“Even though a better Republican media strategy is necessary, it would not be sufficient,” says Pete Spiliakos in today’s column . “If Republicans want to do better among right-leaning nonwhites, they have to become a different right-leaning party.”
One can be for a combination of spending restraint and tax cuts, but still oppose proposals for tax cuts that would go overwhelmingly to high-earners. One can think the government does too much and still believe that middle-class families have legitimate worries about rising premiums and losing access to health care. It is this lack of a middle-class agenda that is so poisonous for Republicans. The absence of a relevant middle-class agenda makes it easier for Democrats to portray Republicans as the party of both high-earner selfishness and white resentment . . . .Republicans can’t be the welcoming party and want to bring in low-skill guest workers who face deportation if they lose their jobs. Republicans can’t be the party of opportunity even as they try to drive down the wages of low-skill workers.
Republicans can be the party of the aspiring middle and working classes. They can be the party that restrains government spending while offering substantial tax cuts to middle-class parents. They can be the party that opposes government-run health care while proposing more stable and affordable health insurance coverage. Republicans could meet Democratic slanders with real-life benefits rather than clichés about the business owners who “built that.”
Read the full column here .
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