Long Term Viability of the Republican Party

[bedstuy]

I think the party needs to become more "moderate."  Obviously, many of the party's current positions are taken out of political expediency.  Republicans have become spending extremists, not because they believe it (see Medicare part D, military waste), but because it's useful in frustrating President Obama. 

The bigger issue though is the epistemic dysfunction of the party.  The Republican party has ceased to listen to experts, science and data.  If we look at the past few years, we've seen elements of the party largely believe:

-Obama's birth certificate is a fake
-Democrats engage in widespread voter fraud curable by voter ID
-Benghazi-gate controversy is a major scandal
-Climate science is a hoax
-The financial crisis was caused by Democrats in Congress
-The stimulus didn't affect unemployment positively (general denial of macroeconomics)
-Ron Paul/gold-bug anti-Fed nonsense

If you say you believe dumb things like that, you look dumb.  If you think Obama is a Muslim Manchurian candidate, how can you have any credibility in the media or among moderates/reasonable people?  It may be good politics in a primary or good for talk radio, but Republicans are losing credibility among moderate people who would listen to a small government message if they were repulsed by Rush Limbaugh.  Most people don't have the knowledge to evaluate policies based on history or data, but they do take notice when you seem nuts.  If your messengers include Bachmann, Santorum and Akin, you lose credibility and people assume your party is nuts.  If you seem fair-minded and sane, moderates will trust you.  This was why Republicans saw a surge when Romney moved to the middle.

The Republican party should try to embrace data and rational analysis. We don't like in a black and white world.  Sometimes Democrats are right.  The way to handle politics is to sometimes be humble, realize you don't know the answer to everything.  Rigid adherence to any set of ideologies doesn't work in business or science, it doesn't work in government.  The party should be willing to study the issues and evolve.  The base may want easy answers and slogans, but leaders on the right need to lead.  If the GOP just seemed less partisan, more fair and more sane, moderates would give them a chance.