According to the centre-right US Hoover Institute’s Paul Brady, the Republican Party must jettison social conservative stances on abortion, same-sex marriage and immigration, or else face permanent consignment to the political wilderness for the next few decades.

Brady argued that the party had moved too far to the right, and had thus alienated many former supporters. The Republicans needed to return to the centre, when he addressed the United States Studies Centre at Sydney University.  He noted that despite state constitutional same-sex marriage bans, public opinion was now tending liberal on same-sex spousal rights, and was already strongly pro-choice on abortion. Altogether, the Republicans had lost eight percentage points to the Democrats because of social conservative dominance over their party.

He suggested that current liberal Californian Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger might be an ideal example of the “New Republican Party” that needs to arise from the debris, otherwise there was a threat that Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee might further alienate centrist voters if chosen as Presidential nominees in 2012.

Recommended:

Paul Bibby: “Republicans ‘must change to survive” Sydney Morning Herald: 10.11.08: http://www.smh.com.au/news/us-election/republicans-must-change-to-survive/2008/11/10/1226165481953.html