Republicans need a new label

Republicans need a new label

It would be a stretch to call me a member of The Herd, but I do on occasion listen to Colin Cowherd.

He hosts a sports talk radio show in the mornings on ESPN. “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” he calls it.

Cowherd has been a professional broadcaster for a quarter century. The people who give out awards have cited his work repeatedly. His tenure on the show speaks for itself.

Except for his infatuation with New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, I find most of his comments insightful and logical.

Of course, he spends 99 percent of the time talking sports. It is sports talk radio.

But I caught him talking national politics not long after the election. Whether his remarks were original or not, I know not. I didn’t hear him credit anyone else.

He was pontificating on the status of the Republican Party as the out crowd. It was Cowherd’s contention that the Democrats had reinvented themselves with a clever twist of terminology.

Instead of casting themselves as liberals, said Cowherd, they redefined themselves as “progressive.”

“Who doesn’t want to appear progressive?” he asked.

Nobody.

The Republicans, on the other hand, have boasted that they are conservative.

One definition says that a conservative is “a person who is averse to change and holds to traditional values and attitudes.”

In a world where much change is needed, where the out party invariably runs on a change platform, it would seem to be counter productive to be a conservative.

The GOP needs to redefine itself.

I have the word.

How would you feel about supporting someone who was clean, conscientious, correct, decent, equitable, fair, honest, honorable, noble, proper, respectable, square, true blue and virtuous?

Could you vote for such a person? I could.

What one word would describe such a person?

Principled.

If the Republicans could redefine themselves as the principled party as opposed to the conservative party, then they can find their way back into the mainstream.

The transformation will not happen overnight. The old label will never disappear. The L word is still hanging around, and the C word will too.

Republican leadership, learn from your adversary. The progressives will find an admirable and worthy (two more synonyms) challenger in the principled party.

Try it on for size.

“I’m a principled man.”

I like it.

FYI: This was originally published in the Nov. 21 edition of The Oconee Enterprise.