by I.M.

Created on: June 16, 2008

The GOP is not dying; it is being reborn. So what we are witnessing is the death and rebirth of the GOP. It is simply reinventing itself, because it must. Almost since the inception of this nation - and despite the warnings of George Washington about the pitfalls of such a system - there have generally been two major parties, if not three. The platforms and meanings of these parties have been in constant flux, and one can hardly contend that the Republican values that elected Abraham Lincoln are the Republican values that elected George W. Bush... Obviously, there comes a time even when old-fashioned values have to shift with the political landscape; the values of the old-timers are exactly that: values of the old-timers. And it is the young, who after all, inherit this nation, and the idea of change is, for lack of better words, sweeping the nation. So, to retain its constituency, the GOP must follow suit, and offer what the people want from them, which is change.

It is my belief that the GOP will come to embrace some of the policies that have been traditionally ascribed to the Democrats, starting with environmental policy. The green movement can do nothing but revive the building industry (among others), which is experiencing the worst slump since the sixties. New technology, while requiring research and development, will eventually lead to production and job creation, which is what much of working class America is concerned with. This is a possible change in policy that will not drastically alter the core values of the party, or particularly bother its constituency. This shift in policy can be seen in the increased funding for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy during the last four years, and the particular emphasis on hydrogen technology. This is one of the main issues where the GOP will probably move toward more nonpartisan policies.
What we may also see from the Republican party is a more hard-line approach on business, particularly large corporations, and and less "laissez-faire" policy. Given the rising oil prices, the mortgage mess, and the economic situation as a whole, there needs to be an impression, at least, of some correction to the way that the related businesses are run. The real problem is the lack of ethics in business, and no amount of government regulation will change that, but the GOP needs to show concern in order to revitalize the voters.
It is in social policy and the moral values where the GOP can not afford to make changes, and where it will hardly need to. In a country where roughly three-quarters of the population practices some form of Christianity, adhering to the mainstream values of that religion in social policy is a fairly safe bet. In what I have encountered in my personal experience is that religious core values are often the deciding factor for some people, whether they agree with other policies or not, and in my opinion, has been the deciding factor in the last two elections.
In order to be a viable contender, the GOP will have to offer change, and to do this, the party itself must change, and align with the new political landscape. Even conservatives have to face the future sometime. But the party is not dead; and in all probability, it will have plenty of time in the next four years to collect and reinvent itself on the sidelines.

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