Posted on 01/18/2012 11:07:19 PM PST by Bratch
A blonde finds lipstick on her husband's collar. Suspicious that he's cheating on her, she heads to a local gun shop and buys herself a pistol. That night, she hides in her bedroom closet. Sure enough, the husband comes home with his redheaded secretary on his arm and leads her to the bed. As they began to caress, the wife jumps out of the closet and holds the gun to her head.
"Sweetheart," the husband pleads, "don't do it! Don't shoot yourself!"
"Shut up, Johnny!" she cries. "You're next!"
That blonde now runs the Republican Party. Hence, the GOPs dedication to their latest "it's-his-turn" candidate, Mitt Romney.
Let's examine for a moment just why Mitt Romney will likely win the Republican nomination. It isn't because he's conservative -- he's not. It isn't because he's supremely electable -- he's not. It's not because he's charming or charismatic or dazzlingly likeable -- he's not.
The Republican Party is about to nominate Mitt Romney because it is a party in crisis. Instead of focusing on the cheating husband -- Barack Obama -- Republicans are idiotically focusing on their internal differences. Unlike the Democratic Party, which is largely united around certain key issues -- gay marriage, comprehensive sex education, abortion, higher taxes, more spending -- the Republican Party is all over the place. The Republican Party includes high-tax deficit hawks, and it includes low-tax supply-siders. It includes high-spending compassionate conservatives, and it includes low-spending small government types. It includes pro-gay marriage libertarians and pro-traditional marriage religious voters. It includes hard-line, anti-immigration believers and open-borders free marketers. It includes Ron Paul isolationists, George W. Bush Wilsonians and everything in between.
These conflicts have defined the Republican Party since the end of Reagan's tenure. Each and every Republican presidential candidate since Reagan has attempted to paper over these differences. The result is that the Republican Party nominees have been remarkably similar in their political viewpoints: social conservatives who are for lower taxes, higher spending and a generally non-interventionist foreign policy (though that was changed by 9/11). George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, George W. Bush and John McCain were aligned ideologically. Call them the Paper Republicans.
Mitt Romney is a Paper Republican. We don't know where he stands on anything because the Republican Party no longer knows where it stands on anything. That's why the Republican race for the nomination has been so schizophrenic. Rick Perry was unacceptable because of the DREAM Act, but Mitt Romney was acceptable despite his support for comprehensive immigration reform. Newt Gingrich was unacceptable because of his economic populism, but Mitt Romney was acceptable despite his repeated support for government bailouts. Rick Santorum was unacceptable because of his big-spending ways, but Mitt Romney was acceptable despite his implementation of Romneycare in Massachusetts.
The problem isn't Romney. The problem is the Republican Party.
Now this isn't a call for a third party. Third parties are doomed to failure; the system is geared toward a two-party system. But what the Republican Party does need is a housecleaning. Call it a purge, if you must. But do it.
That's what the Democrats did after their shocking defeat in 2004. John Kerry was a flip-flopper, a wishy-washy liberal who made liberals squeamish. So they responded by moving to the left, bringing in Nancy Pelosi to run the House and the anti-Kerry, Howard Dean, to run the Democratic National Committee. The result was a Democratic victory in 2006 in the House, and the victory of the most far-left candidate in American history, Barack Obama, in 2008.
Most Republicans protest that this isn't the right time for a purge. They hope that opposition to Obama will unite Republicans around a Paper Republican. The problem with this logic is that it always justifies a Paper Republican candidate, because the Democrats will invariably run somebody worse. And Paper Republicans don't help matters. The Republican Party has, for the last half-century, consolidated liberal gains and trimmed around the edges. The result has been an unstoppable juggernaut of government growth and the loss of traditional American freedoms. The Paper Republican experiment has been a dramatic failure for conservatives.
We are now at a crisis point. More Democratic rule is the highway to hell; more Paper Republican rule is the slow road to the same destination. It's time for the Republican Party to present a true conservative alternative. Anything else is suicide by inches.
