As Republicans continue to survey the smoldering remains of the 2012 presidential election, they can point to a number of different reasons as to why they lost. But even in the wake of their failure to claim the White House, the Republican Party refuses to acknowledge reality .
The truth of the matter is the Republican Party is a shell of what it was compared to the days when it brought us iconic presidents like Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan.
Just look at the Grand Ole Party’s name, and you will see where it stands in the United States’ current social environment: outdated. The Republican Party is dying and will be unable to sustain itself in its current form.
As GOP strategist Chuck Warren said, “We’re a ‘Mad Men’ party in a ‘Modern Family’ world.”
Former Governor Mitt Romney tried to paint himself as an everyday American. A white American small business owner with a stable family and a strong belief in God: everything the typical US presidential package has historically included.
So why did he lose? The answer is simple: He had 20th century qualifications in a 21st century world.
If nothing else, this election proved that the country is evolving at a rapid pace, both socially and politically. This election played host to a number of noticeable shifts in policy initiatives and gender balance in elected office. Maine and Maryland legalized gay marriage, while Colorado and Washington legalized recreational marijuana.
Meanwhile, five female candidates were elected to Senate and three to the House. In addition, the 2012 election saw the election of our nation’s first openly gay senator, Tammy Baldwin, as well as its first transgendered candidate, Stacie Laughton, elected to the House in New Hampshire.
Yet the GOP continues to struggle, trapped under the weight of it’s own small-mindedness over its beliefs on such issues as gay rights, health care and equal opportunity for women. The GOP will never be able to adapt to the times unless they abandon their stagnate policies.
Obama’s reelection also proved that America is rapidly changing when it comes to voter demographics. Romney won a higher portion of the Caucasian vote this year than John McCain did in 2008, but Obama’s 2012 victory accounted for 79 percent of the non-white vote. According to CNN, based on previous general election turnouts, Romney could have won every election against Obama up until 1970, after which ethnic minorities have been no longer considered the minority in terms of voter turnout.
The GOP and their supporters have been more inclined to live within the confines of their own false reality, laboring under the delusion the U.S. has not evolved in the past fifty years. That reality was shattered when the Romney campaign lost when it fought for the resurgence of a 20th century government to the 21st century government that was elected.
Unless the GOP is willing to live in the present, many will never be able to look past its representatives comments on such volatile issues as rape and abortion to recognize what elections are actually about: politics.
A select few Republican leaders have expressed their desire to modernize the party, including the governors of Mississippi, Wisconsin and Louisiana. Each has expressed a desire for a new era of modernization within the party. But if the GOP wants more success in the next election, they should push for a candidate who is a better reflection of the times we live in.
Romney tried to portray himself as an everyday American, but the U.S. doesn’t feel the need to look like Romney anymore.