How to solve the GOP problem with minorities and millennnials

Barack Obama’s two presidential election victories were built on the backs of three groups in which he received landslide victories. Obama won with margins on the order of two-to-one with black, Hispanic and young voters both times he ran. These lopsided numbers provided him with the slim margin that he needed to eke out a victory over Mitt Romney in spite of a strong showing by Romney among white voters. If any Republican hopes to win a national election in the future, it is axiomatic that he must slice deeply into the Democratic advantage with minority and millennial voters.

 The Democratic plan has been one of targeting their message to individual demographic groups in a divide-and-conquer strategy. Black voters are told that Republicans are racist and want to suppress them at the polls and repeal the Voting Rights Act. Hispanics are told that Republicans are racist and want to deport them. Millennials are swayed by Obama’s “cool” factor. The razor thin rationales targeting the various demographic groups should be permeable to Republican attacks.

President Obama’s unpopularity and the failure of his agenda present a unique opportunity for Republicans. Voters who were firmly in the Obama camp may now be willing to listen to alternative viewpoints. Charles Ellison recently wrote in The Root that dissatisfaction with the president and high black unemployment are resulting in tempered black support for Democratic candidates. Likewise, high unemployment among millennials may hurt their support for Democrats as well. With respect to Hispanics, Democrats have promised immigration reform for six years and failed to deliver.

The necessary first step for Republicans is to remove the stumbling blocks that prevent minorities from voting for Republican candidates. Republican candidates should put themselves in the shoes of minority voters and acknowledge that black and Hispanic Americans do have a different experience than white Americans. Republicans should take this into account and consider how certain messages will sound to minority voters.

Guilt by association is real. Conservatives should temper their enthusiasm for the defense of people like George Zimmerman and Darren Wilson. Springing to the defense of alleged murderers, especially before all the facts are known, is just as wrong as calling for their heads. Conservatives should also distance themselves from racists such as Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling. These people have the freedom to spout racist nonsense, but they don’t have the freedom to duck the consequences.

Conservatives should also refrain from pointing out that Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and the other race baiters are the real racists. It’s obvious, but also irrelevant, that there is a double standard.
The biggest stumbling block for Hispanics is immigration. The Tea Party fringe that insists on deportation and no “amnesty,” by which they mean any immigration reform, seems bent on driving Latinos permanently into the Democratic camp. These opponents of “amnesty” claim not to the see the problems in the current system in which businesses and farms depend on immigrant labor, but under which legal immigration can take decades.

The next step for Republicans is to show up. Republican candidates should make frequent visits to ethnic neighborhoods and listen to the voters there. This should not merely be an election year exercise. They should forge long-term relationships with community leaders. It is harder to paint a Republican as an evil racist if the people already know and trust him. Minority voters won’t vote for Republicans if Republican candidates don’t show up to ask for their votes.

Finally, Republicans should find out where a majority Americans agree with them and oppose the Democrats. An October 2014 Gallup poll found that the top three issues for voters were the economy (17 percent), dissatisfaction with government (16 percent) and unemployment/jobs (10 percent). These were the only issues to rank in double-digits and, coincidentally, a separate Gallup poll found that voters favor Republicans on these issues. These are the issues that Republicans should be talking about.

While Republicans should not mimic the Democratic ploy of making separate promises to different demographic groups, they should target campaign messages to different groups. While it is true that a rising tide lifts all boats and that conservative principles would benefit the nation as a whole, Republicans can no longer simply spin out a generic message and wait for minority voters to flock to their banner.

The best strategy may be to take the advice of economist Arthur Brooks, who wrote in the Wall St. Journal that conservatives must make their policies personal to voters instead of railing against abstract ideas and things. By connecting with voters on a personal level and explaining how conservative ideas can help the poor, Brooks says, “Conservative leaders will be able to stand before Americans who are struggling and feel marginalized and say, ‘We will fight for you and your family, whether you vote for us or not’—and truly mean it.”

