Sunday, April 14, 2013

The GOP & Political Suicide

Rick Santorum said in an interview yesterday that the GOP embracing marriage equality would be political suicide. I have to say that Santorum's grasp on reality is slipping.

We all see the trend in the polls. Not only are Americans increasingly supportive of marriage equality, the trend is happening relatively quickly. It is not just happening with folks on the left or even people in the center, but also folks on the right as well. With so many people following this trend, people like Rick Santorum who are primarily known for their stance on social issues are increasingly marginalizing themselves.

If the GOP wants to be successful going forward, they must shake off their archaic views on many issues. They have people like Santorum comparing marriage to napkins and paper towels (no seriously, this happened last year), people Todd Akin talking about "legitimate" rape, and people like Michele Bachmann who is at least 70 kinds of crazy. With people like this, they are scaring away people who may agree with them on economic principles and such, but do not want to vote for the crazy candidate. These right-wingers are scaring away conservative-leaning moderates and independents, leaving them with a coalition too small to win at the national level. This is how the lost the presidency, the Senate, and the popular vote in the House.

If anything, not embracing marriage equality and not recognizing the changing attitudes of Americans would be political suicide for the GOP. That was the lesson of 2012 and the months that have ensued. Apparently, that is a lesson that Santorum has yet to learn.

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