# GOP's Trend Toward Right Is Not a Big Concern **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 14, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473 "2012-01-14T03:21:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/41 "2012-01-14T21:47:11Z")
> [@IntelliQ](#): > > The general American public was and still is right of center. Which accounts for all the Democrats who get elected. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/42 "2012-01-14T23:42:21Z")
> [@IntelliQ](#): > > The general American public was and still is right of center. [Not really.](http://www.people-press.org/2011/05/04/beyond-red-vs-blue-the-political-typology/) ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/43 "2012-01-15T01:23:21Z")
> [@Paralogic](#): > > Whatever he’s referring to, it was a deflection from the argument, showing his inability to respond to my claim that Repubs will always vote for the one who promises discrimination within the country and annihilation of non-Christians world wide. Do you have a cite for your claim? That is how it works here - when you make a claim like that - you have to back it up. If you are just tossing out some hyperbole, then never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/44 "2012-01-15T02:29:14Z")
The Tea Party has pulled the center rightward. Extreme left organizations have largely failed to pull the center leftward. Right now, a “typical” Republican would have been too conservative to be elected in Reagan’s time. Reagan himself would be close to the center, and far left of the registered Republican average in today’s politics. I’d say that whether the Tea Party succeeds in holding elected positions or not is irrelevant. The country is closer to their ideology now than before. That’s all that matters. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/45 "2012-01-15T02:56:28Z")
> [@IntelliQ](#): > > You’re right. He is right, actually. It’s the Teabaggers with their silly hats and violence against counterprotesters, with their signs like “keep government hands off my Medicare” who is making the rest of the world laugh at you. The American right is the world’s laughingstock. Sorry. And yes, I do think long-term protests such as the occupation movements do show more seriousness than putting on a tri-corner hat and threatening violence with signs like “we came unarmed . . . this time” and sitting in a park for a couple of hours. Teabaggers are merely figures of fun, important only in that they may help Republicans gain power. This would be a bad thing, because Republicans are simply incapable of governing. Again, teabaggers are merely figures of fun. Palin and Bachmann come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/46 "2012-01-15T03:16:31Z")
> [@IntelliQ](#): > > You’re right. A true sign of adult seriousness and understanding of the issues is not organizing and putting your grievances up for discussion, nope. True brilliance is squatting in parks, pillaging, raping, sniffing your tent-neighbors feet, crapping on squad cars, urinating everywhere, killing a few people, hurting mom and pop shops, creating such a mess it costs millions in clean up and public service OT, oh yeah that’s a real sign of profundity and intellect. You seem to be equating the Tea Party movement’s influence on Republican congressional strategy and tactics (which is significant) with the (more recent) Occupy movement’s influence on Democratic congressional startegy and tactics (which is close to nil). Apples and oranges. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/47 "2012-01-15T03:19:31Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I generally agree with the OP, but he should come back and explain why he thinks Jimmy Carter was a far-left president. Well, except for being a born-again Christian military man who deregulated the airlines (and beer) industries, as well as boycotted communism in the Olympics and sent the CIA after the Soviets in Afghanistan… ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/48 "2012-01-15T06:11:38Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > What a country America is, where the likes of Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale can be imagined to be men of the left, the far left even! > [@foolsguinea](#): > > In what world were McGovern, Carter, Mondale, and Dukakis extreme left? Good grief! They weren’t far left in the sense of being hippies or anarchists or whatnot but they advocated extreme social liberalism (for their time at least) and the failed economic policies which were dragging the country now. And this is the same Dukakis who helped loose Willie Horton, the same McGovern who advocated that everybody in the country get a few thousands dollars from government, and the same Carter who pardoned all the draft dodgers. > [@foolsguinea](#): > > As always, the answer is, we tried\* laissez-faire\* in the past, and it was pretty unpopular, and oh, yeah, apparently we ended up in a deep depression because we didn’t sustain much of a demand base. FDR didn’t start out wanting to spend lots of money, but he kept trying things until something worked and that’s what worked. The United States of 1929 was not completely laissez-faire. Indeed the US hasn’t been laissez-faire since at least 1890 when the Sherman Antitrust Act was passed. Almost every practical economic question since 1890 has been a question of the degree of regulation and what exact regulation should be or should not be in place. [quote=“2sense, post:27, topic:609473”] Can we have some examples of how the Tea Party is forcing the Republican Party farther to the right? > [@](#): > > It seems to me that the GOP has been working to move as far to the right fiscally as possible and still win elections. Becoming more socially conservative is a function of this. It gives non-wealthy Americans a reason to support them. Part of the movement has been to dumb down American politics to blunt the effectiveness of criticism of their policies. Another part has been to try to drive wedges between Americans in order to make Us vs Them