California’s GOP Is Near Collapse
According to a report in the New York Times, California’s Republican Party is on its way to becoming a minor party. Only 30% of the State’s electorate is Republican, compared to 43% who are Democrats and 21% who are independents. A consultant to the GOP, Allan Hoffenblum, pointed out that the 30% figure means Republicans can’t win a statewide election. “You just can’t get enough crossover voters. They have alienated large swaths of voters. They have become too doctrinaire on the social issues. It’s become a cult.? Wow! And this is a guy who works for the party!
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In spite of the fact that the state is embroiled in economic turmoil while all three branches of its government are controlled by Democrats, not a single Republican holds statewide office. The prognosis for change isn’t good, either. Another Republican consultant, Steve Schmidt, said, “The institution of the California Republican Party, I would argue, has effectively collapsed. It doesn’t do any of the things that a political party should do. It doesn’t register voters. It doesn’t recruit candidates. It doesn’t raise money. The Republican Party in the state institutionally has become a small ideological club that is basically in the business of hunting out heretics…When you look at the population growth, the actual party is shrinking. It’s becoming more white. It’s becoming older.”
On Sunday, the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, told a crowd at a San Francisco fundraiser that, “Boy, somebody’s got to do something for California…the right leadership would make a difference here.” Not only doesn’t the ‘right’ Republican leadership exist in the state, but 30% of the electorate can’t even come close to delivering the California vote to Romney.
Instead of indulging in pipe dreams, Romney and his GOP boosters ought to be worried about this old saying: “As California goes, so goes the nation.” Hunting out heretics…shrinking…becoming more white…aging? Could California be signaling not only the demise of the Republican Party in the state but also (gulp) sounding its death knell nationwide?
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Sorry, but I disagree. The California Republican Party is not on its way to becoming a minor party, it HAS been a minor party for quite some time now. How could you not notice?
And as for having become too “doctrinaire”…say what you will. But to me, it is the Democrats who embrace doctrine without consulting practicality, common sense and workability, not Republicans. Republicans stand for common sense, values and virtues, fiscal responsibility and economic sense, all values not espoused by Democrats. Thus the real truth is evasive in the land of fruit and nuts. Just as Progressives are mostly “regressive”, so too are the Democrats the ones who have embraced doctrine and ideology without pragmatism. Ever stop to ponder why Califas is broke? Well, the old adage of what makes a conservative: “a liberal who’s been mugged” is coming to pass. Continuing down a path of social mistakes and fiscal calamity has not worked. Let’s watch the libbies swim out of this one! Wanna fix it? Grab onto some of those “distasteful” values I have mentioned and it will change. Until then…Californiageddon is what you will continue to enjoy.