Why We Lost

The Republican Party wants to know why they lost?  The Republicans' lost an emotional narrative, which Americans often follow emotion when voting, not logic.  

It's not logical!

President Obama's narrative went like this:

Clinton raised taxes with big government and we prospered.  Bush lowered taxes with small government and we didn't.  I want to raise taxes and add big government to prosper again, but the evil rich who bought the Republican Party won't let me.

Yes, Clinton had higher taxes and we prospered.  Yes under Bush we had lower taxes and we didn't.  But taxes aren't a cause and effect to a capitalist economy.  That's not an opinion, that's logic.

What is proof of an emotional vote, not logical vote is asking how young college graduates forgot the 90's phenomenon that changed our economy forever… the internet.  Even if Al Gore invented it, Wall street made it profitable.  Remember the 90's?  Someone had a stupid idea and put a ".com" after it and was given millions of dollars by a venture capitalist, or Wall street banker, for that idea.  There was a boom.  Remember "the new economy"?  Young kids who weren't even college graduates making more money than their parents because they knew HTML?  Taxes were higher, but since people had jobs and were making money, no one cared.  Sure they complained, but they could afford it.  Also, there was nearly no regulation on the internet.  It was a virtual wild west, which spurred new and plentiful unhindered ideas for more Wall Street money to be thrown at it.

Then what was the phenomenon in the 00's that changed our economy forever?  The dot com bubble burst!  Wall Street realized giving millions to Pets.com was not worth it.  A bad idea was still a bad idea.  A $100K project in the 90's was now paid $10K in the 00's.  Many lost their jobs or lost a higher standard of living.  Taxes were lowered to give people a break.  And they decided to regulate the internet.

Remember Me? I cashed lot's of checks! 

The idea that taxes are like a big switch in the White House to fix or break economies is ridiculous.  The way consumers buy things is what makes a capitalist society prosper or bust.  Read that sentence again… how ridiculous it is to say capitalism is defined by people buying stuff.  Yet college graduates somehow forgot what capitalism is.    

The GOP was correct and logical.  Lower taxes and de-regulation help prod investment and economic growth, but only if it coincides with an up turn the way consumers buy things.  Obama was wrong and illogical to push the narrative taxes and regulation directly affect economy.  But he sure was passionate.  And that's what won the election.  

America always votes with their hearts not heads.  Bush was not smarter or more qualified than Gore, but he was a president "you can have a beer with" while Gore seemed "wooden" and sighed too much.  Bush won a second term because we felt more secure with him fighting terrorism than any other.  There was no logical argument that he was better at it, we "felt" more secure.  Obama's first term rode the passion being the 1st African American president.  His second win was to defeat the evil rich.  I fear the next election will be against the 1st female president, Hillary Clinton.  Again... heart will win over logic.  

The youth vote is the real demographic we need to be concerned with.  Not African American's, women or Latinos.  Older, logical and/or religious Latinos and women are conservative while African Americans are a minority number.  It's an even vote between conservative and liberal with these demographics.

But the youth, of all races and sexes will choose heart to vote the 1st African American or the 1st woman.  If Hillary runs, when will a hipster get a chance in his life to vote for another woman?  If not Hillary now, when?  Logic be damned.

We're the future...

The future GOP needs excitement and passion not logic.  But finding an African American or female conservative is not a good idea since African Americans and women are overly critical of each other.  The black guy will not be "black enough" and the woman will be stupid or bitchy because she might be more pretty than her constituents.  So a Latino is a good choice as they are not overly critical of each other earning excitement without division.  At the moment, I can't see the GOP pulling that off with Marco Rubio.  While a great guy, they'd need a near messiah character to schmooze the youth vote.  If only Rubio was a regular on MTV or was married to a Kardashian.

So what to do?

The left should have their way.  The GOP should move from the party of "hell no", to the party of "yes King Obama".  Do everything he says with the warning, "I'm totally against this, but it's what the people voted for."  Record their comment with a big date stamp on it.  I'd even refer to Obama as "King Obama" to make sure he's in 100% control.  Let him have all the rope he wants and he'll hang himself with liberalism.  Once America sees big government doesn't work first hand, then they'll pay attention to the logical argument.  Dust off the video of warnings 4 years later and those "out of touch GOPs" will look like genius prophets.  

I'm still hip...

The GOP candidate of 2016 can say, "Look, I'm excited to see (insert passionate candidate here; ie 1st woman, 1st transgender, 1st cyclops, 1st unicorn etc.) run for president.  But this election isn't about heart and passion.  It's about common sense and logic.  Big government doesn't work.  They tried it.  We warned against it.  You voted for them anyway.  It failed just as we said it would.  Big government has always looked good on paper, even communism seems ideal.  But in all antiquity, mankind has never prospered under big government.  That's not an opinion or talking point, but logic.  We knew all along it wasn't the evil rich, but the lack of freedom.  In the end... freedom is the only issue we Americans should be passionate about.  A free nation comes in the form of limited government, personal responsibility and individual freedom.  Often winning parties point out differences and what divides us.  Instead let's focus on what unites us.  From disaster comes light.  Freedom is that light.... it always has been.  It's what unites all races and creeds.  It's what makes us unique as a country.  Let's not lose sight of freedom in the future, young people… no matter how charismatic or passionate a candidate may be."