Mark Cuban’s Advice For The Republican Party: “Stay completely out of social issues.”
Remember how shitty the Dallas Mavericks were in the ’90s? They were as irrelevant to the NBA as strolling into Walgreens to grab some Plan B and a Gatorade on Sunday morning or two dudes banging each other while sharing a health insurance plan and wearing symbolic jewelry should be to a discussion about America’s prosperity and place as the global leader economically, politically, and against hostile extraterrestrial forces. Once billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist Mark Cuban bought the team, however, they turned into a perennial contender in the brutal Western Conference, culminating in a 2011 NBA championship over LeBron James and the Miami Heat, making Mark Cuban’s place among the best NBA owners ever undeniable, and sports trolls hate-gasm harder than they ever had before. Pretty sure Skip Bayless burst a blood vessel in his eye and passed out after that title.
Mark Cuban knows how to take something broken and turn it into something great. The Republican party is by no means broken, but its stances on many hotly debated social issues are most definitely a very squeaky wheel on what should be a well-oiled machine, especially when it comes to attracting younger voters who don’t quite grasp the importance or nuances of things like economic or foreign policy. Cuban, who leans to the right (he’s basically a libertarian), agrees. This is what Cuban said when asked, “How do you change the [political] conversation so that prosperity becomes part of the conversation again?” while on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“As long as we have the two parties that we have I don’t think it’s going to change. I mean if I was going to give guidance to the Republican party, which I think leads more in that direction, I’d say, ‘Stay completely out of social issues.’ And if you stay out of social issues then the conversation from that side will only be around economics and business, and growing business, and ideas. But they can’t stay out.”
While Cuban doesn’t mention which social issues he thinks the Republicans should back off of specifically, it’s pretty clear he is making reference to conservative politics concerning women’s reproductive rights and same sex marriage. Republican stances on both issues have helped Democrats and liberal media outlets alienate young voters away from the right by portraying the GOP as archaic, out of touch, and even hateful — especially over the past fourteen years. And, frankly, Republican opposition to the progress of both causes is not only a waste of time, but it’s just flat out wrong, not to mention WILDLY hypocritical for a party that purports to want to keep government out of the lives of citizens. It also doesn’t help that there aren’t any episodes of “Glee” about the free market.
Granted, there are other social (or quasi-social) issues Republicans are on the correct side of, such as gun control, and issues on which they have many valid points, though arguably not the entire answer, like immigration. Beyond all that, however, where the Republican party is strongest is in its desire and actual ability to build an environment and economy in which every individual is afforded the opportunities to succeed in whichever endeavor he or she chooses. Just, you know, arguably the most important American quality there is. That is why it is so important the Republicans focus fully on what really matters. It’s in the best interest of the United States that they do so. That’s where Cuban believes they should focus their energy, and, more importantly, their voices. Hard to disagree with the guy. The full clip is below..
On gay marriage, I’d like to quote Doug Stanhope, as his views mirror mine entirely.
“Gay marriage is one of those trick questions. The real question should be, why is government involved in marriage? I mean, if (civil) marriage didn’t exist, would you invent it? Would you say, ‘honey what we have is so beautiful, but know how we could make it better, let’s get lawyers and government involved in this shit.'”
Best solution, allow all couples, gay or straight to enter into a contract of civil union (which is all civil marriage really is), with equal rights, and let people define marriage for themselves.
Overall though, Cubes is spot on. Promoting free markets is the most important thing the GOP can do, as a genuine free market would have an effect that would inadvertently, or even directly solve so many seemingly unrelated problems.
11 years ago at 3:37 pmhttp://www.nationalreview.com/corner/344419/why-government-involved-marriage-anyway-kathryn-jean-lopez
11 years ago at 5:57 pmIt’s too long to copy and paste, but it pretty much disproves your whole point.
The sheer amount of idiocy in that article baffles me. I cannot actually believe that someone intentionally said or wrote those words.
11 years ago at 8:23 amI believe most in the party see this point of view. Part of the problem is radical religious groups (Westboro) choose to claim sides with the republicans. Big step would be to try and distance ourselves from these loons.
11 years ago at 8:35 amActually Fred Phelps was a huge Democratic activist, ran for office as a Dem, and the Phelps family claims that they are still, “real” Democrats.
11 years ago at 11:51 amI’d probably vote for Cuban over any other Republican candidate at this point. Wouldn’t mind seeing Mitt run again
11 years ago at 3:44 pmRand Paul.
11 years ago at 5:56 pmJohn Kasich (Gov. of Ohio) is pretty solid too. He’s fiscally conservative (was the House Budget Committee Chairman that organized the Surplus for Slick Willy), and socially moderate enough to get shit done.
11 years ago at 1:42 amagreed
11 years ago at 5:57 amFuck Conservatives
11 years ago at 5:14 pmFuck you.
11 years ago at 5:50 pmFuck and excuse yourself.
