According To Jon Huntsman the Republican Party is 'Devoid of a Soul'... He Might Be Right

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

While Governor Huntsman was not my favorite to land the rEpublican nomination in 2012 (Ron Paul was) looking back he would have made a formidable candidate in the effort to unseat President Obama. Instead the party nominated Mittens the Flip Flopper Romney and we all know the results of that brilliant move to pacify the more (false) conservatives in the rEpublican Oligarchical power structure. Unless the party wakes up and gets some sense it will pay a lasting price as America, including America's real conservatives and libertarians move on to a new era. Jon Huntsman should figure predominately in a new future for the rEpublican party.

The Telegraph - The Republican Party is leaderless and "devoid of a soul" but can rebuild in the wake of its election defeat if it embraces its history of supporting limited government, Jon Huntsman has said.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, the former Utah governor and leading Republican moderate said the party must accept "a strong dose of libertarianism" on social issues and allow state governments to move ahead with gay marriage.

Offering his prescription for the party's renewal, Mr Huntsman said the early stages of the Republican presidential primaries rewarded extreme conservatives rather than "long-term competitive candidates" who could effectively take on the Democrats.

Barack Obama appointed the Mandarin-speaking 52-year-old US Ambassador to China in 2009, a decision the newly-elected President hoped would keep Mr Huntsman out of this year's election.

Obama campaign aides openly acknowledged that they believed the two-term governor would be a difficult general election opponent and possibly the most dangerous Republican in the field.

He returned from Beijing in 2011 to media fanfare but his presidential bid collapsed in the early stages as he failed to connect with the conservatives that make up the Republican primary electorate.

Mr Huntsman said that his work for a Democrat president, his belief in climate change and his relatively liberal attitude on gay rights had obscured his conservative stances on budgets, gun control and abortion.

"You get caught up in a lot of the issues on which you're easily dismissed without people giving you proper consideration," he said.

However, the scale of Mitt Romney's defeat in November has left the party reeling and may create a fresh opening for the socially-moderate but fiscally-conservative ideas Mr Huntsman espoused in the primary.

"The party right now is a holding company that's devoid of a soul and it will be filled up with ideas over time and leaders will take their proper place," he said.

Mr Huntsman urged the party to "reflect a little bit on our winning chapters" and face up to a demographic reality where white conservatives represent a shrinking portion of the electorate.

"We can't be known as a party that's fear-based and doesn't believe in math," he said. "In the end it will come down to a party that believes in opportunity for all our people, economic competitiveness and a strong dose of libertarianism."

He said he "absolutely" supported individual states being allowed to implement gay marriage, saying that Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president, believed that "equality under the law is an American value".

Mr Huntsman did not rule out a second presidential run in 2016 but said he was not spending his time "looking for some opening that we can fit in". {Continue Reading}

I'm still thinking the Libertarian Party is maybe the best way for America Ultimately. However, given the lock the dEmocrat and rEpublican party has had on American electoral success perhaps it makes a lot more sense to support a candidate in the rEpublican party that can win and then lead America in the direction that makes both social sense and fiscal sense. Jon Huntsman could very well be that individual.

Via: Memeorandum