I am sure the actions of the republican party (and their more vocal supporters) since President Obama took office comes as little surprise to the democratic faithful.
“Liberals” constantly have their worst opinions of “conservatives” confirmed by those at the highest levels of the party apparatus as well as those screaming from the margins, despite the inclusion of token minorities and women to lend a patina of diversity.
What saddens me most about the current state of affairs in the GOP is the total lack of representation traditional conservatism has in Congress.
“Moderate conservatives” have become comfortable being fed partisan and paranoid explanations for what amounts to common sense changes to the way we do business. Ironically, the progressive movement they so rabidly fight against grew out of the republican party in the first place.
It is long past time to marry the progressive with the pragmatic in a way that transforms America into the 21st century country it must become. We shouldn’t aspire to empire by turning the Cold War into the Long War. We must drastically reduce our military footprint by bringing all our troops back to America.
Fire up the BRAC and open bases in our hardest hit states this time even as we close them overseas. Since a domestically-based military would be drastically cheaper, we can use this as an opportunity to change the way government contracting works and what our spending priorities should be.
That doesn’t mean we are killing defense contractors, though they must be held accountable for contract performance and will be creating plowshares rather than forging swords. This is only one of a dozen different ways a more rational and reasonable and common-sense oriented conservatism could help with our national project.
The republican party MUST regain its innovative spirit if America is to survive as a nation. I understand status quo is a natural state for the average republican, but we cannot afford such stasis right now. It is creating an America that is unstable and unable to overcome the numerous challenges we face in a globalized world economy.
This pivotal moment in American history requires all republicans to create a party that Ike or Teddy or Abe might recognize before it is too late.