This means that conservatives should spend less time talking about abstract ideas and social issues. Republicans must deemphasize issues like abortion, marriage and even the repeal of ObamaCare. They should completely stop talking about things like amnesty, impeachment, and birth certificates. At best these issues are divisive. At worst, they alienate voters.

What Republicans should spend more time talking about how is Democratic policies hurt real people and their families, playing to their advantage on the economy and jobs. Republican candidates should stand with the unemployed who have been unable to find jobs in the Obama economy, the family breadwinner struggling to support a family on less than he made in 2008, the college graduate with no employment prospects and the cancer patient whose health insurance policy was canceled due to the Affordable Care Act. Republicans should make an emotional connection with voters by putting names and faces to real effects of the Obama agenda.

When the Republicans win control of the Senate, passing immigration reform unilaterally should be a top priority. If President Obama chooses to veto Republican immigration reform, the Democrats might well incur the wrath of Hispanic voters, while the Republicans could, for once, be the party of “si’.” Democrats promised immigration reform for six years, but didn’t deliver. This leaves the GOP with an opportunity. One need look back no further than 2004, or even more recently to Chris Christie in New Jersey and Rick Perry in Texas, to see that a conservative can win Hispanic votes.

With respect to millennials, emphasizing jobs and playing down social issues may help the GOP since younger voters tend to be more liberal on social issues, but may lean conservative on size and role of government. Removing Obama from the ballot may help as well. Potential Democratic candidates such as Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Elizabeth Warren lack the president’s hipness and youth appeal. In the pre-Obama elections, young voters were more closely divided. George W. Bush even tied the demographic with Al Gore in 2000.

Republicans don’t have to change their principles or write off entire demographics to the Democrats, but neither will these groups simply fall into the GOP camp by default. To win these voters, Republicans must show up, listen to their concerns, and convince them that conservative ideas will make their lives better. Read the rest on Examiner.com

Broad field competes for GOP senate nomination in Georgia

The Republican primary for the Senate seat of the retiring Saxby Chambliss is heating up. No fewer than seven candidates are vying for the opportunity to represent Georgia Republicans against the presumed Democratic nominee, Michelle Nunn, daughter of longtime Georgia senator, Sam Nunn. Without a strong GOP frontrunner, the general election is considered a tossup by some analysts.

Recent polls show businessman David Perdue with a small lead over the other candidates. Perdue, a native of Macon and a graduate of Georgia Tech, is a management consultant and has served as an officer at several well known corporations including Reebok and Dollar General. He has two sons and two grandsons and currently lives in St. Simon’s.

Perdue believes that the federal debt has reached crisis proportions. As a corporate CEO who has revitalized several companies, Perdue believes that he is “uniquely qualified to help get our economy growing again and get government spending under control.”

Rep. Jack Kingston is currently polling second in the primary. Kingston currently represents Georgia’s first congressional district (Savannah) in the House of Representatives. Kingston grew up in Athens and was an economics major at the University of Georgia. He worked in insurance sales in Savannah before launching his political career in the Georgia House of Representatives.

Kingston favors tax reform that would eliminate the federal income tax in favor of the Fair Tax. Kingston is also critical of federal spending. He says, “The Appropriations Committee on which I serve is on the front lines of spending fight.  Rather than just talking about spending cuts, I have personally fought to have them signed into law.  I have worked to reduce waste and duplication so your government is more efficient and accountable.”

Paul Broun, a medical doctor, is a graduate of the University of Georgia and the Medical College of Georgia. He served in the U.S. Marines as a young man and was deployed to Afghanistan as a U.S. Navy medical officer in 2012. He currently serves in the U.S. House of Representatives in Georgia’s tenth district (Athens). Broun is considered a Tea Party candidate.

Broun, like the other candidates, is a strong opponent of Obamacare. On his website, he says, “As a physician, I know that President Obama has misdiagnosed American health care. ObamaCare is the wrong prescription…. Every promise about ObamaCare was false. Under ObamaCare, the quality of health care decreases, cost increases, taxes go up, privacy in health care decision-making and the privacy of your personal health records will be destroyed. Denial of care and rationing of care will become inevitable.”

