The Republican Party has a new study out with recommendations out about what the party can do better. By some strange quirk of fate, John Locke Foundation’s weekly speaker today was Mark McNeilly, a lecturer at UNC-Chapel Hill, who talked about rebranding the GOP. McNeilly’s presentation is well worth having a look at and quite informative.
A bigger challenge for the GOP may be implementing its recommendations. The Republican Party proper is far from the only force that shapes the course which the Right takes. How do those highly influential conservatives who make their money by talking and writing — and for whom controversy almost always sells and that don’t have to worry about actually running campaigns and winning elections — respond to these recommendations? The party may believe it needs to do things like embrace comprehensive immigration reform, focusing less on social issues and creating an environment of intellectual curiosity to win. But that might not mean much if the usual sources of controversy don’t play along.
