Mind you, I have no specific interest in saving
them, but the question came up recently in talking about the upcoming
convention. That seems more likely to turn into a shootout than a glorious step
forward, but life goes on, and can this party be salvaged?
You could also argue it's a false question. While it
is hard to imagine any of the current Republican candidates winning the
presidency, there are still Republicans in Congress and state positions, with
the party being very entrenched for some positions. That they look like they
are in self-destruct mode right now primarily comes from looking at the
presidential race.
There is a lot of concern about that particular
race. The new Cruz/Kasich alliance is interesting, but seems a little late in
coming. Cruz naming a running mate is interesting, and may show more
aspirations for 2020. Still, their actions have to be seen in light of them
wanting to become president more than anything else.
Because of that, I find it more interesting that
Lindsey Graham just criticized Trump on foreign policy. Yes, Newt Gingrich
defended the speech, but he's more of an outlier. Graham being so negative on
Trump, and even Romney's less recent comments show a GOP that is not happy with
Trump's popularity.
Being able to win the presidency is important. You
can do a lot of obstruction with Congressional control, but actually moving
forward in destruction would be greatly aided by control of the Executive
Branch. Can the Republicans get back there? Only if they acknowledge their role
in getting here.
No, the Republican party is not responsible for
Donald Trump's ego; that particular monster has other origins. However, the
machinations that made it seem reasonable for someone like W to hold office is
at least on Karl Rove, if not on the whole party, and the building up of party
allegiance based on thinly-veiled racism and class warfare, that is on them.
Did they think that people didn't know what the dog
whistles really meant? Of course they knew! That's why they were effective! If
you wanted an electorate that was sophisticated enough that they would continue
to stick to the codes, then they shouldn't have been promoting such complete
ignorance. Yes, some of that is on media, but the GOP was complicit.
If the GOP wants to become a viable party again,
they need to do the kind of soul-searching that turns up that both Donald Trump
thinking he could run, and his run being well-received are the natural results
of the political stage they have been setting. This is not a fluke.
And then they are going to have to find something
else to stand for. It can't be always letting corporations get their way as job
creators, because that gets proven wrong too easily to work on an educated
electorate, and not educating the electorate gets us back to Trump.
It shouldn't focus on vilifying any groups of people
based on race, gender, religion, or income level. Once again, that leads to
Trump.
Perhaps that needs to be the new baseline - are we
promoting the kind of things that make a man who is only coherent when he is
being bigoted seem like the best man for the job? If the answer is
"yes", this may not be the best strategy. Okay, you're thinking
that's too obvious, but if you remember that the concern isn't so much about it
being wrong, but about it growing out of control, then you can see how things
would get mixed up.
Honestly, there has been enough of a conservative
shift in the Democratic party that you could almost send it the other way,
where yes, you only have Democrats, but then you have the ones who are what
Republicans used to be versus those who are more progressive (we will get into
some of the flaws here next week). They could change names so it would be two
parties again.
But I know some people will find that insufficient,
so I say bring back the Whigs! They had many values that could be consistent
with conservatives. They fell apart over slavery, but perhaps in a post-slavery
world they could make it work.
Yes, I see the potential flaws with that too.
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