In fourth place is Rep. Phil Gingrey, currently the congressman representing Georgia’s 11^th district (Marietta). Gingrey, who was born in Augusta, is also a medical doctor. He is a graduate of Georgia Tech and the Medical College of Georgia and has had an OBGYN practice in Marietta for more than 20 years. He is chairman of the GOP doctor’s caucus and a proponent of measures to reduce waste and fraud in Medicare.

Gingrey agrees that Obamacare has hurt the economy and must be repealed. “The Un-Affordable Care Act has not only wrecked our health care system, it is wrecking our economy,” he says on his website. “I’ve heard from small business owners all across Georgia about the disastrous effects the law will have on their businesses. The answer to jump starting our economy is very simple; we must lower tax rates, eliminate burdensome regulations, and get government off the backs of our entrepreneurs and job creators.”

The last ranked candidate is Karen Handel. Originally from Washington, D.C. and Maryland, Handel is perhaps best known by Georgians as the state’s first Republican Secretary of State. She served in that position from 2007 to 2009. In that role she defended and implemented Georgia’s voter ID law. She also ran for governor of Georgia in 2010 campaigning on ethics reform. She ultimately lost a runoff election to Nathan Deal. Handel also served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Marilyn Quayle and as Chief of Staff to Governor Sonny Perdue.

Handel made national news as the Senior Vice President for Public Policy of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation when she became involved in the group’s decision, later reversed, to end grants to Planned Parenthood. Handel received extensive criticism from liberals for her role in the decision and eventually wrote a book, “Planned Bullyhood,” about the experience.

Handel’s campaign centers around her four step plan to return America to fiscal soundness and economic prosperity. Her first step is to repeal Obamacare and replace it with Rep. Tom Price’s Empowering Patients Act. Second, she would reform the budgeting process with a balanced budget amendment and zero based budgeting while cutting spending by one percent across the board. Third, she would enact the Fair Tax and repeal the 16^th amendment. Finally, she would reform the federal regulatory process with the REINS Act, a comprehensive review of federal regulations and 10 year sunset rule.

In addition to these candidates, two others, Art Gardner and Derrick Grayson, did not receive enough support to register in recent polling. Gardner is a patent attorney who lives in East Cobb and Grayson, of Lithonia, is a MARTA engineer and minister.

Georgia’s congressional primary will be held on May 20. Advance voting begins on April 28. If needed, a runoff will be held on July 22.

Originally published on Atlanta Conservative Examiner

Defunding Obamacare is GOP’s ‘mission impossible’

In recent weeks there has been a push among members of the Republican Party and Tea Party activists to “defund” the Affordable Care Act, “Obamacare.” The Republicans have devoted considerable time and energy to the repeal of Obamacare, which is driving up health insurance costs around the country according to UPI. According to NBC News, by the beginning of August the Republicans in the House had voted to repeal Obamacare no less than 40 times.

The problem for the GOP is that Democrats control the Senate and the White House. Repeal bills from the House die in the Senate, usually with a party line vote. If a repeal bill did somehow pass the Senate, it would face a certain veto from President Obama.

If Republican bills to repeal Obamacare have failed 40 times, what makes them think that a bill to defund the president’s health care reform can make it through the Senate? The plan, formulated by Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), centers around a pledge to “not support any continuing resolution or appropriations legislation that funds further implementation or enforcement of Obamacare.”

The defund Obamacare movement has several hurdles. The first is getting enough Republican support. Lee’s plan is supported by Senators Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.). In all, about a dozen Republicans have signed onto the plan so far. Cruz told CNN on August 27 that 41 senators or 218 representatives would be needed to make the plan work. There are currently 233 Republican representatives and 45 senators. This means that the plan would require near unanimity among Republicans.

The second hurdle is negotiations with congressional Democrats. While the Democrats have never voted to repeal Obamacare, some new Democrats accept that Obamacare is deeply flawed and unworkable. Others might be persuaded to work with Republicans to fend off election year challenges. A compromise with congressional Democrats would be difficult but not impossible.

