There has been a lot of blather this week about what the future of the Republican Party is, that it's in disarray and falling apart. I remember similar talk about 4 years ago regarding the Democratic Party. I don't buy it.
The Republicans might seem confused right now, but that's not to say they were crushed in this election. Indeed, they still came within 10 percentage points in the popular vote in a year where they should have been steamrolled given the climate. The party brand has suffered under the suspected war crimes of President Bush's tenure, the advocacy of torture, the secret prisons, indefinite detention of those not charged with a crime, denial of habeas rights, the domestic wiretapping, the USA PATRIOT Act, and unitary executive theory, but those acts were committed by President Bush, a neoconservative who was given extraordinary deference from a rubber stamp congress between 2001 and 2006. At its core, the Republican Party idea, the Goldwater idea, is still strong. Small government, low taxes, limited spending, personal liberty, are all core values that appeal to a large portion of the population. The problem comes from the neoconservative/Religious Right approach of alienating any group that opposes any segment of their diktat. What the Republican Party needs to do is reject the Rush/Coulter/Rove approach to governing, and instead return to what the Republican Platform was during the Goldwater to Reagan period. They would be better for it, and the Nation very well could be, too.
But, no more Alitos or Scalias to the Court. Strict Constructionism only when it suits you is not right, either.
1 comment:
photog suggested your blog to me.
i find your thoughts interesting, but i do not fully agree with them all. i guess, in today's definition, i would be considered a right wing conservative. i, like many conservatives, don't hold fast to the republican name any longer.
i do not think that you can separate the social conservative beliefs of the base from their voting preferences. I for one do vote my values. even though i do agree with your definition of constitutional conservatism, the social issues will always trump those in the voting booth for me.
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