Is the Republican party irretrievably lost? Yes, the North Carolina abomination known as Madison Cawthorn just lost his primary, but even with that lingering stain on the party, I can still appreciate some conservative values (steeped in them as I was, growing up) and I appreciate there are good people who hold conservative views.
But there’s conservatism, and there’s today’s GOP — 55 of whom have chosen not to run again for their seats in the U.S. Congress. Granted, some are running for other offices, but no incumbent R-senators want to come back to D.C. as elected officials.
What do you think? Is the GOP now officially the GQP and should we stick a fork in it? And if you answer yes, how best to stick that fork where it does the most good?
The new GOP certainly isn't your father's GOP. Or at least not the GOP I remember in my early voting years during Reagan. Most policies are not what I'd call "conservative." In fact, most policies aren't what I'd even call "policies." The playbook now is simply "Blame the Democrats; Offer No Solutions." And that's to say nothing of the repetitive racist and sexist dog whistling. I honestly don't see the GOP returning to previous form anytime soon.
There have been deep, deep problems in the Republican Party since Goldwater. But today it is so much worse that it has become absurd. It is now just a relic of the past to consider them the conservative party. They are the radical far-right. The racism has been an undercurrent since the 1960s (at least), but now it is the driving principle. The sexism has haunted both parties but now it is at a Republican feature not a bug. And the ridiculous conspiratorial thinking and constant lying and promotion of violence... This has made it extremely difficult to teach my Political Communication class. If I avoid speaking the truth I am committing an ethical violation, but if I talk to my students about what is really going on I get accused of bias. Scylla and Charybdis.
It feels like irony is dead -- or it's on a long vacation. You cannot make this stuff up, and I'll be teaching a campaign media course in the fall and will be walking that same tight rope. Yay!
The Republican party of the past is mostly gone. We've even had Republicans in our Town government leave the party. Unfortunately, a lot of lifelong Republican voters aren't paying close enough attention to politics and will continue to vote for Republicans. There are some that would definitely vote for Dems if they listened to the candidates and were told they were all Republicans.
I keep equating this to staying in a religion that doesn't suit you any more -- or a religion that in your opinion does actual harm. I get that some people want to remain in the party to try to effect change from within, but they're really going up against the dregs.
I see what you mean. I think a lot of people are on autopilot - in both politics and religion. It's easier to let momentum carry you than make the effort to change directions. Afterall, both become part of your identity and means of bonding with family/friends. Change can be hard.
As far as changing from within, it's hard to do that when the mass of people within has no interest in the change or you can't get them to pay attention and care. I believe only those who are in positions of power (like Trump was) have a shot at changing from within.
Change happens in organizations and in individuals. It makes sense we would need to reevaluate where we align and then realign yourselves. I think there is a lack of self-motivation to do it for many. And hypocrisy is no longer something some people even try to avoid.
Maybe a little geeky, but I think of Newton's Laws of Motion - the part that says:
If a body is moving at a constant speed in a straight line, it will keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted upon by a force. That force takes energy and so it's easier to just keep moving in the same direction. i.e. keep voting for the same party and stay with the same religion.
Looking backward, it’s kind of like nobody voted for Nixon and everybody went to Woodstock. It’s a reasonable assumption that millions of otherwise thoughtful people voted for Trump.
Do they have regrets? Some I imagine but I don’t know how many. So far the trumpublican primaries are unclear on that score.
Do I understand why they did? Nope.
Would they give it up? Maybe in the confessional but too few are coming clean publicly.
A third party in the middle won’t work. Not yet anyway. A third party on the right might but it would take the a movement among republicans to drive the cultists there and that doesn’t seem to be coalescing.
It looks like roll the dice time and make the mid-terms about the big question and only the big question. Does democracy have a future in America? Can voters look past the economy, the pandemic and whatever else is on their minds and truly grasp what’s at stake? How do you craft the message to get a response? I think Biden has started that, more directly calling out white supremacists and disinformation spreaders. There is no unity in the country right now and there won’t be after election day but there may be a majority among Dems, Independents and disaffected Republicans. There’s refuge in the truth. Getting enough folks there will be the trick. All’s I know is if I lived in Wyoming, I’d vote for Liz Cheney at this point. That whirring sound you hear is my FDR loving, New Deal grandmother although I’m sure she would have come to understand.
My own Truman-loving grandmother would say”Go for it,” as well. I wish I could fast-forward 15 years but considering how close I’ll be dancing to my grave, nah.
I wish those of us who weren't toxic White male supremacists had the power to stick a fork in the GOP-- and that we used that party instead to build strong public institutions and invest in them and in the people's nation's and world's future.
Feels weird to hit the heart on this one, as I don't "like" it, per se, but yeah. If I had the wherewithal, I'd built a Republican party that was to the left of the current Democratic one.
Wow, I picked up a confusing typo. While I, too, wish the GOP were to the left of today's Dems, what I meant to write was that I wished we would have the power to stick a fork in the GOP but instead used that power to build a sustainable and equitable nation and world. Sorry!
