Molly Ball, writing for The Atlantic:
“Of all the Democrats’ many problems in the late 1980s, the biggest was denial. Party activists professed that their nominees were losing not because they were too liberal but because they weren’t liberal enough. Or they said that the party simply had to do a better job of turning out its base of low-income and minority voters. Or that Democrats’ majorities in Congress and governors’ mansions proved the party was still doing fine.”
The US Republican Party is headed down the same road.
America is governed best when the tension between left and right is resolved into law by compromise. Compromise cannot be achieved when one party is consumed by extremist viewpoints. As Ball points out, what the GOP needs is a “third-way” group to bring the party back to reality.
Otherwise the GOP risks remaining, in the words of Republican Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, “the stupid party,” seen as anti-science, anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-worker, anti-gay and beholden to monied interests.
Here’s a start: dump the social politics and stick with fiscal and foreign policies, both traditional GOP strengths.
A Random Stroll 