re: 2016 Presidential Election

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Honestly, the GOP needs to cave on certain social issues. It is very obviously holding them back. Gay marriage and legalization/decriminalization of weed particularly. They are inevitable. SCOTUS will legalize gay marriage likely in the summer. (vote count is 5-4 or 6-3 for legalization) By taking certain social issues out of the picture, the GOP can focus on more relevant discussions that would win them elections.

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First off, this is retarded. Nothing is 'inevitable'. Basically, you're saying "The GOP really needs to act more liberal, being socially conservative is holding them back."

Liberals are not going to vote for the GOP, regardless of how many social issues the GOP surrenders on. Both sides like to go on the airwaves and give advice to the opposite wing that generally goes a lot like "The opposition really doesn't understand that they need to move more toward my opinion. Since my opinion is the morally right and popular opinion, they won't win unless they shift their views to be more like mine". What this really shows is ignorance of how the other side thinks. Gay marriage is not a popular issue in MANY areas of the country. Judges have been striking down anti-SSM laws, but those laws have been going up by referendum or by popular demand, not by executive order. I'm ambivalent toward gay marriage one way or the other as it affects my life not one iota, but it isn't as popular or as 'inevitable' as so many of it's proponents want people to believe.

Both parties do best when they are able to play to their base, and pull in a majority of the center vote. They do not do well when they move toward the center so much that they lose their base support. Obama was a far-leftist, and Bush openly described himself as a "Compassionate Conservative".

Abortion has not slowed the GOP one bit. In fact, if you wanted to mix correlation with causation, you could argue that since abortion was legalized, the GOP's stance against it has become even MORE effective. Since 1976, the GOP has steadily gained more and more state houses, and with the exception of 2006-2010, the GOP has owned the house from 1994-2015. All the while taking a page out of the socialist playbook and regulating abortion clinics out of existence. Libs told the GOP in the 1990s the same thing that is being said now: Abortion is inevitable; the issue is holding the GOP back, etc etc. What it really did was hold the left back.