The national Republican Party's new 97-page blueprint for rebuilding the GOP makes no fewer than 30 mentions of the need to become more welcoming and inclusive, mainly on immigration and social issues.More at that top link.
That has some social conservatives worried that the party may become less welcoming to them.
On social issues, the party will never win over young voters if it is seen as "totally intolerant of alternative points of view," a Republican National Committee panel said this past week in its report on rejuvenating the party. The report didn't mention gay marriage specifically, but it appeared to be talking about the issue when it said that "certain social issues" are "turning off young voters from the party," and that many young voters see these matters as "the civil rights issue of our time."
Ralph Reed, founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, is among a group of conservatives now holding up a large "Caution" sign, particularly on the subject of changing the party's stance on marriage.
As someone who consulted on the blueprint, Mr. Reed said he applauds its "cold-eyed, unreserved, unflinching look at the mistakes Republicans made" in losing last year's presidential election and several Senate races that the party had expected to win.
But a push to change the party's stance on social issues, particularly by playing down its opposition to gay marriage, "is not a freebie for the Republican Party," Mr. Reed said. A move in that direction, he said, "will bleed away support from evangelicals," traditionally one of the party's pillars.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a Christian conservative activist group, sent his warning to the party in an email to thousands of supporters.
"If the RNC abandons marriage, evangelicals will either sit the elections out completely—or move to create a third party," he wrote. "Either option puts Republicans on the path to a permanent minority."
The only other policy sphere that the report singled out was immigration, calling for the party to "embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform," a term that generally includes granting legal status and possibly citizenship to people who entered the country illegally. That idea has divided the evangelical community and the party as a whole, with some supporting it and others opposing what they say amounts to a reward for lawbreaking.
The national party's self-examination focused less on changing its policy stances than on a need to adjust its tone and find new ways to deliver its message to voters. It was particularly concerned with strategies for expanding the conservative brand into minority communities and other places where it hasn't been popular.
The Republicans are on a path to partisan suicide. Becoming more like the Democrats will not win them votes. They'll lose their key supporters and be laughed at by the libertarians and progressives they're trying to attract. It's going to be a painful experience no matter what happens. There's a lot of change going on in American politics right now. The GOP needs to be careful not to hold its finger to the wind too long.
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