Since the November election, analysts have discussed the fate of the Republican party, and the overwhelming consensus stands that the republican message is “outdated” and “unappealing.”

 
But if this is their analysis, I do not think they fully understand the republican message to begin with.

The prime issue of the election seemed to be about the economy, but the majority of Americans favored Romney to handle the economy. Why did republicans loose in 2012 then? It is definitely not because people favored Obama’s economic policies. When talking about the democrat’s strategy to handle the economy and the debt, notice Obama never mentions that their plan will be beneficial to the economy. Raising taxes hurts the economy–it is just common sense. Obama then successfully drew attention away from the key issues leaving republicans with nothing left.

Republicans lost, in large part, because of avoiding social issues.

Yes, social issues.

 
I am pretty sure nearly all analysts have blamed the loss on their conservative social stance. However, republicans had a great opportunity to reach out to traditionally liberal voters but failed to do so. With the President’s HHS mandate, socially conservative democrats became disappointed in the President. Catholics, who traditionally vote for democrats, began to question their political alignment.

But, republicans decided to not make an issue of it, ultimately loosing the Catholic vote.

 
Republicans feared upsetting liberal democrats and the media, so instead they compromised their values. I fully believe that if republicans would have made social issues a bigger deal, Catholics, Hispanics, and African-Americans would have not given near as much support to the President. As much as liberals may hate it, social issues are the way to attract these groups and develop a diverse electorate. Conservative economic principles resonate well with the majority of Americans.

But as the electorate begins to get more diverse, social issues are republicans only hope to grow.

 

The republican party is no longer a club for old white men. The future of the republican party is bright, diverse, and conservative at its core. 2012 may have not gone exactly as we hoped, but the republican party is far from done.
 

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