taxes (although I do have very un-Republican feelings about where my tax dollars should go when they inevitably leave me).
• I absolutely agree that people should be able to carry guns, (which stems from my first-hand exposure to my dad’s near-death at the hands of someone who could have easily been stopped with the help of such a defense mechanism) but that there should be stronger barriers of entry.
• My dad is also a Republican.

So, since these are the three most consistent answers I’ve come across in my (admittedly informal) research, and I can claim all three as a Democrat, what are the unique characteristics that define the Republican party? What is it that the Republican Party offers that the Democratic party doesn’t? And of those things, which do the majority of Republicans claim most consistently?