GOP strategist: RNC platform gets abortion right but misses on something bigger | Opinion

Finally. For the first time in decades, the Republican National Convention has removed a national ban on abortion from the party platform.

It’s a good political move. Democrats believe that abortion is the most vulnerable issue for Republicans in 2024, and removing the idea of a national abortion ban from the platform seems to indicate that we’ve learned the lessons from 2022.

By adding language “supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments),” Republicans hope to neutralize one of the Democrats’ attacks this cycle.

Once a key part of the cultural and social issues that ushered in conservatism in the 1980s, abortion has outlived its political usefulness on the national stage. A national abortion ban is bad policy. For a party that believes in smaller, less intrusive government, a national abortion ban seems to fly in the face of everything Republicans believe in.

Frankly, it probably should have been removed from the platform years ago.

None of this is stopping some in the party — like former Vice President Mike Pence — from urging members to vote against the platform at the convention until they “restore language to our party’s platform recognizing the sanctity of human life...”

What a dumb idea.

We have President Joe Biden on the ropes. After an abysmal debate performance, voters saw he is not competent to serve a second term. Even the long Fourth of July weekend couldn’t slow the avalanche of calls for Biden to step aside and let someone else run.

Voting to reject the platform over abortion only gives Democrats the opportunity they are looking for to change the discussion away from Biden and back to the GOP’s war on women.

What gets lost in the RNC abortion debate is that fundamentally, it’s a good platform as a whole. It hits some key issues: Immigration, parental rights, election integrity and the weaponization of government.

It sprinkles in some classic GOP issues like reining in wasteful government spending, making tax cuts permanent and cutting regulations. There are even things in the platform — like “Restoring American Beauty” or “Expanding Freedom, Prosperity and Safety in Space” — that I didn’t know I needed to care about as a Republican.

It has everything you would want in a platform, except one thing: It lacks vision. It lacks the central theme that has been the heart of the Republican Party since Lincoln: A belief in the endless opportunities that are built upon a foundation of our rights, individual liberties and personal freedoms.

In 1984, the Republican Party declared itself “the Party of Hope.” In 2004, Republicans strove to “fulfill Lincoln’s vision: a country united and free, in which all people are guaranteed equal rights and the opportunity to pursue their dreams.”

In 2024, Republicans offer no such vision. The platform fails to tell Americans what guides and defines us as Republicans. Instead, it seems to suggest that defeating Biden is all that matters.

The Republican platform should be bigger than Trump. It should be bigger than just defeating Biden. Yes, Biden has been a disaster as president. Equally alarming is that some in the Democratic Party have embraced radical ideas and have a desire to put America on a slow march toward socialism.

A lot is at stake in the 2024 election. Republicans need to expand their majority in the U.S. House and pick up seats in the Senate. Republicans need to win governorships and state legislatures. A clear, concise vision of what Republicans stand for could be the foundation to win elections up and down the ballot for decades to come.

This platform might be enough to win the presidency. Candidates matter, and as long as Biden remains at the top of the ticket, Democrats have a real problem. Trump will likely get a bump in the polls following the convention, showing him even further ahead of Biden. The only question will be if Biden can survive the revolt from his party.

Matt Wylie is a S.C. based Republican political strategist and analyst with over 25 years of experience working on federal, state and local campaigns.