The final hurdle is President Obama. In 2011 and 2012, the two parties entered negotiations to raise the federal debt ceiling. At the end of 2012, the parties negotiated to avoid the tax cliff, a number of new taxes and tax increases scheduled to automatically go into effect. In each case, Obama adamantly opposed even token spending cuts. According to Bob Woodward’s book, “the Price of Politics” (excerpted in the Washington Post), Obama was willing to take the country to the brink of default and total financial collapse to avoid cutting federal spending in 2011. The story was the same in the tax cliff negotiations when, as reported by Examiner in December, the president refused to consider any plan that did not raise taxes.

The first test of the plan to defund Obamacare would likely come by mid-October when the federal government reaches its spending limit. Congress must act to raise the debt limit again before the limit reached and President Obama is refusing to even enter into negotiations over the increase. Where once Obama was considered by some to be “the adult in the room” during negotiations, he now seems more akin to a toddler who holds his breath until he gets what he wants. This is the man with whom the Republicans plan to issue an ultimatum to defund his signature piece of legislation. Last week, Cruz told Fox News that he believes that the president might agree to defund the Affordable Care Act. He did not say how he thought Obama might be persuaded to do so. A more likely scenario is that Obama would act unilaterally to raise the debt ceiling without Congress as the Democrats threatened last January.

Rasmussen reported on August 26 that a majority of Americans are still opposed to Obama’s health care law by a margin of 54-41 percent. Nevertheless, a poll commissioned by Republican members of Congress in early August found that 71 percent oppose shutting down the government to fight Obamacare according to the Washington Examiner. Among Republicans, 53 percent oppose a shutdown compared to 37 percent in favor. A more recent Rasmussen poll on August 27 found that 42 percent of Republicans thought a government shutdown would be good for the party while 28 percent thought it would hurt and 14 percent believed it would have no impact.

In practical terms this means that a government shutdown could jeopardize Republican chances of victory in the 2014 elections. As detailed in Examiner last week, Democrats are defending 20 seats to the Republicans’ 15. Of seven open seats, five are currently held by Democrats and three of these are in red states. The current Rasmussen generic congressional ballot favors the GOP by one point. The GOP had a similar edge in the 2012 elections and actually lost two seats in the Senate.

With less than two months left before Congress must act on the debt ceiling, it is unlikely that enough Republicans will sign onto the plan to block funding for the law. If Republicans did unite around the effort, the result would most likely result in a stalemate that would bring the country to the brink of a government shutdown. Given President Obama’s past history in such showdowns, he would be willing to allow the country to default and use the ensuing crisis as a weapon against the GOP. For example, Obama could delay military pay and entitlement checks or even making payments on the national debt while blaming Republicans. Republicans would be forced to choose between defunding Obamacare or a national default. Few would choose to default.

Even if Republicans were successful in their defunding effort, it might still not stop Obamacare. A Congressional Research Service report requested by Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) in July indicates that implementation of Obamacare would likely continue in a government shutdown for two reasons. First, some funding from discretionary and mandatory funds would still be available. Second, exceptions to the Anti-Deficiency Act would allow some pre-authorized spending to take place.

The long odds against defunding Obamacare bring to mind Pickett’s Charge or the Charge of the Light Brigade, a valiant effort that is doomed to almost certain failure. Nevertheless, some Republicans might personally benefit from a situation even as their party loses. The Washington Post points out that Cruz, Rubio, and Paul may well use the effort to make themselves more attractive as presidential candidates for 2016.

Coming soon! A better plan for Obamacare.

Originally published on Elections Examiner

What next for Republicans?

As returns come in across the country, all signs are pointing to a Republican landslide of historic proportions. It is apparent that the Republicans will win control of the House of Representatives, but control of the Senate is still in doubt.

