The recent withdrawal of New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg from Secretary of Commerce is a clear indication that the Grand Party of Old times is back to its old tricks.
Even after Obama made grand overtures to the Republican establishment, they seem to think that stonewalling the popular President will win them brownie points. Not even the Republicans that combated FDR’s New Deal had the nerve to attempt such a naïve endeavor.
They are clearly lining up to create a wall on which hasn’t been seen since ol’ Stonewall Jackson stood up to the Yankees in the Civil War (which the South lost btw). They simply think that being who they are and ignoring the sane voices of reason from the Center can save them from political wilderness. Yet, they have never seen the amount of political force that the country has handed to the Democrats. They just don’t get that they are on an iceberg slowly drifting off to sea, yelling ever louder, while the world slowly begins to tune them out.
These guys simply do not get it! I firmly believe that this “Stonewall Jackson Strategy†is as antiquated as the man himself. I, for one, am very thankful that they would embark on such a venture. It only ties them even further to the Far Right wilderness, a place no one wants to be right now (unless your in Israel, unfortunately). They look like a grand ol’ pile of useless old white men. They latch on to some token minority for their party chair and say “SEE! We like black people too!†Despite the fact that one of new RNC party chairmen Steel’s opponents, Chip Saltsman (don’t Repubs have the dumbest names?) released a CD to his constituents that included a song titled “Barack the Magic Negroâ€!
The fact is that the Republican Party is a dying elephant struggling to get out of a tar pit. The more they make a fuss and move, the more they sink into oblivion. They think they are relevant, they think that they matter, unfortunately, for them, they don’t. The country has rejected them. Time to move on!
What the people really want is for Washington to put aside partisan bickering and work to save this nation of ours. When they see bloated big-mouths like Rush “Windbag†Limbaugh encouraging Republicans to put the party first, America second, they get discouraged. That is why a new poll finds Rush less popular than Jeremiah Wright! Also, strong support for Obama’s health reforms!
Perhaps the GOP will not recover from this storm like the Whig Party in the 1850s and die off all together! I am not predicting, as there is too much fear of change in the U.S., though it is not inconceivable to think that the Repubs will falter and fail. Many things need to happen for this to occur.
That being said, there may never be a better time to establish a 3rd party in this country that could take the place of the sick and dying GOP. A party of Center-Left Socialists and Just-Right-of-Center Republicans, that believe in Progressive ideals, could potentially form. Call them the Progressive Party. On the other hand, a party of Green Socialists could form on the Left that could push the country towards a European styled government. Call them the New Left, Green or Socialist Party. It could even be a party of Moderate Republicans that could begin taking back the North East and Great West and leave the GOP left to swim in the mire of the South. Call them the Moderate Party or Conservative Party.
While this is a great idea it will likely end up being that the GOP will begin to move Left toward the Center and become the party of business once again. They will remain in the wilderness for a generation till people forget how awful they were. That being said, now that 2 depressions have happened on their watch, you would have to be absolutely stupid to believe in GOP rhetoric again.
The Repubs simply need to expel the Southern strategy first attempted by Nixon and adopted by Reagan. It was built on anti-civil-rights and anti-hippie ideals and, therefore, built on older folks that would eventually die off. Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman wrote a column on this very subject.
Even the South must feel at a state of unease, as the party that once brought them more earmarks than any other area during the Republican domination of Congress, now is left with junior Senators with little experience, leaving them less relevant than any time since the Revolution!
While the media makes it’s hullabaloo about GOP dissent, the people are clearly with the Dems and Obama. If the Republicans were smart, they would stop dissenting and jump on the bandwagon. Thankfully for the future of this great nation, they are lacking the foresight and intelligence to do so.