Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., knows that the Republican Party is in the throes of an identity crisis.
The Republican Party is quickly losing ground among youth and minorities due to its conservative, and increasingly outmoded, social views. If the GOP does not undergo a sociopolitical facelift, it could continue to lose traction among younger voters and ethnic minorities, thereby losing crucial votes.
Sen. Paul noted this fact while speaking in West Michigan at the Pinnacle Center in Hudsonville on Friday, Michigan publication MLive reports. Paul noted that although Michigan has a Republican-led state House and Senate as well as a Republican governor, the state has two Democratic senators and has voted Democratic in every presidential election for the past 25 years.
Paul, son of former Texas U.S. Rep.and possible 2016 presidential candidate Ron Paul, said that the time has come for the party to change its focus. He spoke of the GOP attracting more votes by reaching out to minority groups and highlighting the party's core belief in a strict adherence to the Bill of Rights.
"We're having trouble when the election gets bigger and more people turn out, when the election gets more representative," Paul said in an Ottawa County Republican Party luncheon. "We need more African-Americans, more Asians, more (other groups of people)."
"We don't need to become Democrats-lite - we don't need to dilute our message - to attract more people," Paul continued. "There are a lot of liberty issues that attract people that haven't been attracted to the party. If we can have passion for the Bill of Rights, I think we can be a big party again."
While in Hudsonville, Paul railed the current Obama Administration and Democratic officials. Paul said that government debt prevents gains in employment for the middle class. He also denounced federal loans for failing solar-panel makers, saying it reflected Democratic special interests. He also touched upon the recent NSA spying debacle, saying that Republicans should emphasize personal privacy to attract more party votes.
"If we're the party that wants to defend privacy, I think we'll get the youth to look at us again," Paul said. "If we become that party that defends justice, the right to a trial by jury, the right not to be detained (unlawfully), maybe we become the party that African-Americans will look to as a defender of justice."
"We can't just get more white people. We've got to have a party that looks like the rest of America: with ties, without ties; with tattoos, without tattoos," Paul explained.
"We sorely need to attract people," said Adam Tountas, an attorney and chairman of the Ottawa GOP. "We're not going to reclaim our status as a majority party if we're unable to do that.
"All of those ideals (Paul talked about) are an important part of the Republican identity. You can never let part of that identity lie dormant or wither away at the expense of something else, so I'm glad he's bringing it back to the forefront," Tountas added.