From the Eisenhower era until the Bill Clinton administration, the Republicans owned the suburbs. Whether it was Westchester County, Long Island, Bergen County or the suburbs of LA, it was GOP territory. The people who reside in these areas were concerned with pocket book issues, anti-Communism/defense and crime. These were guaranteed Republicans areas that help fuel Nixon and Reagan’s victories of a generation ago. Then in the administration of George H.W. Bush it all changed. The Republicans stopped focusing on economic issues and became concerned with family values. Pat Buchanan’s 1992 Republican Convention speech turned off many Suburbanites who didn’t want the government to lecture them on morality.
The Democratic party saw this opportunity and starting with Bill Clinton, began to run as economic and fiscal conservatives. It worked and beginning in 1992, the suburbs began to slip from the Republicans’ grasp. In 1994, the suburbs went back to the GOP but when Monica Lewinsky and morality became what the GOP was about, they swung to the Democrats who ran Blue Dogs. Bush ran on Compassionate Conservatism in 2000 which had little to do with economic conservatism. It was Progressive style government with a focus on morality and family values, issues most suburbanites could care less about. This was part of the reason Bush lost the popular vote in 2000, as districts that went for Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford and Reagan went to Gore. In the 2000’s the Bush administration did nothing to win back these voters. Then in 2008 Barack Hussein Obama won the suburbs and there was talk of a permanent Democratic majority.
That was then, this is now! The mask has come off the Democrats and their Totalitarian Progressive agenda. The Tea Party focus on economic and fiscal issues are resonating for suburbanites. For the first time in nearly a generation, many suburbs are set to come back to the Republican party. The reason, the economy sucks and the Left has no answers!
The Paisley Shop and Genes Urban Baby Boutique sit empty along a stretch of Lancaster Avenue in Wayne, Pennsylvania, where the median home price is more than $600,000.
The vacant storefronts in the Delaware County town serve as a reminder that not even the affluent Main Line suburbs by the Schuylkill River northwest of Philadelphia are immune to the economic pressures afflicting the rest of the U.S.
“It’s hard to get business,” said Donna Martella, 46, who owns Beethoven Wraps, a gift and gourmet food shop down the street from the two shuttered stores.
Philadelphia’s once reliably Republican suburbs, which have shifted course in recent years to provide decisive support for Democrats, from Governor Ed Rendell to President Barack Obama, are in play again this year.
Read the rest: Suburban Voters Sour on Obama, Threatening Democrats’ Hold on U.S. House
A bad economy is making many suburbanites come back to their ancestral home in the Republican party. These are people who are economic and fiscal conservatives. They are soccer moms, Reagan Democrats and small businessman. Their main concerns are economic opportunity, strong national defense, Islamic colonization, crime and good governance. Suburbanites are people who just want to be left alone and don’t to be lectured about Family values from the Right or the Left’s cultural transformative Progressive agenda. In other words, it’s all about the economy and safety for these voters.
This is not a Social Conservative vs. Economic Conservative argument. Candidates like Marco Rubio and Portman are Pro Life, but their focus is on economic and security issues. To keep the suburbs, the GOP should focus on economic and fiscal issues. A good economy solves many social ills as more money in people’s pockets means less stress. A good economy leads to more families staying intact and a better society. As Carville said, “It’s the economy stupid”! He was right and we need to remember this. The Suburbs are the GOP’s for the taking. The question is, can we keep them? We can if we focus on pocket book issues.
Election Update: The senate is now back in play despite the fact that Fiorina is fading in California and Coon’s lead in Delaware. Republican John Raese now leads Gov. Joe Manchin in the West Virginia Senate race. In an example of the Suburbs returning to the GOP, Linda McMahon is now within 3 of AG. Richard Blumenthal in Connecticut . Republicans used to own this state back in the Eisenhower, Nixon and Regan days. They can win here again and Linda might just pull it out.
Keep your fingers crossed and vote!
Tags: Economic Conservatism, Suburbs
