A moderate, mainstream, approach is needed to influence Republicans and transform the GOP into a party of limited government. Below is my contribution to a co-authored article posted on the national Republican Liberty Caucus website.
“Keeping it mainstream” by David Johnson and Bob Giramma
Our core principle is limited government, as opposed to big government social conservatism or other forms of big government Republicanism. The limited government part seems pretty mainstream, if presented properly. Not so with social conservatism, which is controversial and divisive. Big government Republicanism is pretty much mimicking Democrats with a different (e.g., “kinder, gentler”) set of moral values.
Another aspect of getting mainstream support is presenting limited government solutions to the problems of greatest interest, rather than running off into the weeds that no one cares about. While advocates of limited government might obsess on gun rights, drug decriminalization, etc, it’s better to focus on a small set of issues that are of greatest interest to mainstream voters.
Recent polls show those issues are (in order): the economy, the federal budget, health care, the wars, education, terrorism, and energy policy. Those are mainstream issues for which we have limited government solutions that should appeal to mainstream voters.
Recent polls show self-described “conservatives” are the biggest voting block, exceeding self-described “liberals” by a huge margin and self-described “moderates” by a small margin. At the same time, self-described “Democrats” and “independents” are the biggest voting blocks, exceeding self-described “Republicans” by huge margins.
Something is seriously wrong when conservatives have turned against Republicans like that.
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