rhetoric more potent. In my view then the “Tea Party” are the ultimate Republican voters: ignorant and xenophobic people who see the GOP as the last best hope against evil. They can be counted on to turn out in droves on Election Day. Democrats have used similar rhetoric to have the overwhelming majority of blacks and Hispanics vote for them by implying implicitly the GOP will take away their dole and for Hispanics deport all their bretheren. > [@](#): > > The problem for GOP leaders is that these crusaders might be ignorant enough to swallow the Republican Kool-Aid but they aren’t dumb enough not to notice that the GOP doesn’t always follow through. It’s not that they are more conservative than other Republicans, they are just less tolerant of compromise. Take the debt ceiling debate. Republicans generally think tax increases are uniformly bad. But Tea Partiers take the dogma so seriously that GOP politicians had to consider their chances in a Republican primary if they had supported a deal with tax increases. Not on most social issues. The GOP has generally accepted the early 90s position of the Democrats on homosexuality even the Tea Party. > [@](#): > > There is one single issue where I do think Tea Party activism has moved the GOP (and American politics as a whole) to the right. Immigration. Saint Reagan got an amnesty deal passed but that doesn’t seem likely these days. Since immigration is so unpopular around the nation the only way plans like that can be accomplished is if both major political parties agree to them so neither has to face the consequences on Election Day alone. But with the Tea Party GOP congresspeople can’t take the chance that they will even make it to November if they are caught on record supporting immigration. > > So yeah, I’d like to see some examples of how the Tea Party is moving the GOP to the right. On the contrary both Gingrich and Perry have retained fairly immigrant-friendly stances and unlike on some issues they have not flip-flopped on this. > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [shrug] Best-case scenario is a two-party system where the Republicans have crawled off to die, and the two parties are the Democrats and the Socialists. This could be the first step. We need an economically liberal (in the classical sense), pro-national security, and a pro-life party. In such a case the Democrats would be little more than Socialists-lite. > [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > Yeah, and a bunch more won. Surely you wouldn’t base an entire argument off of two Tea Party members who lost? That wouldn’t make much sense. The ones who won were either in very conservative areas (such as Kentucky) or were not ultra TPers (like say Scott Brown) > [@](#): > > I’ll go out on a very short limb here and say none of this will happen. > > 1.) Let’s say a Tea Party candidate wins the nomination (is there even one?) Why would they lose horribly in the Presidential elections? Republicans aren’t going to vote for Obama and Democrats aren’t going to vote for the Republican nominee. That leaves moderates who-- generally-- are closer to Republicans than they are Democrats when it comes to economic issues. Yeah, Obama won them handily in 2008, but I strongly believe that was due moreso to the fact that Bush had been in office for 8 years prior. I agree that as of now the GOP is closer to the mainstream than the Democrats. But this is not going to be the case if a candidate who advocates a national sales tax or decimating Social Security is nominated. > [@](#): > > 2.) Obama could barely get anything done when the Democrats controlled the White House and the Senate. Why would this go around be any different? He has passed his gigantic and wasteful Stimulus spending bill and his unconstitutional Obamacare bill. These are major bills that he has succeedeed in passing. The only one he has failed is in abolishing the Bush tax cuts. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/49 "2012-01-15T06:33:37Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Obama’s already on top of that.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=637500) It doesn’t get old: [www.abandonmythology.com/files/page0\_blog\_entry205-obama-i-got-this.jpg](http://www.abandonmythology.com/files/page0_blog_entry205-obama-i-got-this.jpg) Okay, it will, but it hasn’t yet. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/50 "2012-01-15T06:45:18Z")
> [@IntelliQ](#): > > The thing is, people organizing and voicing their opinions in an adult orderly grass roots sort of way has been treated despicably by people who defend another group who have been a complete embarrassment this country. First, there is little “grass roots” about a group that was brought together by the money of the Koch brothers and the media (and organizing power) of Fox News. Second, the earliest scenes of Tea Party gatherings that I saw, (on Fox News, where they were being supported), were filled with all the vitriol one could stomach and were rarely “orderly.” If that is your example of “grass roots” and “orderly,” then you demonstrate a rather tenuous grasp of reality. ---
**Author:** ![2sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e47774/32.png) [@2sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2sense)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/51 "2012-01-15T07:11:29Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Democrats have used similar rhetoric to have the overwhelming majority of blacks and Hispanics vote for them by implying implicitly the GOP will take away their dole and for Hispanics deport all their bretheren. I’m not sure what this has to do with anything I’ve said. > [@](#): > > Not on most social issues. The GOP has generally accepted the early 90s position of the Democrats on homosexuality even the Tea Party. Again I don’t see how this response correlates with the my post. I’m saying that I don’t see the Tea Partiers pulling the GOP to the right. Where are the examples of them doing so? > [@](#): > > On the contrary both Gingrich and Perry have retained fairly immigrant-friendly stances and unlike on some issues they have not flip-flopped on this. These guys aren’t running for Congress. No GOP presidential hopeful has an interest in attacking opponents for being soft on immigration. 