Let’s all breath for a second and consider this article by Paul Hsieh at the Denver Post, a long time Republican, who explains why the GOP lost his vote in the recent elections.

Keep in mind that the Republican party hasn’t always had the face of the religious right and Evangelical agendas.  They haven’t always had such a strong social conservative agenda to ban abortions, gay marriage, and embryonic stem cell research.

Let’s give the floor to Paul:

I voted Republican in 1996, 2000, and 2004. I believe in limited government, individual rights, free market capitalism, a strong national defense, and the right to keep and bear arms – positions that one normally associates with Republicans.

[...]

The Founding Fathers correctly recognized that the proper function of government is to protect individual rights, such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion. But freedom of religion also implies freedom *from* religion. As Thomas Jefferson famously put it, there should be a “wall of separation” between church and state. Public policy should not be based on religious doctrines.

Instead, the government’s role is to protect each person’s right to practice his or her religion as a private matter and to forbid them from forcibly imposing their particular views on others. And this is precisely why I find the Republican Party’s embrace of the Religious Right so dangerous.

Is there a way back for the GOP?  Or have they pandered to the religous right with far too much zest? Have they soured their image with voters forever?

The numbers from this last election undoubtedly show a shift in voters to Democratic.  There wasn’t necessarily a large voter turn-out either which further proves the point.  Republicans have lost their way.

[hat tip: LGF]

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