# What can moderate Republicans do to get their party back? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 2, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-moderate-republicans-do-to-get-their-party-back/670191 "2013-10-02T16:18:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-moderate-republicans-do-to-get-their-party-back/670191/181 "2013-10-06T04:21:40Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Ross Perot. Never held office, but held enough political power to swing two elections (against his own preference, probably). Except he was not “nuts”. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-moderate-republicans-do-to-get-their-party-back/670191/182 "2013-10-06T04:56:03Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Except he was not “nuts”. . . . You’re asserting the Sun does not rise in the East, here. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-moderate-republicans-do-to-get-their-party-back/670191/183 "2013-10-06T05:12:42Z")
I believe that if the GOP moderates actually wish to wrest control from the radical right that they must start controlling the dialogue. The message may not be as interesting as ‘we are willing to destroy the system in order to preserve it’ but it certainly more sane and sustainable. Perhaps after the Fellini movie script that has been presented by the current GOP leadership has run its course, a new vision might be entertained. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-moderate-republicans-do-to-get-their-party-back/670191/184 "2013-10-06T13:15:27Z")
It’s pretty insulting, **Terr** , when people say “You’ve drunk the Kool-aid.” So I won’t say that. But if you think Perot wasn’t nuts, [you’ve drunk the water.](http://nothingistic.org/library/gibran/madman/madman12.html) ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-moderate-republicans-do-to-get-their-party-back/670191/185 "2013-10-06T13:31:08Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Any hugely successful businessmen who amassed a tremendous amount of political power and were politically “nuts”? No. Donald Trump doesn’t just spring to mind, he screams at and browbeats mind until every other example just shake their heads and leave mind. Then he files mind for bankrupcy. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-moderate-republicans-do-to-get-their-party-back/670191/186 "2013-10-06T13:51:21Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Sour grapes 🙂 You’re just jealous that the other side actually has some politicians that have principles and vote the way they promised during the elections. The people who scare me the most in this world are the extreme “true believers” of almost any ideology. Whether they are environmental extremists, or Islamists, or of the Tea Party; they all are willing to blow themselves up along with the ship for “principles” - and usually they follow directives from their true leaders well (be they Mansons, Imans, or Cruzes and Kochs). I prefer people in charge who are a bit less dogmatic no matter if I agree with them or not; they are less likely to do serious harm and more likely to get results over time. That said what cracked me up with the reactions to Obama in the years after his election was how each side was frustrated with him, each had thought that he was just saying he was a moderate centrist and would govern that way and was actually more liberal and when he actually governed as a moderate centrist were caught off guard. > [@Terr](#): > > But you cannot be successful in business if you promote ideologies that would make you less successful. Silly on its face for reasons already noted. First promotion and succeeding are different beasts and second short term risks and costs are often worth it for long term gains. A highly successful business worries less about this next week than they do about the next decade. These people in particular care less about what happens to the economy as a whole than they do about creating an environment in which they personally long term can become even richer. > [@Terr](#): > > … I think they “bought” them in the sense that they encourage and finance those candidates that are closest to the Koch’s supposedly libertarian ideology. … I do not completely disagree with you although they certainly also have given specific directives to specific people along the way and those beholden to their money certainly take their calls and their “advice” seriously. But indeed that “bought” was the context of > [@me](#): > > Do you really think the Tea Party would win much more than dog catcher without the funding of its Big Billionaire Backers? which was in response to your claim that > [@Terr](#): > > … the people who are elected by those real conservative organizations are not beholden to Big Media, Big Business, Big Lawyers etc … They are “beholden” to an even greater degree. I do not dispute that Big Money interests have “bought” access across the board in both parties. And I do have a problem with that. But the access that that money has bought is less controlling when money comes from multiple sources with multiple agendas. A Tea Partier in the House who fails to take advice might suddenly see another Tea Partier in his/her district getting funded and is out in the next term because that may be half their funding right there. They know that. They will take advice from these sources very seriously as a result. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-moderate-republicans-do-to-get-their-party-back/670191.md?page=9)