Arielle Klepach | Get with it

I’m angry. I’m angry with the Republican Party. I’m angry because they just don’t get it.

Now, before you think this is some liberal rant about how Republicans are the worst people on this planet, let me clarify. I am a proud Republican. I am proud to classify myself as fiscally conservative. However, I am embarrassed by the social conservatism and backwardness that plague my party.

Social issues are states’ issues. But when Republican Party leaders spend so much time focusing on issues like abortion, birth control and rape, it garners national attention because it is the year 2012. It has been 39 years since Roe v. Wade.

Women have the right to decide on their own pregnancy. We have the right to have access to birth control and to earn equal pay. The vast majority of Americans agree. And the people who run my party need to deal with it. I will never understand why we are wasting our time, energy and emotions arguing about issues that are important but that have been argued over, dealt with, written about, decided and done with for decades now.

Our country faces monumental issues today. The fiscal cliff swiftly approaches, our deficit and debt continue to mount and our GDP and job growth remain stagnant.

This isn’t the America it used to be and it is quite scary. America is the greatest country on earth and I want it to remain that way during my lifetime and beyond. However, our recent history of class warfare, partisanship and finger-pointing needs to stop. There is no denying that politics is an ugly game, but it’s getting uglier and uglier as time goes on and it will become increasingly difficult to deal with the problems we face.

I strongly believe that there is a place for fiscal conservatism in this country. People still believe in limited government and, even more so, in limited federal government.

If this election has taught us anything, it is that our country is extremely divided. I don’t want to believe that we’re on the road to France. It’s not in our history and it’s not in our character. But we will soon be there if my party does not get with the program.

The Republican Party offers hope to many who yearn for a time when the economy boomed and jobs were plentiful. When we wielded a positive international influence unlike anything ever witnessed in world history. We yearn for the times where everyone wanted to be an American and the American dream stood as a shining beacon of hope to those struggling in our country and beyond. I don’t think that is where we stand today. From Occupy Wall Street, to “the wealthy paying their fair share” it’s clear that’s not at all where we stand.

I hope we can return there. There is one thing I know for sure, though: we will not return there if my Party doesn’t get it together.

People are entitled to believe what they want about abortion, contraception and what have you. But when the vast majority of the country disagrees with the staunch religious principles that many leaders in the party like Rick Santorum, Michelle Bachmann and others try to promote, the platform and rhetoric alienates vast swaths of Americans. The 2012 election sent my party a clear message: we need to move beyond social issues.

So, if by some chance, some Republican leader who cares about what the next generation and the future of the party has to say reads this, I have a message for you: Get it together.

Get it together because it’s hard for young adults like my peers and myself to justify the actions and rhetoric of a Party that refuses to listen to us. Refuses to listen to America. Republicans believe in less government intervention. So why are you trying to intervene in people’s personal life decisions?

My friends joke that the president’s re-election will keep their vaginas safe. That’s sad.

If you want to expand your electorate you need to realize that you’re doing something wrong. Put your personal conservative, religious beliefs aside and do what’s best for this great nation. Get it together. And then help get our economy back to where it belongs.

Arielle Klepach is a College junior and the vice president of College Republicans. Her email address is arielle.klepach@gmail.com.

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