Before Republicans celebrate too early, however, it is important to note that most people will be voting Republican, not because they like Republicans, but because the Democrats have made them angry and afraid. Over the past eighteen months, Democrats have rammed through a string of unpopular, expensive, and ineffective programs over the loud objections of a majority of Americans. It was assumed by the Democrats that when these programs took effect, they would become more popular. This has not happened.

As a result of ignoring the wishes of the electorate, the Democrats have lost the majority of independent voters. Since neither party has enough adherents to form a majority, it is the independents who decide elections. President Obama and the Democrats won independents handily in the 2008 election by promising bipartisanship, an end to corruption, and moderate policies. Instead, we have seen the Democrats effectively ignore the rest of the country and shift to the far left. Instead of openness and honesty, we find laws passed without even giving congressmen the time to read them.

Republicans should learn from the mistakes of the Democrats, as well as their own mistakes of the Bush era. The lessons are as many as they are simple.

First, the government needs to listen to the people. Government officials are public employees, not overlords. In the past, incumbents were practically assured of re-election. That has changed. This year incumbents of both parties have realized that they people are now paying attention, they are angry, and they are tired of the same old politics from Washington.

Second, the people are tired of expensive and intrusive federal programs. Americans realize that they can’t go on running up credit card debt indefinitely without facing the consequences. It is high time that our government officials realized the same common sense applies to governments as well. Americans are generally independent and self-reliant people. Most of us just want to be left alone to live our lives without interference. As a people, we don’t like to be talked down to or told what to do. This attitude goes all the way back to the Revolution.

Government has a legitimate role. Americans aren’t anarchists. We believe that the role of the government is spelled out in the Constitution. We don’t generally mind if the government establishes a temporary safety net for those who are down on their luck. Most of us don’t want this to be permanent however.

Americans don’t want either party to rule unilaterally. The Republicans will need to seek a consensus with the remaining Democrats, who will hopefully realize the errors that they made and shift toward the center. In any case, a consensus will likely be necessary since the Republicans are unlikely to win a veto-proof majority (this year). Most importantly, Republicans will need to ensure that any compromises meet the will of the people.

Americans do want our elected officials to be honest. Republicans (and Democrats) should hold themselves to a higher standard and avoid any appearance of impropriety. As the continual revelations of misconduct from both parties appear, it undermines the faith of Americans in their government. Without faith in the institutions of government, democracy cannot succeed for long.

Most importantly, America as a whole needs to realize that if we continue to put our faith in political parties, we will be continually disappointed. Political parties are made up of human beings and human beings are fallible. If you put your trust in a human being, you will be disappointed; it is just a matter of when.

Americans need to claim the promise that God gave to King Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “…if my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

As a country, we face many seemingly insurmountable problems. We have a crisis in which trillions of dollars of debt is acting as an anchor on our economy and threatens to enslave our children. We are deeply divided politically and emotionally. Large numbers of our countrymen are out of work and losing their homes. Our young men and women are fighting and dying in two wars. We are under constant threat of terrorist attack. A country that is our sworn enemy is on the verge of obtaining nuclear weapons and missile launch capability to deliver them to our shores. These and other problems may constitute an insurmountable “perfect storm” for men, but not the God of our fathers, the Divine Providence who inspired and aided in the creation of our country.

Finally, Americans do want our elected officials to keep their promises. When we were told that our health insurance premiums would go down, that we could keep our current insurance if we wanted, and that the stimulus would bring lower unemployment, that was what we expected. When the Democrats promised fiscal restraint and to “drain the swamp” of corruption, people voted for them because that was what they wanted. Republicans should remember that they promised to work for the repeal of Obamacare, cut spending and the size of government, and keep taxes low. If they do not keep their promises and listen to the people, the Republicans will not remain in power very long.

Georgians vote against Democrats, not for GOP

If polls leading up to Election Day are a reliable indication, the Democrats will suffer a crushing defeat at the ballot box today. Republicans are almost certain to take control of the House, likely to win a majority in the Senate, and are poised to take control of several governorships as well.

To read the rest of this article and learn what the GOP should learn from this election, click the link below.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5961708/many_in_georgia_are_voting_against.html?cat=8