Republicans Struggle To Keep Up With Rapidly-Changing Culture
The world is moving on, but Republicans are lagging behind. Well, they’ve always lagged behind, but they’re doing so now more than ever.
Across the cultural landscape, the national consensus is evolving rapidly, epitomized by this year’s convulsions of celebrity, social issues and politics — including the acceptance of Caitlyn Jenner’s gender identity, Pope Francis’s climate-change decree and the widespread shunning of the Confederate flag.
Then came Friday’s landmark Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage. As rainbow colors bathed the White House and other landmarks in celebration, the entire field of Republican presidential candidates condemned the ruling.
This uneven terrain is now a key battlefield in the 2016 campaign, unnerving red America and fueling intense debate within the Republican Party about how to navigate such changes — or whether to adapt to the mainstream at all…
“When a young voter sees a Republican coming, many of them roll their eyes and wonder why they can’t get with modern life,” said Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary under George W. Bush…
“The country is changing, the culture is changing, the demographics are changing and politics is changing,” said former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, now president of the Financial Services Roundtable. “The rhetoric at the congressional level and with some of the candidates tends to be a lagging indicator.”
Copyright 2015 Liberaland
23 responses to Republicans Struggle To Keep Up With Rapidly-Changing Culture
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NW10 June 28th, 2015 at 10:08
The right needs to listen to S.E. Cupp in regards to SSM, because she’s the only one who actually gets it.
Chris June 28th, 2015 at 10:22
And it’s the ONLY thing I have ever heard Cupp be correct on.
Dwendt44 June 28th, 2015 at 11:58
And she’s supposed to be a ‘conservative Atheist’, what ever that is.
mea_mark June 28th, 2015 at 10:11
The republicans aren’t just lagging behind, they want to go backwards to a time that never existed. What’s going to kill off the GOP is the emotional attachment it has to the delusions of going backwards. It’s time for a new conservative party to rise up and truly be conservative about something of real value, not delusional values.
Mainah June 28th, 2015 at 10:55
Well, remember communist were suppose to nuke us. Telling kids to hide under your desk and you’ll be safe. (We saw videos in class when I was a kid. I laughed but then later it made me kinda sick. They would willing lie to little kids and that somehow people would by that drivel.) Now, that didn’t happen. Oh no! Talks with Cuba? As if Cuba is a threat still …
We all know what time they’re living in.
fredoandme June 28th, 2015 at 10:16
they’re not struggling to adapt, they’re struggling to prevent any change. they’re struggling to keep their phony baloney jobs.
Obewon June 28th, 2015 at 10:17
Any GOP 21st century successes? Well here’s George W’s propaganda minister sugarcoating it. “When a young voter sees a Republican coming, many of them roll their eyes and wonder why they can’t get with modern life,”-said Ari Fleischer on losing 5 of the past 6 popular POTUS votes.
Chris June 28th, 2015 at 10:21
Fleischer and Pawlenty are hilarious. They aren’t going to change the direction of this battleship in a few years. They should have been vocal years ago.
jasperjava June 28th, 2015 at 11:55
They couldn’t have done it years ago, because they were just as slow on the uptake as other Republicans were .
The nature of conservatism is to defend the status quo at all costs, and they are always caught by surprise when that position becomes untenable .
Dwendt44 June 28th, 2015 at 11:56
They may be some of the few who admit times are a changing. Most conservatives won’t.
wpadon June 28th, 2015 at 10:38
I blame the internet as the engine of change. Much like the printing press fueled the revolution from monarchies. The free flow of ideas can not be stopped.
Mainah June 28th, 2015 at 10:51
The internet has definitely changed our society. But technology itself is screaming ahead and there are more factors at hand that they would rather ignore. They don’t see it as equal rights of others, rather that their being persecuted by being stripped of their ability to persecute others who don’t share their belief system.
Talkin_Truth June 29th, 2015 at 01:47
>> I blame the internet as the engine of change.
Maybe but I kind of doubt it. Most people use the internet for bias confirmation.
I think it is the nature of homosexuality — there are gays everywhere: family members, church friends, friendly neighbors, a beloved teacher, etc. etc.
When the “come out of the closet” ball started rolling, most Americans realized that they’ve known and liked gays all along.
William June 28th, 2015 at 11:12
“……….and fueling intense debate within the Republican Party about how to navigate such changes — or whether to adapt to the mainstream at all…”
Hey Republicans. I say stick with what you know. After all, look how well it’s worked for you so far.
The Original Just Me June 28th, 2015 at 11:41
I am at odds with the Tea Party/Republican party over their reaction to this decision. They are constantly wailing and moaning about smaller government and less intrusion and control by government into our private lives. This decision should be heralded as a Victory for them as it is the Epitome of smaller, less invasive, and less control by government over our private lives. I do believe they are being Extremely Two Faced about this because theirs is a drive for total control by their government and an attempt to shove their ” My Way Or The Highway Attitude ” down our throats. I want my Freedom from Government as much as they do but I want as complete of a Freedom as is reasonably possible and this decision is absolutely about Freedom of Choice for all of us.
jybarz June 28th, 2015 at 12:19
Let’s hope and pray that finally the extinction of the GOP has begun, if it hasn’t yet.
GOP is a cancer USA has to be cured of!
It won’t be easy, but let’s hope it is cannibalising itself with their extremely indecent disregard or just mere inability to distinguish what’s right from wrong both morally and legally for all Americans.
Mike June 28th, 2015 at 12:35
The re pubs have been taken over by the RWNJ’s and have morphed into the party of hate. There is no hope for them until they face this fact.
whatthe46 June 28th, 2015 at 12:37
i am reminded by the cheerios commercial are you? remember it was a bi-racial couple with a daugther and the fk’n racist went off he charts pissy over it? you would think a bi-racial family was unfuckin’ heard of. they will never catch up.
eyelashviper June 28th, 2015 at 16:09
In a few years, they might crawl out of the Dark Ages and ino the Renaissance…
robert June 28th, 2015 at 17:54
when the koch bros. are paying the campaign bills You either make a big deal about this or find your own cash
jasperjava June 28th, 2015 at 18:12
Say, whatever happened to John Tarter/Wayout?
Did his head finally explode for real?
Or did he move to a less gay-friendly country like Russia, to be closer to his macho manly man’s man dreamboat Vladimir Putin?
Kinda funny for an anti-gay freak to show such homoerotic behavior. That’s the nature of being a conservative in the closet, I suppose.
Talkin_Truth June 29th, 2015 at 01:42
>> Republicans Struggle To Keep Up With Rapidly-Changing Culture
And by “keeping up” we mean reading books and studies from twenty years ago.
Look, I was raised to be anti-gay, too. But, even as a teen, I read some stuff, met a few gay people and started to change my mind. That was the 1980s.
By the 1990s, there was not excuse for believing that homosexuality was a “lifestyle choice” or whatever nonsense these conservatives say about the gays.
rg9rts June 29th, 2015 at 05:30
They still can’t grasp “Groovy”