Republicans at the Gate – The beginning of the end
Finishing even the first part of this essay has been exceedingly difficult because everyday, sometimes by the hour as when last Saturday Sen. Larry Craig proclaimed, “I am not a homosexual” following his guilty plea and I intend to resign for soliciting man-sex in a Minneapolis airport restroom, then, Monday it leaks he might not resign then, Tuesday, I’m not going to resign, then, Wednesday the “leaked” voicemail followed by pundits and experts vacillating between why he should resign and why he has a reasonable case not to resign, then, Thursday, he probably will resign and now, Friday, who the hell knows; the Republican Party continues to be the “gift that keeps on giving” to Democrats. More often than not it seems Republicans present their voters with a new scandal, a new set of lies and more misdirection, another mind-bending rationale for more war or violating the Constitution or letting 20-somethings run the government, etc., day-in and day-out. However, my thesis should not be construed as being singularly partisan as I will argue in the final installment of this series that everything happening to Republicans today are cautionary tales for Democrats and other progressive movements.
I will answer also more of the obvious push-backs to my thesis on the Irreversible Death of the Republican Party in part two of this essay. In Part 2, I will further explore the symptoms of “The Culture of Corruption” that defines the Republican Party and discuss “Brand Republican” as it relates to the eventual destruction of the Party . . . primarily from within. When I speak of the death of the Republican Party I am primarily referring to party identification and not the people or core conservatives. The brand name Republican Party will have disappeared before “conservatism” does. However, conservatism, too, will eventually go the way of the Dodo as the systems necessary to support its counterproductive ideology continue to fail ever more precipitously.
In Part 2, I wade into the cesspool of evidence that substantiates my argument for the eventual demise of the Republican Party and my contention that Republicanism has suffered the necessary criteria for irreversible death. Also in Part 2, I will show “symptoms” demonstrating that to be identified with the values and actions of the Republican Party – values that are contrary to most “right” thinking people – will steadily become untenable for all but the most committed, true believing, Kool-Aid® drinking Republican conservatives.
Finally, lest anyone think me completely naïve or a “True Believer” and Kool-Aid® drinker from the left I offer this. I am agonizingly aware of the cowardice, stupidity, and utter complicity with the Republican Party of my Democratic Party members in Congress evidenced by their heartbreaking, feckless, feeble, and ineffective attempts to exercise their constitutional duties over the Republicans in Congress and the Bush administration. Regardless that it was the Republicans who were in power, that it was the Republicans who decided who got what offices, what issues were or were not investigated in committee, and what got voted on and what didn’t. . .when Republicans denied hearing rooms to congressional Democrats such as Rep. John Conyers, forcing them to hold “forums” in the Capitol basement; when Republicans started gagging Democrats in committee and if they wouldn’t shut-up they just turned off their microphones, turned out the lights, and left as did Republican James Sensenbrenner to Democratic Congressman Jerold Nadler; our Democratic congressional representatives should have staged mass work stoppages, sit-ins, and had the “stones” to practice the same kind of civil disobedience that the average citizen does today to get attention. Democrats must inject into the American electorate the clear differences between progressive Democracy and authoritarian Republicanism. By differentiating our positions, at not just a rational level but also by engaging the emotions of the people, Democrats can speed the demise of the Republican Party and it’s underlying disease of conservatism.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
References:
1Merriam Webster Dictionary On-line, http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/system
2Conservatives Betrayed by Richard Viguerie, Bonus Books, 2006. www.ConservativesBetrayed.com
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