US Politics / BePolitics.com / 01 November 2008 /

There's a lot of ideology behind being a Republican, such as judicial restraint, reduced income taxes and high spending on the military, as characterised by John McCain. Not all Republicans are pro-life evangelicals as characterised by George W. Bush and Sarah Palin, says Alice Dale of BePolitics...

The last eight years of Republican rule has seen a surging political interest from the power houses of the religious right, and this seems to be causing some concerns for the Republicans. Just how far would they be willing to support someone who believes the earth is 6000 years old if they're the only name on the presidential ballot who also believes in judicial restraint?

John McCain's nomination of Sarah Palin for VP was in order to stimulate the coffers of a large swathe of voters who were growing increasingly disenfranchised. Whilst it worked as a monetary policy (the only monetary policy McCain has got right in this credit crunch) Palin has instead become the campaign's albatross. Palin seems too closely linked to the Bush ideology of religious strength and favour and this has turned many Republicans into temporary Democrats.

But if a week is a long time in politics, then the next four years to 2012 will mean a whole new lifetime to craft a whole new reputation. There are already some who are considering whether Palin should run for President, and four years is long enough for Palin to gloss over the more embarrassing elements of her campaign ("Oh I couldn't name them all. Just ... you know ... all newspapers") and build on her folksy-with-attitude charm and (presumably) growing knowledge of foreign policy. According to Michael Franc, Palin's populism appeals to 45% of people at the most, but this could change. If the buffoonery of Boris could make him Mayor of London, why can't Palin be President?

This leaves a very interesting question open to both the Republican and Democrat parties: what will happen to those Republican voters who don't accept the evangelical right? The Democrats could conceivably carve out a niche in interested Republicans if they are careful enough not to ignore the more left-of-centre policies that is their basis of support.

For the moment, it looks as though the Republicans will continue to try and play both sides, ideological and evangelical and ignore that it grates with both factions. They may be stronger united (ish) but how long will this really last? A lot of the evangelical initiatives could impact on personal freedoms, such as freedom over the body and freedom to science at school and religion at church (I'm talking about teaching creationism in schools here). At some point it is possible that Republicans will feel themselves forced to sign up to a different political ideology to what they believe in, in order to protect their individual authority.

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