“If you put public policy issues to a religious test, you risk becoming a religious party. And in a free country, a political party cannot be viable in the long term if it is seen as a sectarian party.”
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These are the words of former John McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt before the Log Cabin Republican’s national convention a few days ago, who seems to be grasping for a “lifeline.” Mr. Schmidt believes that in order for the Republican party to remain viable or to even continue to exist, it must halt its continuous march toward the religious right, and begin to embrace and support such controversial issues as gay marriage.
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Steve Schmidt painted a dire portrait of the state of the Republican Party, saying that the GOP has largely been co-opted by its religious elements and that strategy will surely lead to the party’s demise. “If you reject (gay marriage) on religious grounds, I respect that,” he said. “I respect anyone’s religious views. However, religious views should not inform the public policy positions of a political party because… when it is a religious party, many people who would otherwise be members of that party are excluded from it because of a religious belief system that may be different. And the Republican Party ought not to be that. It ought to be a coalition of people under a big tent.”
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Mr. Schmidt’s words come during a time when the GOP is awkwardly in turmoil, without a true leader, and on the verge of irrelevancy. Mr. Schmidt and other republicans are frantically searching for ways to keep the party viable, and the extreme uphill battle of keeping separation between church and state is one option for its survival. Every political party has members with strong religious beliefs and doctrines. But the Republicans are the only major party to allow religion to completely control its agenda and message. Made up of both Christian conservatives AND social conservatives, the party likely needs to split into two separate parties in order to survive. Republicans have long been against gay marriage primarily because they somehow believe preventing homosexual marriage will prevent homosexuality. But anyone with an ounce of sense and not led by religious fanaticism recognizes this is inaccurate. At least the social conservative wing of the party is waking up to the fact that religion is killing the party and must take a back seat in order for it to survive. With an older, more conservative generation dying off, and a younger, more liberal generation emerging (the one that flocked to support Barack Obama), Republicans absolutely must reinvent themselves or they will disappear into obscurity.
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Perhaps Steve Schmidt and some others are on to something. Reinventing the GOP, reigning in total religious control, and making it more generational might be a good move. Ridding the party of antiquated beliefs against gay marriage would certainly be a welcome change to the Log Cabin (gay) Republican movement. But without drastic changes, the “religious led” Republican party is on life support. And soon the American electorate may just pull the plug!
Steve Schmidt is a rethuglican Opportunistic cretin. Everything that he said in front of a room full of LGRs he’s known for a long time_and could have said as much a long time ago. H*ll, he could have demonstrated a “new” way forward for the Rethuglica party when he ran McCain’s campaign against Obama for the Presidency!?!But noooooo. Schmidt and company decided to throw a TON of garbage to the wind AGAIN, using the same OLD dirty rotten tactics, bettin it would pay off One. More. Time.Instead, McMavericky and his pitbull VP choice lost the election. Then lo-and-behold, suddenly Schmidt has a so-called epiphany when it comes to gay marriage and the lethal damage inflicted on GOP by the talibangelicals.The fact that he has a gay sister (who reportedly he loves dearly), who by way of her sexual orientation, is no better than “demon possessed” or "LESS" than human, as… Read more »