The Demise Of A Political Party?

Since January 20th, when President Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, we have all watched with some degree of interest to see what the Republican Party would do to regroup. First we saw them vote NO on anything of substance that came across the floor of congress. They quickly established themselves as a true opposition party, determined to undermine any attempts at bi-partisan cooperation.

Then in an attempt to show how they were "reaching out" beyond their narrow base, they named Michael Steele as the first African-American Chairman of the Republican National Committee. He proceeded to appropriately rebuke Rush Limbaugh's insane assertion that it would be good for President Obama to fail, regardless of the impact on our country, reminding the clown prince of the right wing that he was not the leader of the party, but simply a talk show host. Less than a week later, under pressure from inside the party, he apologized to him, rendering him powerless to impact the party.

Then you have the economic brain trust of Rep. John Boehner and Sen. Eric Cantor. Boehner is the House Minority leader, Cantor has the same role in the Senate. After the presentation of President Obama's budget, it's renouncing by the right wing, and a challenge to actually produce an alternative, they produced a pamphlet disguised as an alternative. The only problem was it had no numbers in it. A budget with no numbers is like a chocolate cake with no chocolate. After being called out on it, they went back to the drawing board and came back with ineffective tax cuts and unrealistic spending freezes diguised yet again as a budget. I have spent 17 years in management creating, implementing and struggling with budgets. While the formats may vary slightly, this "budget alternative" does not qualify as a budget at all.

Around this same time, after the Presient's first national address, the GOP rolled out their hot young star, Gov. Bobby Jindal, to offer their response. In a performance that was part Howdy Doody, part Otis from Mayberry, Gov. Jindal rambled on about a Hurricane Katrina story that showed not only why Americans voted to remove them from office, but showed his inability to even share a personal story with actual facts. Turns out he was not even in the city he claimed to be in at the time this story of his leadership took place. The highlight of this "speech" was Gov. Jindal indicating President Obama wants you to rely on the government to fix the current economic crisis. "Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina, we have our doubts." The humor is, in attempting to attack the new administration, he once again highlighted the shortcomings in leadership within his own party.

Now after a break from Republican stumbling, we get Sen. Arlen Specter. Specter, a lifelong Republican and 27 year member of congress, announced he was leaving the party to become a Democrat because his previous party had gone so far right he could no longer support their ideals. Following his party change, Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine indicated how this conversion was indicative of a deeper problem within the party. What deeper problems could she mean?

Enter Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina. Testifying before congress during debate on expansion of the hate crime bill originally named for Matthew Shepherd, who was targeted, kidnapped, tortured, and ultimately killed in 1998, in large part because he was a homosexual, Foxx claimed that the murder was not necessarily motivated by the fact that he was gay and the portrayal as such was a "hoax". This while Judy Shepherd, Matt's mother, was in attendance. The revision to the bill was to add sexual orientation to the list of things that would qualify a crime as a "hate" crime. The revision passed in spite of Rep. Foxx, and the isolation of the Republicans continued.

Finally, we have Paul Broun, who now tries to tie the Swine Flu outbreak to illegal immigrants. Nevermind the fact that the first reported cases here was a group of Catholic school kids from New York who had been on a trip in Cancun. It is accepted that the Swine Flu most likely originated at a pig farm in Mexico, but to use this fact for your racist rantings is just foolish. Illegal Immigration is a problem that must be addressed, but more people travel across that border legally than do illegally. "Mr. Broun, this is reality calling, can you hear me?"

When you put all of this together, you get a political party that has completely lost touch with a growing majority of this country, yet continue to almost go out of their way to further alienate any segment of the population that does not fit their mold (master race anyone?). A once proud party representing conservative values has become an isolationist organization, fueled by hatred of anything inclusionary or progressive.

The problem we face with the lack of an effective conservative opposition is the risk of driving too far to the left. It's the erosion of the center that provides an opportunity for Constitutional Moderates to step in and begin to influence policy toward a return to the Rule Of Law. Not in my lifetime have I seen a party so much in need of elimination, but shifting to the far left presents us with the potential for as many problems as the far right has.

You may have heard of a group of Democrats being called the "Blue Dog Coalition", or "ConservaDems". These are labels referring to what amount to Moderates, people who believe you can be progressive without driving fully left. These people are the start of what could be a new party. There are currently 49 members of this forging new party in the House alone. Sen. Specter's change of party shows that to be even a Moderate, you have to align yourself with the Democrats because the Republicans have grown to fear even the center. Sen. John McCain built his career being a "Moderate Republican", but, in this last election, immense pressure from an increasingly desperate Republican Party forced him further to the right, forced him into choosing Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate, and cost him any realistic shot at the Presidency. You can see the list of these Moderate leaders by clicking on the members tab at their website:

www.house.gov/melancon/BlueDogs/

We need to not only support these leaders, but look for more of these when the 2010 elections come around. You can count on the fact that as I find them, I will let you know who they are and how to help as the revolution grows.