11 years ago at 6:12 pmNope
11 years ago at 6:44 pmThat’s why you should vote Libertarian. They’re fiscally conservative, but don’t believe the federal government should decide every social issue.
11 years ago at 5:55 pmLibertarians are the closest thing to what I think of as “true conservatives” i.e. limited government in every area not just economically.
11 years ago at 10:19 pmProblem is the media cant handle the Randall. We may never get a Paul in the White House, but I’m hoping, by God.
Rand 2016.
11 years ago at 8:06 amThing is, there’s big L libertarians, the actual Libertarian Party, which has no hope unfortunately (though I did vote for Gary Johnson in 2012), and little l libertarians, the philosophy. I want to see libertarians take over the GOP to the point where the Libertarian Party and GOP are virtually the same thing.
11 years ago at 11:55 amThis really shouldn’t be a huge revelation for anyone intelligent
11 years ago at 6:01 pmEven though the Republican party is right on most social issues, the Democratic party has done an excellent job of portraying Republicans as backwards, archaic, racist, sexist, religious, uneducated hillbillies. Republicans are not against women, nor are they against ethnic minorities. Republicans are not going to lock minorities in gulags if they take power. Republicans are not going to take away voting rights. A sane person would realize that excluding the female or minority population would cost enough votes to lose elections. Gay marriage, much like the Washington Redskins “controversy” is only an issue because the democrats want it to be an issue. These are the same people who voted for the DOMA about two decades ago and are now flip-flopping in order to tug at people’s heartstrings. “Women’s Rights” was never a partisan issue and the only thing that Democrats can point to is the Hobby Lobby case, which they lied about (they said it took away all contraception) when in reality it only took away a couple of late pills that worked after the embryo or fetus or whatever had already been implanted or impregnated by the sperm.. not too sure of the details. (They did not mention that the company still had to provide coverage for all the other contraception methods… they shouldn’t have to provide any because abstinence is free). Democrats are trying to paint republicans as WASP boogeyman and it is working, which is why I agree with Cuban in saying that it is best to avoid the issues and talk about something that they can’t win using pathos with young urbanites who can’t think for themselves.
11 years ago at 6:13 pmI’ve been saying this for years… But nobody knows who I am.
11 years ago at 6:16 pmCubes is clearly well educated and extremely successful, but I can only agree with these statements, and Bacon’s to a certain extent. Moderating the party does not necessarily mean the party will receive more votes. I like to look at Ronald Reagan and Mitt Romney as primary examples of this. Reagan won by an absolute landslide, capturing 49 of 50 states in the 1984 election which is mind blowing. He is considered by many to be one of the most conservative presidents in US history. On the contrary Mitt Romney lost the 2012 election by a substantial number of states, and he is renowned as being a blue state moderate republican. My point is that, its vital we focus on the economy, considering the individual and the free market is what this party epitomizes, but not to give up our values. By shying away from these issues, it allows Democrats to write the script. Whether or not Republicans shy away from social issues or not, Democrats will stay continue to paint Republicans as racist, anti-women, anti-immigrant etc. We need bold and powerful leadership, who will address these problems, clearly and loudly. We need candidates to DENOUNCE these ridiculous claims, and remind voters it was the democratic party who opposed Lincoln, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment, and filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1957. It was FDR’s supreme court justice appointee who was a former lawyer for the clan. It was former Senate majority Leader Robert Byrd who was a former member of the KKK. Don’t shy away, stand up, and make your voice heard. We’re proud Republicans, START ACTING LIKE IT.
11 years ago at 6:23 pmI see where you’re coming from, but comparing Reagan’s victory to Romney’s loss is a stretch at best. The political climate in the nation was/is VASTLY different.
11 years ago at 10:24 pmAlso, Romney didn’t lose because he was a hard-stance moderate. He lost because he was a walking contradiction that couldn’t make his mind up on any issue.
11 years ago at 6:37 pmI don’t think the premise is right here: the right would prefer the national conversation to center on economic and foreign policy issues. Leftists are the ones trying to swing votes on (what really should be) fringe issues like contraception, weed and gay marriage. The contraception thing is especially stupid, because I don’t think even most conservatives want to make it illegal (the Republicans had strong majorities in both houses after the 2002 midterms, but try and find me a single one who wanted to pull condoms or birth control off the shelves). But look, I’m from California and I want you to be cautious about letting the left control social policy. In my home state, it’s already a reality, and so we no longer can have plastic bags or consensual sex without stopping every five seconds to ask if the sex is still consensual.
11 years ago at 6:28 pmBush, I just want to clarify so you understand. There is not one Republican who has ever considered making contraception illegal. Although, Democrats try to portray them as being against it. The issue is that Liberals believe they are entitled to free, government subsidized contraception. Republicans have no issue with birth control, but they believe people should pay for it, and not the government.
11 years ago at 6:35 pmLibertarianism isn’t new or revolutionary. But go Cubes for continuing the fight to make it more mainstream.
11 years ago at 7:26 pm