The most common adjectives to describe today's Republican Party include: obstructionist, anti-women, anti-gay, anti-immigrant or pro-gun. These are not the adjectives that will win seats in the 2014 mid-terms or the 2016 presidential race.
The Republican Party badly needs to change its messaging away from demagoguery towards something inspirational for the country to grasp. As the economist noted in last weeks newspaper, Gen Y is a neo-liberal group encouraged by the values of the Internet: freedom, liberty, anti-statist. I think this is a great opportunity the Republicans.
The Republicans have lost the culture wars; religiosity is now a net negative to the party. In the mid-1990s it was a way to consolidate the base, but now that base, in form of the Tea Party Caucus is pulling the party in two. The disappointment to many is that Tea Party Caucus economic values are actually mainstream among Gen Y. The idea that the government should regulate and supervise business and protect the environment and otherwise stay out of the private sector economy is a vision that can be easy to grasp. Gen Y is also very much skeptical of the welfare state. The challenge is that the Tea Party Caucus vision for a neo-liberal economic model is blunted by their statist religiousness. If they could advocate freedom of choice, freedom of beliefs and advocate for more state-based decision-making they could have a winning message.
The Republicans also need to avoid their current pattern of disingenuousness. Rolling out Ann Romney to boost her husbands' fortunes with women came of as pandering. After losing the 2012 election, the Republicans have now decided that Latino voters are am important demographic for them. They have now been trotting out Marco Rubio in a blatant attempt to look, not pro-Latino, but at least not anti-Latino. It all has a false feeling to it. Like selecting Michael Steele as the RNC chairman after 2008 to show the Republicans were progressive on civil rights after Obama's victory. The American people know when they are being lied to and when politicians are being disingenuous.
Chris Christie is truly a model for the future of the Republican Party. While he may not make a great presidential candidate, he can be the ideological guide to the party. He has some good ideas: put money in classrooms rather that teacher's unions, ensure the government has no structural deficits by engaging in entitlement reform, invest in infrastructure, etc. Those are very centrist opinions, and Christie has been very shy when wading into any culture war arenas.
Michelle Bachmann is now gone as the philosophical leader of the Tea Party Caucus, Sarah Palin's anti-intelligence dogma has been silenced in the main steam. This is an important opportunity for the Republicans to go away, come up with a platform and a framework for the country that can inspire.
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