Opinion: Will the GOP choose a centrist, populist, fiscally moderate candidate in 2016?

Opinion: Will the GOP choose a centrist, populist, fiscally moderate candidate in 2016?


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SALT LAKE CITY — The Republican Party recently released a report from its Growth and Opportunity Project. The report describes the GOP today as a tale of two factions. One is the gubernatorial wing that is growing and successful. The other is the federal wing that is increasingly marginalizing itself. The report warns that, unless changes are made, it will be difficult for Republicans to win another presidential election in the near future.

National polls show that a majority of Americans believe the GOP does not care about them. The report says this perception is doing great harm to the Party and its candidates, especially on the federal level. This perception was exacerbated by Mitt Romney's remark that 47 percent of Americans are dependent on government, believe that they are victims, and feel the government has a responsibility to care for them. Romney's remark prompted Obama campaign signs and t-shirts that said, "I am one of the 47%."

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The GOP report also says that "America looks different." The percentage of white voters is decreasing, at the same time that the number of young people, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and African Americans who vote for Republican candidates is decreasing. The report recommends that the GOP must support comprehensive immigration reform and adopt social policies that are inclusive in fact and deed.

The Democratic Party faced a similar challenge after the Vietnam War when it became too liberal for the majority of American voters. George McGovern lost in a landslide to Richard Nixon in 1972. Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale lost big to Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984. In 1985, Al From and others formed the Democratic Leadership Council which supported welfare reform, personal responsibility, and employment opportunity. Bill Clinton was a leader of the DLC who was elected twice as a centrist, populist, and fiscally moderate president. Clinton balanced the federal budget and was beginning to pay down the national debt, despite his personal shortcomings.

In 2002 George W. Bush lost the popular vote to Al Gore but was elected president when the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the recount of votes in Florida. Bush then pushed through huge tax cuts for the rich, took us into two multi-trillion-dollar wars in Afghanistan and Iraq which he put on our grandchildren's credit cards, and led us into the greatest economic and fiscal crisis since the Great Depression. Bush policies led to huge federal budget deficits and increased national debt. Since then, American voters have rejected John McCain and Mitt Romney as Republican presidential candidates.

Perhaps the Growth and Opportunity Project report will point the path forward for a more centrist, populist, and fiscally moderate GOP presidential candidate in 2016.

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Meghan Holbrook

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