The real issue

[Ronin13]

Well we will soon see what happens when the wealthy take their money and move it to other parts of the world.

Thus begins the mass exodus... and those of us in the dwindling middle class will be forced to pay more taxes. Get back to work so you can pay for those who refuse to work!

[kidicarus13]

Two centuries ago, a somewhat obscure Scotsman named Tytler made this profound observation:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy."

[dwalker460]

Not working, likely to close my shop, most "wealth" is already offshore or in non-taxable form, fuck the parasites.

[JohnTRourke]

Not working, likely to close my shop, most "wealth" is already offshore or in non-taxable form, fuck the parasites.

I expect you will see a TON of small business's close in the next two months
Many have been barely holding on, figuring that things will get better (that's always the hope as a small businessman). But this? at all levels?

forget it, close the doors now.

Plus, the tax laws change rather dramatically (for the worse, duh, like always) end of the year.

[Brock Landers]

My two cents: there is a ton to talk about regarding this election result, and I think it is absolutely safe to say that it's time for the GOP to look in the mirror and consider recalibrating its message.

I certainly think that Obama and the Democrats had a vastly superior ground game that helped them win this election. I also acknowledge that it has become extremely difficult in the last few election cycles to unseat an incumbent presidential candidate. Having said that, my opinion pretty much matches those of media commentators who note that the two main challenges for Republicans are demographics and social issues.

President Obama had a 50 point advantage among Hispanic voters (here in Colorado that was a 77 point advantage) and a 12 point advantage among women. Common sense dictates that you cannot win an election with those type of numbers; and this tells me that illegal immigration and abortion have clearly become losing issues for the GOP.

Consider abortion: Roe v. Wade was decided nearly 40 years ago and yet Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock somehow managed to squander two critical senate seats - in solid Romney states - by making controversial and unnecessary statements about this issue. Both of these seats should have been locks. I understand that abortion is very controversial and voters have strong feelings about it, but at what point does it no longer make sense to continue re-litigating this? How many elections does the GOP need to lose before waking up to the fact that the electorate is not on their side?

Gay marriage? Seriously, who gives a shit? How can any conservative find it even remotely appealing to have government involved with marriage in the first place? This election marked the first time that voters have actually approved statewide gay marriage measures, and it's becoming crystal clear that momentum is shifting away from the Republican stance on this one.

I know there has been plenty of talk that the reason Romney lost is that he is not conservative enough. I think this is nonsense. How many true conservatives do you suppose thought, "You know, Romney is not conservative enough - I think I'll sit this one out and see how Obama's second term goes?" I am thinking not very many.

Going forward, I hope that Republicans will focus on the winning issue: the economy. The Republican plan for the economy is the right one, and it's one that the party should be able to win on. My belief is that economic values of voters tend to stay fairly static over time, but social values don't; they change, sometimes very quickly. It's not 1850 anymore, and the GOP needs to take a moment to reassess its position on these distracting issues that are dragging it down. I only hope the party can wake up and make some changes before this emerging Democratic majority grows too large and even harder to chip away at. Lastly, I will mention that I understand I'm basically making a libertarian argument and a lot of what I'm saying will sound blasphemous to conservatives on this forum. These are traditional Republican stances that I'm talking about leaving behind, and abandoning them would be an enormous shift. My counter is this: with the economy being the #1 issue, what's more important - winning elections, or maintaining ideological purity? I will take an electoral win 100 times out of 100.