Colin Powell Says GOP Needs To Move To Center

Colin Powell, famous as the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the one-time Secretary of State under President George W. Bush, and most recently, ship jumper/supporter of Barack Obama, says that the GOP must move to the center if it wants to survive. He says "the GOP is 'getting smaller and smaller' and 'that's not good for the nation.'" I can agree with that. What I do not agree with, however, is his next remark: "'The Republican Party is in deep trouble,' Powell told corporate security executives at a conference in Washington...The party must realize that the country has changed, he said. 'Americans do want to pay taxes for services,' he said. 'Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less.'"

I wholeheartedly disagree. I can't imagine any circumstance where Americans would want to pay more taxes for services, and want more government intrusion into their lives. I understand liberals have no problem with raising taxes and drastically expanding government, but the average American, I would venture to say, does not want to pay more in taxes, and either thinks government is big enough already, or would like it to be smaller.

Also, why is he telling the GOP this, at the same time he is telling them to move to the center? Taxation and big government are bastions of the left, not the right or center.

Were the Dems in this position, I doubt Powell would be telling them to move to the center and stop listening to the left of the party. I think he knows that the future of the Republican party is going back to its base, the real Conservative movement. Moving to the center would emaciate the party further and strip any remaining identity; nominating a centrist candidate is one reason why the GOP lost the 2008 Presidential election. The country may be moving left, but in order to save it there needs to be a strong stand from the right, not the center.

The term "polarizing figure" has often been thrown about over the last several years when talking about political figures. I don't think it's the political figures that are themselves polarizing, it is instead the movements they represent. The country is split wide right down the middle. There is no center ground anymore. It is a no-man's land, one where John McCain and Arlen Specter treaded. McCain left much to be desired, both from the right and the left and was thus dismissed, and Arlen Specter saw the writing on the wall and chose his side instead of staying in the kill zone.

This country wasn't founded on liberal principles. It wasn't founded on centrist principles. It was founded on principles which are today represented by only one party, albeit not very well. We need to get back to those roots if we want the United States to remain the dominant superpower for the coming years.