An Open Letter to the GOP

Dear GOP,

I’m going to go straight to the point. You need a fixer, badly. Perhaps you should ask dear Olivia Pope to help you out in this period of crisis.

Yes, you won the midterms, partially explained by your liberal use of gerrymandering, so you might think so far so good. But think again.

I speak as an outsider of your party, and of your nation. I love American politics and despite all its flaws – who doesn’t have them – I still believe America is one of the best places on Earth. Last summer I got confirmation of this when I spent a month in DC. People were awesome, open, and friendly towards me in a way I had not experienced where I’m from.

It pains me to say this to you. I’m a member of the Conservative party in the UK, and some of my ideas have libertarian tendencies. I believe in Liberty, in equality of opportunity and the importance of hard work and many things that were once at the core of the GOP. Those were values that Lincoln put forward. Lincoln was a Republican and his party recognized that slavery was evil, and the measure the Democrats of the time were taking in order to protect slavery were taking away the freedom of all Americans, free or slave.

Where is that GOP today? Is it still somewhere to be seen?

You guys have a real image problem. You do badly among ethnic minorities, and you do badly among women. You do not do as well among college educated Americans, and you definitely don’t do well among Millennials, who happen to be less likely to be party affiliated but lean Democrat.

Since Nixon, your image hasn’t been  good. The silent majority of his time is a silent majority no more. In fact it screams so loud and clear that you are ready to pander to it like a beggar, begging for votes. That is evident in these primaries, where you spend more time attacking each other and jumping on the bandwagon ranging from anchor babies to Obama bashing – your favorite pastime.  There is little discussion of policy, and it just significantly weakens your chances of winning at a general election.

I don’t want you to win. I really don’t want you to. I used to jokingly call myself a Repucrat in the past. I could see many things I liked in the party in principle. I’m in favour of low taxes, and I also think government should not have a major role in one’s life. Hard work is the engine of a society, not laziness.  I’m a fiscal conservative. But I also happen to be a social liberal and I find it hard to reconcile your opposition to same-sex marriage, your trumping of traditional family values when we all know that the stereotypical family has always been more of an ideal  – a myth – than reality.

You can call yourself responsible for some of the views the public holds of people on the centre right of the political spectrum.

You are partially responsible for the belief that Christians are all crazy. And you should hold yourself accountable for the belief that Muslims are terrorists.

You are responsible for your image as a anti-women party, a racist party, an anti-immigration party. People think Republican and they think crazy people! People think Republican and think freedom haters. People think Republican and say I could never vote for them, they don’t represent me, they hate me. People think Republican and say the party of no, the party of yesteryear.

Your silence on the phenomenon of police brutality has been brutal. Your denial of issues of race has been loud and clear. And so has your denial of the need for equal rights for women by guaranteeing equal pay for equal work.

Those were just missed opportunities to go through a rebrand, to change slowly the perception of undecided voters. You had the chance to appeal to your core values. Isn’t the police an arm of the state? Don’t you always talk about government encroaching the rights of citizens? Don’t you want a government that respect all people? Apparently you think so only when it comes to social issues, and only when it comes to certain kinds of citizens.

I get your stance on abortion. My parents are fiercely opposed to it, but didn’t Jesus teach you not to judge people for their actions? You don’t know these women and you don’t know their circumstances.  Why should we determine how people live their lives? Why is it a contradiction to be not for abortion and also pro-choice? They need not to be mutually exclusive!

As I prepare myself to see yesterday’s debate I know that I’ll laugh, I’ll find myself surprised to agree with certain things you guys have said, and I’ll vehemently disagree with a lot of things you have argued. But I know I’ll be more than anything else disappointed.

I know whoever wins, winning the general would be a miracle. Your comments and arguments are digging your own grave. I do hope for your sake that you’ll wake up one day and follow through with some of the observations you guys have made in the past. You need the women vote. You need the Latin vote, and you also need the Asian vote.

And as America changes demographically and white people will no longer be the majority (Pew Research Center) you’ll need to get off your high horse and do something if you ever want to win a presidential election again.

I know that if I were an American, my mind would already be made up. I know who I would vote for. Hillary has my support. She has me – and millions of others – sharing her posts. She’s representing an America that is moving forward with the times, an America that is changing and is embracing those changes. You are not. And if you are, you’ve seriously got a long road ahead of you to shift the perception that you’re the party of No.

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For those who want a summary of the debate, The GOP Debate in Three Minutes

Do you have anything you would want the GOP to know? Do you disagree with me? Let me know what you think about my open letter.

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