Sadly, I think I got that from whatever typo concerns you. There HAS to be a way. Sometimes, when an organization has reached its end, the fireworks can be ugly, but there needs to be a place for thoughtful conservative policy, to balance against left-wingers like myself. The answer is often in the middle.
But worshiping the middle as such is such a problem, a problem of decades, among US non-fascists! It leads us to remember the days of torture not called that as the nugatory tools of a comparatively good guy, for instance. And the gleeful right leaders move the window further and further their way, crying "socialist! communist! libtard!" and hurling feces to wild acclaim.
The typo was "that we used that party instead" for "and we used that power instead."
DDE warned us all about the 'military industrial complex' and NOBODY listened, oh and Heather Cox Richardson's post today is germane to your question, please read it and pay particular attention to her reporting on how EVERY member of the gQp voted NO on the Domestic Terrorism bill even after the domestic terror attack in Buffalo over the weekend?!?Both parties have hitched their wagons to corporate donors, most of whom are only committed to their bottom lines. Society has devolved into a undeclared civil war and IMHO many of the mass shootings we've seen reflect the anger and hate that surrounds us. Statesmanship is a bygone concept where tact and civility no longer matter. We are way beyond labels like 'conservative' and 'liberal' I see no leaders on the horizon who can bring us together. As a kid JFK and then RFK inspired me to become active, I was and served in office but in this day and age where so many don't even vote the tide has gone out to sea and the waves may never was again to shore!
I have reached a point in watching political discourse that I figured that video of him having marital relations with that man's head wouldn't be more than a blip on the screen. But maybe that IS what pushed him into the L category. I don't know. I just saw a badly-behaved young man who wasn't ready for prime time, who embodied all my least favorite things about badly-behaved men.
And I don't want to leave any one with the impression that the Democrats fight for power, as well. But this craven use of flawed candidates who promote the big lie? I agree. That crossed every line.
Call it the GQPAnon. Too many ignorant people in this country to understand this transformation and what it will likely mean. Candidates out-Trumping Trump and kissing his ring.
There's a conversation going on now among conservative media outlets as to whether Trumpism can survive without Trump (in other words, there's loyalty to the nasty notions presented within Trumpism, but less and less taste for including the author of those nasty notions).
I want to share this incredible Las Vegas Sun editorial: https://lasvegassun.com/news/2022/may/15/in-search-of-republican-candidates-willing-to-stan/
The new GOP certainly isn't your father's GOP. Or at least not the GOP I remember in my early voting years during Reagan. Most policies are not what I'd call "conservative." In fact, most policies aren't what I'd even call "policies." The playbook now is simply "Blame the Democrats; Offer No Solutions." And that's to say nothing of the repetitive racist and sexist dog whistling. I honestly don't see the GOP returning to previous form anytime soon.
So are we looking at a brand new political party? Not just a wing of the current one?
I think that's something people like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and Larry Hogan are trying to figure out right now. It could happen.
I really hope so.
There have been deep, deep problems in the Republican Party since Goldwater. But today it is so much worse that it has become absurd. It is now just a relic of the past to consider them the conservative party. They are the radical far-right. The racism has been an undercurrent since the 1960s (at least), but now it is the driving principle. The sexism has haunted both parties but now it is at a Republican feature not a bug. And the ridiculous conspiratorial thinking and constant lying and promotion of violence... This has made it extremely difficult to teach my Political Communication class. If I avoid speaking the truth I am committing an ethical violation, but if I talk to my students about what is really going on I get accused of bias. Scylla and Charybdis.
It feels like irony is dead -- or it's on a long vacation. You cannot make this stuff up, and I'll be teaching a campaign media course in the fall and will be walking that same tight rope. Yay!
We should put our heads together about how we approach those courses.
The adult beverage is on me.
The Republican party of the past is mostly gone. We've even had Republicans in our Town government leave the party. Unfortunately, a lot of lifelong Republican voters aren't paying close enough attention to politics and will continue to vote for Republicans. There are some that would definitely vote for Dems if they listened to the candidates and were told they were all Republicans.
I keep equating this to staying in a religion that doesn't suit you any more -- or a religion that in your opinion does actual harm. I get that some people want to remain in the party to try to effect change from within, but they're really going up against the dregs.
I see what you mean. I think a lot of people are on autopilot - in both politics and religion. It's easier to let momentum carry you than make the effort to change directions. Afterall, both become part of your identity and means of bonding with family/friends. Change can be hard.
As far as changing from within, it's hard to do that when the mass of people within has no interest in the change or you can't get them to pay attention and care. I believe only those who are in positions of power (like Trump was) have a shot at changing from within.
Change happens in organizations and in individuals. It makes sense we would need to reevaluate where we align and then realign yourselves. I think there is a lack of self-motivation to do it for many. And hypocrisy is no longer something some people even try to avoid.
Maybe a little geeky, but I think of Newton's Laws of Motion - the part that says:
If a body is moving at a constant speed in a straight line, it will keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted upon by a force. That force takes energy and so it's easier to just keep moving in the same direction. i.e. keep voting for the same party and stay with the same religion.
