The GOP Asked People Online How to Rebuild ... The Results are Interesting (and Sometimes Hilarious)

Posted by Steven Reynolds, The All Spin Zone at 6:12 AM on November 12, 2008.

The GOP gives a party on the internet and asks for suggestions on how to rebuild itself. No screaming Christian conservatives responded. The site was overwhelmed by the Ron Paul wing of the GOP. Well, there's also a Todd Palin fan in the top ten ideas, too. What a funny list, and it shows such incompetence by the GOP planners, too.



Rebuild the Party is a forum where they are seeking ideas on how to rework conservative ideas so as to, well, rebuild what is broken ... the Republican Party. They've finally allowed their folks on the internet to have their say. Republican constituents can also vote on the best ideas out there. So what are they saying, you might ask? Or, rather, what are they voting for in the realm of ideas? Let's see, we've got a top five thing going here, I think. From ideas.rebuildtheparty.com:



10. Step Away From the Drug War with 503 votes.
Evidently the libertarian wing of the Republican Party has spoken. The writer suggests that the Republican Party should be about FREEDOM! I think he's channeling Braveheart or something.



9. Embrace the FairTax as sponsored by Rep John Linder with 516 votes.
This author got the John McCain tax message.

8. Step away from the religious right with 636 votes.
Hey, it's a guy posting on a Republican web site who listens to me, a smart Republican who knows exactly what has ruined the Republican brand, the hate of the social conservatives. I think I'm going to teach him to say Radical Right Wing Conservative Clerics.

7. Enact The Fair Tax HR-25 3 with 775 votes.
These fair tax guys are really the radical fiscal conservatives, the Ron Paul types, don't you think? They want to tax consumption. I'll bet they don't call for taxes on internet porn and plastic sex dolls, though.

6. Small "c" Conservatives with 973 votes.
One more in the top ten deciding he's had it with the religious right. I have to say I don't disagree all that much with small "c" conservatives, as long as their goal is bringing more freedoms and rights to our citizens.

5. Abolish the Federal Reserve System with 1059 votes.
Hmm, I'm getting a feeling the Ron Paul folks have invaded Republican Central and set up camp. Could it be?



4. Truck Nutz For All with 1393 votes.
You don't know what that is? Well, it is an ornament you put near the trailer hitch of your Ford 150. The ornament resembles a full scrotum hanging down. I'm thinking this is an entitlement program sponsored by the Todd Palin Wing of the Republican Party. There are several other suggestions about truck nutz in the top 25 on the list.



3. Fiscal Conservatism, Limited Government, Constitutional Rights with 1584 votes.
This guy is with that small "c" guy, I think. He rails against fiscal mismanagement by the Bushies and their GOP cohorts in Congress. And he's not taking whiny excuses for their behavior at all.



2. Make Room for Libertarians, Boot the Neocons, with 1866 votes.
Gee, the libertarians don't like the incompetent neocons? Who would have figured that out?



1. Reach out to Ron Paul and the Campaign for Freedom with 2757 votes.
Yeah, that's the big winner, the Ron Paul wing of the Republican Party, and that pretty much implicitly lays the blame for our economic situation on the Bushies, the blame for the war on the Bushies, and the blame for our restricted freedom on both the Bushies and the Radical Right Wing Christian Clerics.

What's interesting here is that a whole bunch of the top ten suggestions for rebuilding the Republican Party advocates almost none of what the Republican Party is right now. Not one of those suggestions focuses on God, guns, gays or abortion. Not one wedge issue in the bunch.

I'm inclined to agree that this is a good recipe for rebuilding the GOP, though it appears the suggestions were all submitted by whack jobs. Coincidentally, voted for by whack jobs, too.

AlterNet is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed by its writers are their own.

Steven Reynolds is a regular blogger for the All Spin Zone