The GOP goes both ways...

And it isn't as fun as it sounds.

There seems to be a contradiction: some on the left (and some Republicans) say that the GOP has become too right-wing and needs to moderate. Conservatives say that the exact OPPOSITE is true, that the GOP has moved to far to the left. Well, which is it?

It is both.

In terms of social issues, the GOP has been solidly on the right. Republican politicians' public positions on gay marriage, stem cell research, abortion haven't moved a cat's whisker to the left since at least 2000. Some of these issues were brought to the forefront in elections and gave victory to Republicans. But as social issues giveth, so do they taketh. The position among many fiscal conservatives/social liberals is that the GOP has become too Evangelical and too conservative on social issues.

Conservative social issues win as a generic social issue when presented by a FACELESS ballot. I doubt that most Blue states would vote for gay marriage. California just voted it down.

But that does NOT mean that Republican POLITICIANS can derive victory from these issues. People might have conservative social views but they DO NOT like to be lectured by conservative politicians. Politicians that in many cases turn out to be hypocritical (is that Larry Craig's hand under my chair?). For every Carrie Prejean that legitimately expresses her opinion against gay marriage, there will be nude photos, a DUI, a drug conviction, prostitutes, gay lover, whatever.

You will never find a sinless politician, so Republican politicians calling something sinful will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS expose AT LEAST ONE Republican politician as a hypocrite.

Banning gay marriage always passes in California, yet no social conservative has a shot in he-double toothpicks to win statewide office. The reason is that people by and large think politicians that preach social conservative values are either hypocritical and/or self-righteous. Let's save the preaching to the experts: priests, rabbis, and...preachers.


On the concept of FISCAL issues, where the GOP has moved is at best mixed, and more clearly the GOP has moved to the LEFT since the Gingrich Congress of the mid-1990's. Huge spending increases, even on discretionary spending, have left many fiscal conservatives believing Obama when he said DEMOCRATS were fiscal conservatives. I'm sure they all get a big chuckle thinking now about how Obama punked them (lied to them) and turned out to be the biggest fiscal liberal since FDR; but Obama was only able to MAKE the argument that Democrats were fiscal conservatives...because the GOP was NOT.

The Republicans Party will have success again when they are not so outspoken on conservative issues (yet still remain QUIETLY supportive) and return to fiscal conservativism. That means cutting the budget people. That means not going bankrupt. Americans support not going bankrupt, that's a winning issue.


So, which way has the GOP gone the past few years, to the left or right? They have gone both ways, and it doesn't seem to be something American voters approve of.