“Now this isn’t a call for a third party. Third parties are doomed to failure; the system is geared toward a two-party system. But what the Republican Party does need is a housecleaning. Call it a purge, if you must. But do it.”
The Republican party could become the third party.
Time to get back to core values, love 'em or leave 'em, and many of a generation of young voters (raised by their grandparents) are ready to vote for that. Plenty in between know what won't work from experience, too.
A purge is needed. Time for the Tea Party Republican congressmen/women to throw out the weak Boehner and Cantor and McCarthy.
Let real men with backbones and balls of steel lead - Ryan, Allen, McCotter, King, Goumer, etc.
We have one last chance to survive as a free enterprise nation. Let’s not blow it.
My understanding of American political systems is that when the controling party see's a 3rd party gaining control, the party currently having control will insinuate the planks of the rival party's platform into their own.
Depending on the magnitude of change, the party having control might have to change its name.
The question is whether or not the party in control changed to accommodate their constituants, or whether they morphed; the net result is still a two party system.
This is really weak analysis.
“still a two party system.”
True. What you stated has happened in the past.
That’s really what I was trying to convey.
What’s not weak are the founding father’s opinions concerning factions.
Everything going on with regards to conteprorary electioneering would be anathema to the founding fathers.
So much so anathema, and they KNEW it wouuld happen, that they implemented the Electoral College.
I didn’t leave the Republican Party. The Republican Party left me.
This is the first election ever where I am seeing ALL the rats come out. We now know each and every one of them, and there is no taking cover later. We will not forget, we are the TEA PARTY and we mean business.
Same goes for all the Media Republican RATS, you have lost ALL credibility, you have exposed your evil selves. You have pretended all these years to being conservatives, you have sold books, clothing, tickets to see your rallys, you spoke big words, you have taken us down the primrose path, you have all WHORED yourselves to the higher power. BUT NOW WE ALL KNOW THE TRUTH and the truth is you "DISSED" yourselves. JMO
It is going to be very interesting to watch the Media republarats try to backtrack and squirm to get back in our good graces, NOT going to happen.
What words will they use when Newt wins? "Well we knew he had what it took", "he really showed gravitas", etc.etc.
Jerks.
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Forget the first and second parties as well. |
If people really want to change the GOP, then get involved locally.
The Democratic Party was hijacked 4 years ago. That is why so many Democrats and Independents were Tea Party members. What prevents them from becoming Republicans are the social conservatives who maintain the necessity for pro-life, pro-traditional family values, and pro-2nd Amendment planks within the Republican Party.
Those of us who believe in the Holy Bible and our right to bear arms really aren't welcomed by the moneyed hoi-poloi and corporate contingents in either major political party.
So there really exists three factions, with part of the Democratic Party and Republican Party actually sharing major beleifs and values. Traditional Conservatives, Communists/Progressives, and the Corporatists make up the two parties with the demarcations blurred by the Corporatists.
Romney wants to return the Republican party to the days before Reagan. He wants the GOP to be more like Nixon and Ford. Unfortunately for us, that combination was able to win in a landslide.
What would have happened if Nixon was not a crook, not an anti-semitic jerk and didn’t have Vietnam to deal with? What if McCain was calm, talk in complete sentences and didn’t look too old?
Romney thinks he can be the RINO that finally pulls it off.
Instead of 2 sucky parties, we’ll end up with 3 suckier parties. Just look at Europe.
“The Republican party could become the third party.”
Yeah, we’ll have the Democrats, the Liberal Democrats and also a few Republicans.
Ben nailed it. Time for a massive cleanout.
Did you mean Mitch McConnell?
Members of the party that follow every thing BUT the party platform such as the majority of those currently in office, can hardly be called ‘Republican’ in the traditional sense.
They can either continue ignoring that platform and thus continue their effective merger with the Dems or stand for something and purge. Many of us might come back to ‘the fold’ if they did.
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