This is my first diary.
I have been giving a lot of thought to the political strategies the Republican Party employs. In particular I wanted to talk about how they play to their religious base.
What is obvious is they excite their religious base by taking their position on social issues (i.e. Gay Marriage and Abortion) in order to get them to the polls. What I find incredible once elected they do little more then pay lip service.
Let us consider gay marriage. Many Republicans oppose gay marriage but do very little to move a serious bill through the congress (to my knowledge). They pretend this is an issue for the states to resolve "States Rights" as if not of federal concern. There is more than one way to skin the gay marriage cat.
The Republicans could form a bill that does not allow FEDERAL tax credits or entitlement payments to same sex couples. This would easily play well with the religious base and would be well within the right of federal policy. Consider the federal government withholds tax funding for schools that don't allow recruiters access to students certainly legislation on IRS rules and entitlement disbursements are just as fair.
The Republicans know that first they likely could not get enough votes for such a bill even in their OWN party. Secondly it would likely get struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional.
I believe the Democrats need to force the gay marriage and abortion issues and get them put to rest before the 2006 & 08 elections. Democrats need to avoid more "Anti-Gay Marriage" ballot initatives that will get more Republicans voters to the polls then Democratic.
If nothing else, Republicans failing to pass anti-abortion and gay marriage legislation, when they have full control of executive and legislative branches of government, will get some/many of their religious base not to show up in November out of disgust or the realization that their agenda will never pass.
The Democrats have to continue to fracture the Republicans by employing the "Wedge Strategy" effectively (so far so good). The Democrats cannot win by only appealing to its liberal base.
One final thought, if you agree that these issues need to be brought to the fore-front, how do the Democrats best achive this without causing political damage to themselves?