Can they recover?

Sure, it might seem at first glance that the Republican party is on its way out. Not only have they lost control of the House and Senate, they also lost by a landslide to a fairly liberal Democrat, and their former leader has the worst approval rating ever, even lower than Richard Nixon's during the Watergate scandal. Is there hope for the future of the GOP? Definitely, according to the history books.

To determine the future of any given political party, it helps to look at the history of party formation in this country. Even though the founding fathers denounced political parties, worrying that they would actually detract from the major issues, party formation was an inevitability. It became obvious that there needed to be opposing forces in government to resist tyranny. And since America has become a two-party system, with third parties trailing very far behind, there will always be a Democratic party and a Republican party. Political leaders began organizing supporters issue-by-issue, acknowledging that "they stood to benefit the most from organizing, and they surely recognized that they had the most to lose by failing to organize." (Aldrich 78) And I think herein lies the strategy for a Republican comeback.

Now we have to shed the historical context and look closely at the present situation. When looking at the reasons why Obama won, most point to his huge grassroots campaign. Even before Obama formally announced that he would run for president, a widespread, organized grassroots effort had begun, encouraging Obama to run in the first place. After he announced his candidacy, the effort spread even farther, effectively utilizing technology (via Facebook, text messaging etc.) to spread the word. McCain's campaign, and the whole Republican party in general, lacked this essential level of organization. In order to compete in future races, the Republican party will need to reach voters as effectively as Obama has. And they'll need to utilize the internet to the same extent. Right now, Obama's revolutionizing the way the people interact with their government, particularly through his website change.gov. And it doesn't stop there. This article does a great job of explaining just how much of an impact using technology will have on government.

The Republican party has a lot of work ahead of it. Over the next couple years, it will need to ascertain its core beliefs, rally its supporters, and embrace technology the same way the Democrats have. It'll be an uphill struggle, but the GOP is nothing if not determined.