That's cool. I love geeky.
Looking backward, it’s kind of like nobody voted for Nixon and everybody went to Woodstock. It’s a reasonable assumption that millions of otherwise thoughtful people voted for Trump.
Do they have regrets? Some I imagine but I don’t know how many. So far the trumpublican primaries are unclear on that score.
Do I understand why they did? Nope.
Would they give it up? Maybe in the confessional but too few are coming clean publicly.
A third party in the middle won’t work. Not yet anyway. A third party on the right might but it would take the a movement among republicans to drive the cultists there and that doesn’t seem to be coalescing.
It looks like roll the dice time and make the mid-terms about the big question and only the big question. Does democracy have a future in America? Can voters look past the economy, the pandemic and whatever else is on their minds and truly grasp what’s at stake? How do you craft the message to get a response? I think Biden has started that, more directly calling out white supremacists and disinformation spreaders. There is no unity in the country right now and there won’t be after election day but there may be a majority among Dems, Independents and disaffected Republicans. There’s refuge in the truth. Getting enough folks there will be the trick. All’s I know is if I lived in Wyoming, I’d vote for Liz Cheney at this point. That whirring sound you hear is my FDR loving, New Deal grandmother although I’m sure she would have come to understand.
My own Truman-loving grandmother would say”Go for it,” as well. I wish I could fast-forward 15 years but considering how close I’ll be dancing to my grave, nah.
I wish those of us who weren't toxic White male supremacists had the power to stick a fork in the GOP-- and that we used that party instead to build strong public institutions and invest in them and in the people's nation's and world's future.
Meanwhile the courts are dismantling government. Very rapidly. https://twitter.com/mjs_DC/status/1527009488301170688
Feels weird to hit the heart on this one, as I don't "like" it, per se, but yeah. If I had the wherewithal, I'd built a Republican party that was to the left of the current Democratic one.
Wow, I picked up a confusing typo. While I, too, wish the GOP were to the left of today's Dems, what I meant to write was that I wished we would have the power to stick a fork in the GOP but instead used that power to build a sustainable and equitable nation and world. Sorry!
Sadly, I think I got that from whatever typo concerns you. There HAS to be a way. Sometimes, when an organization has reached its end, the fireworks can be ugly, but there needs to be a place for thoughtful conservative policy, to balance against left-wingers like myself. The answer is often in the middle.
But worshiping the middle as such is such a problem, a problem of decades, among US non-fascists! It leads us to remember the days of torture not called that as the nugatory tools of a comparatively good guy, for instance. And the gleeful right leaders move the window further and further their way, crying "socialist! communist! libtard!" and hurling feces to wild acclaim.
The typo was "that we used that party instead" for "and we used that power instead."
Well, yeah. I just think no one end of either party has the answers. We have to talk.
I couldn't agree more if I had a dump truck. And all political alliances could desperately use less Monitoring of Purity.
DDE warned us all about the 'military industrial complex' and NOBODY listened, oh and Heather Cox Richardson's post today is germane to your question, please read it and pay particular attention to her reporting on how EVERY member of the gQp voted NO on the Domestic Terrorism bill even after the domestic terror attack in Buffalo over the weekend?!?Both parties have hitched their wagons to corporate donors, most of whom are only committed to their bottom lines. Society has devolved into a undeclared civil war and IMHO many of the mass shootings we've seen reflect the anger and hate that surrounds us. Statesmanship is a bygone concept where tact and civility no longer matter. We are way beyond labels like 'conservative' and 'liberal' I see no leaders on the horizon who can bring us together. As a kid JFK and then RFK inspired me to become active, I was and served in office but in this day and age where so many don't even vote the tide has gone out to sea and the waves may never was again to shore!
It often DOES come back to campaign finance, doesn't it? And that's a beautiful (and sad) analogy, the tide and the sea.
Cawthorn didn't lose because he's terrible. He lost because his constituents think he's gay. From what I saw, the replacement is even more horrible.
I have reached a point in watching political discourse that I figured that video of him having marital relations with that man's head wouldn't be more than a blip on the screen. But maybe that IS what pushed him into the L category. I don't know. I just saw a badly-behaved young man who wasn't ready for prime time, who embodied all my least favorite things about badly-behaved men.
GQP... They've lost their collective minds
Is there a point of no return for them? Have they reached it?
IMHO, they've crossed the line. They are hungry with power and have proven that there's pretty much no limits to what they will do to keep that power.
And I don't want to leave any one with the impression that the Democrats fight for power, as well. But this craven use of flawed candidates who promote the big lie? I agree. That crossed every line.
Call it the GQPAnon. Too many ignorant people in this country to understand this transformation and what it will likely mean. Candidates out-Trumping Trump and kissing his ring.
There's a conversation going on now among conservative media outlets as to whether Trumpism can survive without Trump (in other words, there's loyalty to the nasty notions presented within Trumpism, but less and less taste for including the author of those nasty notions).
I’m still lol-ing that you’re not trying to pick a fight. I thought you lived for ‘Swords Up’ 💪