6 things the Republican Party needs to give up

This is my big opportunity to lose friends. But sometimes people need tough love. This is one of those times. Here are four things Republicans need to get away from in stump speeches:

Overdoing it with Christianity
I am a Christian. I go to church every Sunday. Love it. I often whistle “Praise God from whom all blessings flow,” which is a beautiful melody and is true. But our nation does not require you to be religious or to follow any particular religion. It may excite a few to talk about restoring the United States as a “Christian nation” but it hurts the party and perhaps the unity of the nation. It is simply unwelcoming. If we want to get things done, we have to stop using this rhetoric. The United States was designed to be friendly to people of all religions. Let’s keep it that way.

Abortion
Roe v. Wade is a poorly reasoned opinion. No doubt. It is dangerous to allow judges to find new fundamental rights in the “penumbra of the Bill of Rights.” That’s called a one man Constitutional Convention. But at this point the three month rule is a settled compromise. Bush tried to stack the court with pro-lifers and it didn’t work out. It is unrealistic to believe it will work out next time and if it did it would be the greatest gift we could ever give the Democrats. I am not pro-abortion but we need to let this one lie because it is not going to change. At this point it is just a polarizing waste of time. If you are a Republican candidate and you launch into a harangue about abortion what you are saying is "I would like to waste some time now on an emotional issue in hopes of distracting you from the real issues in this campaign." Just get a sign and hold it up during the abortion part of your speech. Note by the way that Scott Brown handled abortion exactly as I am recommending.

I am not saying we should not speak out against partial birth or other late term abortions. But we should not get the Democratic Party excited with rhetoric about banning abortions altogether. To do so, we give them too much without getting anything. Moreover, it is true that eliminating that three month window will lead to a large number of illegal abortions. Just because you illegalize something doesn’t mean it stops. It just changes the economics of it.

Reducing taxes without cuts
For 30 years now we have been saying we were going to cut taxes, raise military spending and balance the budget. Hmmm… Something is missing there. Oh, yes. Cutting spending. We don’t actually ever get around to doing that even when we control Congress, so we don’t ever actually balance the budget. Republicans will protest that when we cut taxes we will increase revenue. Really? Well that didn't close the budget gap for Reagan, Bush or Bush II so can you explain why it is going to work next time? People do not believe this anymore. After running on this rhetoric for 30 years, the party has lost credibility on this issue.

If the party is going to run on lower taxes (and I heartily recommend that we do), it must specify where we are cutting. People know empty rhetoric when they see it. John McCain paid the price for towing the debunked party line on this issue.

Anti-intellectualism
Democratic leaders are too intellectual for their own good. They are fond of elaborate mental marzipans, often get lost in a forest of theories about Marxism or Global Warming and emerge with horrible ideas. Which is great -- as Napoleon said, “never interrupt your opponent when he is in the middle of making a mistake.”

However, we have to drop the anti-intellectual vibe if we want to be a major party, especially if we want to have any success on the coasts. You can’t have a major political party devoid of ideas and without any sort of intellectual leadership. I guarantee you that we will be marginalized if all the smart people are playing for the other team.

Reagan didn’t come off as particularly highfalutin, but he was driven by important ideas. Bush II was different. He was unintellectual in the manner of someone who just doesn’t get it and who doesn't really have ideas. That’s not good. The party crossed a line in the third TV debate among Republican primary candidates for President in 2000. The candidates were asked what political philosopher influenced them most. Steve Forbes said John Locke. That is the best possible answer for a Republican. George Bush said Jesus. Hey, it got him elected but, friends, that is the road to perdition. I love Jesus but he is not a political philosopher. He was a religious leader. If you say Jesus is your favorite political philosopher it is because you do not know what political philosophy is. It is like saying Jesus is your favorite dentist. When we embraced someone because he could get votes, even though he was clearly an intellectual midget, we made a bargain with the Devil. We’re paying the price now.

Now Sarah Palin…don’t get me started. Count me out of the “Sarah Palin” wing of the Republican Party. That’s just cynical.

Being generally out of it
Hey candidates, how about this? Stop having your secretary print your emails. If you don’t know how to turn on a computer, you should not be part of the country’s leadership. Period. Because, yes, it is that important to our future. Sorry. If we put John McCain up again against a guy who seems with it and uses a blackberry, we’re toast. Computer illiterate people cannot get jobs in the private sector. How do you expect voters under 50 to respect them? They won’t.

Flag Waving
I get it. You like America. Me too. But all this excessive, almost defensive posturing around patriotic symbols is overdoing it and it makes us look like idiots or children or idiotic children maybe. Yes I understand that one of the fundamental differences between Democrats and Republicans has to do with pride in country, but you can overemphasize patriotic symbolism and if we do, we look like we’re trying to distract from substantive discussions with cheap theatrics and basing our party on a set of cultural codes instead of substantive perspectives on issues. That’s bad.

After the next few years, the party needs to appear substantial. So let’s not overdo the patriotic theatrics or any other symbolism.