Now a spokesperson for the entire Republican Party, Jeb Bush spoke in National Harbor, Maryland recently during the Conservative Political Action Conference. He noted that Republicans do not have a dearth of ideas or a poorly-conceived platform but, rather, a problem of perception.
"All too often we're associated with being anti-everything. Way too many people believe Republicans are anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-science, anti-gay, anti-worker and the list goes on and on and on. Many voters are simply unwilling to choose our candidates even though they share our core beliefs because those voters feel unloved, unwanted and unwelcome in our party," Bush said.
In that same mold, likely 2016 GOP presidential candidate Rand Paul said recently that the GOP would have to become more libertarian to survive, noting, "The GOP of old has become stale and moss-covered. The new GOP will need to embrace liberty in both the economic and the personal sphere. Ask the Facebook generation whether we should put a kid in jail for the nonviolent crime of drug use and you will hear a resounding no."
Bush added, "Never again can the Republican party simply write off an entire segments of our society because we assume our principles have limited appeal. They have broad appeal. For exactly the same reason that millions of immigrants were drawn to our shores from every nation, we need to draw into our party people from every corner of society because conservative principles - and not liberal dogma - best reflect the ideals that make this nation great."
"All too often we're associated with being anti-everything. Way too many people believe Republicans are anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-science, anti-gay, anti-worker and the list goes on and on and on. Many voters are simply unwilling to choose our candidates even though they share our core beliefs because those voters feel unloved, unwanted and unwelcome in our party," Bush said.
In that same mold, likely 2016 GOP presidential candidate Rand Paul said recently that the GOP would have to become more libertarian to survive, noting, "The GOP of old has become stale and moss-covered. The new GOP will need to embrace liberty in both the economic and the personal sphere. Ask the Facebook generation whether we should put a kid in jail for the nonviolent crime of drug use and you will hear a resounding no."
Bush added, "Never again can the Republican party simply write off an entire segments of our society because we assume our principles have limited appeal. They have broad appeal. For exactly the same reason that millions of immigrants were drawn to our shores from every nation, we need to draw into our party people from every corner of society because conservative principles - and not liberal dogma - best reflect the ideals that make this nation great."
