Republican Party Primary: The Battle of Diverse Ideas

People commonly stereotype the Republican Party as a group comprised of white Christian Evangelicals, while stereotype the Democrat Party as the gay-loving people who embraces all races. Democrats champion equality to an absurd level. They believe the world will be a better place if every group makes the same amount of money, if every organization hired equal amounts of men and women, whites and minorities, gay and straight and dogs and cats. Recently, Democrats are obsessed with changing the definition of marriage to include gays and lesbians. People see the Democrats as the party of diversity because of their efforts to make life equal for everyone. On the other hand, most people do not realize that the Republican is also a diverse party.

Instead of catering to ethnicities and sexual orientations, Republicans cater to issues and ideas. Libertarians, Constitutionalists, Establishment Republicans (Republican National Committee types), Isolationists, Conservatives, Moderates, Big Business types, Tea Partiers, Christian Evangelicals, Mormons, small government types, Economic types, Federalists, strong federal government types, balance budget types, family values and national defense are examples of groups and issues Republicans care about. Amongst this alphabet soup of issues, Republicans tend to prioritize these ideas based on importance. For example, Ron Paul supporters primarily support isolationism and a strict original interpretation of the Constitution and the Forefather’s words. Rick Santorum supporters tend to be Tea Partiers and Evangelical Christians who are big on family values, balanced budgets and a strong national defense. Mitt Romney supporters tend to be Mormon, Big Business and Establishment types and moderate. Newt Gingrich supporters tend to be conservative, National Defense types and care about the economy. Someone may complain, I’m a family valued Mormon, isolationist and I value National Defense that supports New Gingrich, so your perfect little boxes for each candidate does not fit. I don’t disagree with this distinction. I made my little boxes based on what issues the candidates primarily campaign on and the demographics of their primary supporters. Whoever the Republican Presidential Nominee will become (Probably Romney) that person must convince a majority of people from different ethnicities and backgrounds that his ideas transcend group identity politics.