6 Suggestions For The GOP

(Editor’s note: The views expressed here are solely those of the author.)

As conservatives, we have to move past this election and move quickly.  Several lessons have been learned the past four years (and more precisely the previous two presidential election cycles.)  Less we swallow our pride, analyze the results, and build a plan for the future, our belief in a robust America will die. And with that death goes all of our children’s hopes and dreams.

The United States has become a much more racially and culturally diverse country.  The black, Latino, and Asian populations have grown tremendously from the past census to the current.  From 2000 to 2010, the minority growth rate was a resounding 91.7% while white non-Latinos only accounted for 8.3% of total population growth.

Overwhelmingly, minorities voted for President Obama in both the 2008 and the 2012 elections.  In addition to unexpectedly high minority voter turnout, single white females flocked to Obama both times as well.  So what does all this mean for the GOP and the future of our country, whose moral and economic fabric appear on the threshold of being ripped beyond repair?

The Republican Party is in dire need of an overhaul.  First, we must all get over the notion that we are intellectually superior to those on the left.  We are, however, realists; and as realists, we have a certain grasp on reality the academics don’t have.  We are a group of business people, morally grounded and fiscally responsible.  The GOP is a party that crosses all boundaries of business and religion.

Second, the GOP and its followers must overcome the notion that we are a party of “old white men”, and we must do so in a way to make everyone of color want to have an affiliation.  The party does a poor job of pushing its minority members into the spotlight, that is unless it is beneficial to us such as elections or proposing laws.  We need more minorities standing up and declaring the GOP an inclusive party grounded fiscally and morally without sounding sanctimonious.

Third, we must focus efforts on single women and help them understand that when they are successful, everyone is successful.  Obviously, someone in the Obama campaign understood the pulse of social issues through this demographic and played the drum quite well.  We can argue about the scare tactics the left employed all day long, but we must learn to adapt and beat them at their own game.

Fourth, we must come to grips with immigration and offer a plan that discusses more than the perceived isolationist fencing along the Mexican border.  How will we deal with the millions of immigrants already here illegally, and how will we deal with border crossing?  How can we partner with our Latino neighbors in such a way that their own people will want to remain home?

Fifth, we must engage in a sound energy policy that includes some semblance of renewable or solar power.  Our desire is still conservation, but in a balanced way that allows America to be independent of foreign oil suppliers and at the same time protects our environment.

Lastly, the GOP must better relay the message that the United States of America is still the most desirable country in the world.  We are the world’s economic leader; and as a result, our dream is everyone else’s dream.

As an extremely intelligent group, the GOP can do one thing the left can’t: map out a sound business policy and model.  This model will be used to convince the rest of the country that our party is the most desirable and that the leftist policies that are driving us over the fiscal and moral cliffs have no business here.  Our business acumen, applied to those items listed above, will allow our party to thrive and come roaring back to life.  However, if these items aren’t addressed, the GOP will prove itself to be a dinosaur and will go extinct in similar fashion.