1/3 of Latino voters supported McCain last time. Republicans want to hold on to as many of those votes as they can come November. Running nationwide (in the swing states really) is far different than running in safe Red districts where you have to worry about being primaried for not toeing the line on every single hot button issue. Whatever their platform, if one of these 2 were somehow able to become president they would have to deal with GOP congresspeople who simply can’t go along with increasing immigration. ---
**Author:** ![2sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e47774/32.png) [@2sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2sense)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/52 "2012-01-15T07:23:18Z")
I’m not sure how germane this is but I was watching GPS on the DVR as I posted that and Alan Simpson was pretty dismissive of the Tea Party. Fareed Zakaria asked him about how it seemed the Tea Party had little influence since they agreed that it looked like the traditional candidate Mitt Romney was going to be the Republican nominee. The former GOP Senator said that Republicans, _“…like to give the saliva test of purity and then they lose and then they just bitch for four years. It’s an amazing party.”_ [transcript here](http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/09/former-senator-alan-simpson-on-americas-failing-politicians/) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/53 "2012-01-15T08:10:50Z")
An implicit implication? The bounders! ---
**Author:** ![IntelliQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e99b99/32.png) [@IntelliQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IntelliQ)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/54 "2012-01-15T14:02:50Z")
Contrary to the OP, anyone with even the slightest idea of they are talking about knows the country is center right but democrat politicians have been pushing it left. Moving it back the other way where it belongs is not radical but reasonable. Please dont espouse [liberal marching orders](http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/on-a-senate-call-a-glimpse-of-marching-orders/) as facts. (gotta love it when the left is caught on speakerphone outing themselves). ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/55 "2012-01-15T14:09:33Z")
It can be argued that the GOP likes to rattle the swords at illegal immigration, but the truth of the matter is that without illegal aliens (love that term) many low-wage jobs remain unmanned. This figures into the growth (or not) of our economy. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/56 "2012-01-15T15:49:11Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > We need an economically liberal (in the classical sense), pro-national security, and a pro-life party. No, that’s exactly what we need to be rid of. > [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > In such a case the Democrats would be little more than Socialists-lite. Not if they remained what Obama represents now. ---
**Author:** ![Batfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Batfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batfish)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/57 "2012-01-15T16:45:09Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > …Romney will be nominated this election cycle and if he wins he will be able to suppress the Tea Party from totally hijacking the party… Boehner can’t control them, what makes you think Romney can? > [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > … If Romney loses, and there is a period of Tea Party dominance they will lose horribly and Obama will be able to get a compliant Congress and get his will done… No, they’ll ratchet up to the next level, whatever that is. ---
**Author:** ![Batfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Batfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batfish)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/58 "2012-01-15T16:50:07Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Agree. The more so as America’s far-right population will be diminishing from here on out. I think this is wishful thinking. That conservatives are mainly old people and will eventually die out. If anything the cadre of conservatives that have come to age during the Limbaugh/Fox media normality and since the 9-11-2001 attacks are more virulent than the old type, if fewer in number. I think it’s more true that the activist stage for the Left is during youth, and for the Right later in life. ---
**Author:** ![Batfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Batfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batfish)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/59 "2012-01-15T16:55:01Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > …Democrats have used similar rhetoric to have the overwhelming majority of blacks and Hispanics vote for them by implying implicitly the GOP will take away their dole… We all know that’s the main thing that motivates black voters, because they’re all on Welfare. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473/60 "2012-01-15T17:18:19Z")
> [@Batfish](#): > > I think this is wishful thinking. That conservatives are mainly old people and will eventually die out. > > If anything the cadre of conservatives that have come to age during the Limbaugh/Fox media normality and since the 9-11-2001 attacks are more virulent than the old type, if fewer in number. > > I think it’s more true that the activist stage for the Left is during youth, and for the Right later in life. The point is that there are fewer of the hard-right type in every generation. And people do **not** grow more conservative as they grow older. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gops-trend-toward-right-is-not-a-big-concern/609473.md?page=4)