Get back to where you once belonged?

ONLINE READER REACTION
Published: November 28, 2008

These are some of the online reader reactions to a Nov. 24 letter by William H. Westhoff.
In the letter, Westhoff argued that the Republican Party must move back to the center in order to recover from its 2008 election loss.

So a Democrat wants to tell the Republicans what they need to do to win elections. I am sure that is a source that the Republicans should listen to. What a laugh.

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America needs multiple parties in which everyone can belong according to their beliefs without having to compromise on their views. Many Democrats, for example, are pro life but they find themselves
stuck with the “party of death.”

Just like many Republicans do not care about value of life or traditional marriage but stay with the Republican Party.

One thing I would like to see is a Christian Democrat (or Republican) Party in this Christian founded and based country!

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One Democratic Party is enough. Democrats want to see Republicans lining to the left and supporting their liberal and socialist views; this is not going to happen .

Democrats did not win because Obama was a liberal. Democrats won because the economic situation and the war in Iraq and the slogan “change.”

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I completely disagree with this letter writer.  The GOP should continue to focus on social issues and governing based on religious beliefs.

Also, I sincerely hope the GOP will continue to nominate candidates like Sarah Palin, insulting women, more qualified political candidates and reasonably smart people when they do.

They should continue to make minorities feel unwelcome in their party — except rich ones.  They should focus on trickle-down economics, tax cuts for the wealthy and looking out for the interests of big
businesses. Democrats can enjoy being in the majority for as long as they do. 

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I can’t agree with Mr. Westhoff.

Sitting in the middle of the road politically is a rather dangerous place, as Bob Dole could well attest to.

We can’t really stand up a Christian Democrat party, as one writer suggested, without eventually being forced to recognize the Secular Humanists and other quasi-religious factions, and award them
THEIR own party. Now there’s a slippery slope. 

Try working out that platform without developing a massive headache.

I’m not sure what the answer is, but it may lie with reigning in the fringes of both parties. True, there’ll be less entertainment, but there might be actual political work getting done, too.

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Some of you are overlooking the fact that Democrats won and Republicans lost. People were just tired of the social dogma. 

Had McCain moved to the center and not chosen Sarah Palin, darling of the social conservatives, as his running mate, we might very well be preparing for his inauguration. 

Mainstream is called that for a reason.