Do you see the possibility of ‘divorcing’ the Republican Party? Could we build a third party in some selected very conservative communities and then let word of that travel around the nation?
I believe there are actually four parties instead of two. It think there is the power elite Democrats and the rank and file Democrats, and then there are the elite Republicans and the rank and file Republicans. I think the Republicans are more aware and would probably be more willing to go for a new party. However, it would be interesting to do some surveys of Democrats and independents.
Well, there have been “divorces” before. The Liberal Republicans of the 1870s that made common cause with the Democrats in opposition to Reconstruction policies of the Radicals. The Silver Republicans of the 1890s. The Progressives of the 1910s. Heck, even the MN GOP post Watergate when the party suffered drastic losses renamed themselves the “Independent Republican Party.” In the case of the Liberal Republicans, some soon returned back to the fold while others stayed Democrats. The Silverites became William Jennings Bryan supporters and became Democrats. The Progressives largely came back to the GOP, but some of the non-elected officials would become more comfortable 20 years later with FDR and the Democrats. And the MN “Independent” GOP dropped the “Indy” around 1995 after our smashing wins.
So as you can see, it can be a mixed bag, and more often than not, we get absorbed by one party or another. What I’d like is a shake-out, since there are more than a few Republicans that clearly don’t belong in the party because they oppose reform, generally don’t care about a Conservative agenda at all, and oppose new blood that can reinvigorate a party, which is an absolute necessity (touching on MA for a moment, why we systematically lost so many seats in the legislature and Congress over time was because the party was calcifying, the Republicans kept getting older and older and the young go-getters were Democrats that would capture the seats one by one as the Republicans retired or died off). That’s also a danger when you have younger folks come in and park themselves for decades, stifling any opportunities for up-and-comers. Of course, even the Democrats had similar problems with ancient Democrats staying in place for decades (in the case of Speaker McCormack and his counterpart, Speaker Martin, both came into Congress in the 1920s, and stayed until they were nearly carried out feet-first, Martin being beaten in 1966, and McCormack finally retiring in 1971 — both of whom are comparable to Ted Kennedy, who served with both men as a youngster, but has now served longer than the two). The Democrats, however, had vigorous groups of youngsters that took over from the ancients and built up the supermajorities we see there today. It’s a winning formula for us if only we’d get rid of these old establishment types that won’t let go of their almost non-existent piece of the pie.
Regarding the difference between the Dem grassroots vs. the GOP is that a big chunk of the Dem base are simply moonbats. Their elected officials, if anything, are far more moderate and know that the moonbats simply have no clue what it’s like to have to deal with real policy. That things can’t be done “immediately” (such as getting out of Iraq, imposing crazy environmental standards, et al) and if they were, would cause serious damage. We have the problem similarly that our GOP elected officials are to the left of us, and they’ll cite similarly as the Dems that they can’t “swiftly” do what we ask of them (as the Dem base asks of their pols), but in doing so, it ends up a collusion between both parties. Ultimately, I think the liberal establishment gets far more out of the deal than the Conservative base does (not the moonbat left, per se, but just what we think of base liberalism, erring on the side of increasing taxes, spending, more regulations, etc.). But the problem of having no difference in some cases between how the elected officials behave, it makes it harder for us to make the argument to elect more Republicans when they don’t represent substantial change (as McCain embodies as an establishment RINO) that we demand as Conservatives.
The question is, how much longer will we continue to allow ourselves to go along with this charade ?