Opinion piece for publication

"Going the way of the Whigs…its simple math folks."

Even with a President whose approval ratings were below 50% in most polls, even with a flailing economy on the brink of complete collapse, even with a bunch of Democrats who opposed Obama Care, and even with a highly energized Tea Party; we still lost the election.   To many this loss has not yet sunk in; these good folks in the GOP are unfortunately still wrapped around the axle, still deep in the weeds, arguing the why of this matter.  Thankfully there is an ever- growing portion of the GOP who have rightly abandoned the “why” and quickly moved onto the “what the hell to do about it”, question.  I consider myself in the latter camp; you see I would actually like to win another federal election in my lifetime.  How do we do it? There are likely many things we have to do, but for sake of simplicity, and efficiency (two things I love about the Republican Party), this female, combat veteran, mother of two, non -talking head, non- fund raising, Republican will offer, in order of priority the three steps she thinks must happen in order to ever sit in the White House again.

Get ready…..we must, effective immediately, turn off Rush Limbaugh.  I actually really like Rush, I think his ability to analyze politics and the media is often brilliant.  I think his disdain for Liberal Elites, his flawed character, and his simplicity speak to so many Americans in “fly over country”.  But regretfully, I have to say, he is a huge part of the problem.  You see, he suddenly doesn’t believe in math.  “It is simple math” seems to have been the war cry of Rush as well as millions of tea Partiers, when talking about the budget and spending, but all of a sudden when it comes to the “simple math” of demographics, this math is somehow wrong.  On a daily basis Rush opines that the GOP must stick to its values, and that we lost because we weren’t conservative enough.  Turn him off folks; one week is all I ask; and I guarantee your opinion on how to win another election will change.Strike the word “conservative” from our lexicon.  I am a Republican, not a Conservative.  There is no such thing as a “Conservative Party”.  Words have power and this one word makes us appear to freedom loving young and old Americans, like the foundations of our philosophy revolve around social issues.  I would say to those in the GOP whose philosophy does revolve entirely around social issues like abortion and gay marriage, then by all means form another party, and call it the…wait for it…the Conservative Party.Ok, this one is going to be hard for a lot of folks to hear and I am guessing about 78% of Republicans reading this won’t agree with it (which, therein lies the reason we will continue to lose).  But here goes: We must purge, get rid of, find a more suitable place for, re-educate, the Social Conservative and Neo Conservative life sucking, losing, no longer relevant, mathematically no longer in the > category, wing of our party.  This female, 30ish Republican is sick of a Party who bleats disgusting things about rape, I am sick of folks who want to, like the Muslim countries we think are so violent and backwards, place religion front and center in politics.  This female, 30ish, mother, Combat Veteran, Republican,  is pretty darn sick of white men espousing  the need to go to war without ever having fought in one.  I am sick of the Hawks, and the big military spenders.  If we don’t cut loose this albatross now, it will drag us to our certain death.

The thought of the Democrats winning another Presidential election is revolting to me, but I have to say: at the rate we are going, when our Party is seriously considering Jeb Bush as a possible candidate, when Rush Limbaugh is yelling that we weren’t “Conservative” enough, when we are completely shutting out the Libertarian wing (the only hope for a future), when we are opposing women in combat or not liking the Republican nominee for SecDef because he said something about Israel, well then I guess I will have to find a way to live with a Democrat in the White House, because mathematically, that is where a Democrat will sit for the next 50yrs.

Shelly Burgoyne

Arizona Native, Combat Veteran, UofA Alumni, Writer, Veteran Advocate, Policy Consultant.