talkpolitics | (no subject)

Entry tags:

gop,
government

(no subject)

Democratic Underground, 2002 -- In the eyes of many modern conservatives, the battle between Republicans and Democrats is a battle between the Godly and the Satanic. To call this mindset a rejection of civility is to seriously underestimate the danger it poses. It's a rejection not merely of civility, but of the assumptions about tolerance and equal access that drive our political process….

Modern right-wing rhetoric becomes much less irrational if it's seen as the last gasp of the right's pretense of commitment to political freedom. Rather than self-destructing or imploding, it's quite possible that many conservatives are on the verge of moving from the covert to the overt rejection of this ideal. (emphasis added)

The first opinion piece aside from discussion forum OPs that I ever posted to the Internet was an essay carried by the then-brand-new website, Democratic Underground back in 2002. My piece was about American liberals and moderates hopefully opining (and let me emphasize -- this was eleven years ago.) that the right was “imploding.” As I observed back then, “This often takes place after some spectacularly insane statement from the right, like a Bush administration spokesman claiming that toxic sludge is good for the environment or a right-wing pundit suggesting that we invade France… Many liberals mistakenly believe that the right wing has an emotional investment in the logic of its own claims and, as a result, is due any day now to simply die of embarrassment.”

And that, I think, has been the core of the problem – a naïve refusal by many in politics and the media to focus on the serious agenda underlying all that ridiculous right-wing rhetoric. For three decades these extremists have been dismissed as irrelevant by moderate liberals and tolerated as “useful” by moderate conservatives. Now they have amassed enough influence to set into motion their dream of what amounts to a political monopoly. Voter suppression and gerrymandering are there to short-circuit the power of demographically liberal voters, and the very ability of a presidential administration to implement a law it has passed has come under attack. Merely enacting important legislation with which the right disagrees is presented as an outrageous act, even an impeachable offense.

And yes, the fact that our president is an African American does give a boost to this attack on political diversity. One of the oldest tricks in the racist book is portraying acts considered normal when done by a white man as criminal when done by a black man. The Republican Party, always willing to exploit racism, is happy to use that assumption as leverage.

I don’t know where this will end. Salon has a piece up saying the Republicans are just likely to get even more right wing. How much further can the GOP go to the right without openly declaring themselves the party of racism and religious dominionism and embracing violence as a tactic?

*

Threaded | Flat

Well mostly I chalk up the current state of the GOP as the result of the Bush Jr Administration basically gutting, destroying and coring out the GOP establishment during its tenure. They either ended careers, fired people, alienated others, or otherwise destroyed people that weren't on board with Cheney or Rumsfeld. So after they left, there was nothing left to maintain party leadership and control. Everyone who would've maintained a party discipline and structure whilst they were in the minority, was gone. So now the GOP is just a headless monster flailing about with no leader, no direction, and at the mercy of the Tea Party vandals who only come to the fore when there is a power vacuum and they capitalize upon it. I mean, the Democrats maintain party order and discipline whether or not they win majorities, its how political parties operate and survive on long time scales. But the GOP destroyed itself from within, thanks to Cheney and Rumsfeld knifing very perceived threat and every viable rival to their bureaucratic power.

The goal is to create the perfect Christian plutocracy, if that can make sense.

My real question is whether there's a tipping point. Is there a point where they get SO polarized, so Overton shifted, so absurdly crazy, that they end up isolating themselves into obsolescence (at least until new blood is voted in to replace that which left, blood that at least gives lip service to a more moderate agenda?)

I know that for the true disciples (like certain unnamed mouth-frothers on LJ and on Twitter) nothing the GOP can do is too extreme, and anyone who dares to inject common sense is branded as a traitor to the true ideology. But what about the general public, the voters? I know the primary voters are generally more ideological, but I can't believe that the majority are willing to stay on the ride that far. And in the general elections, there has got to be a point where people step back and say: "Whoa. This is NOT my Republican Party."

I hope that's how it is. Do you think it might be, or are we doomed to just see things get more and more insane? Or is it like a pendulum?

And that, I think, has been the core of the problem – a naïve refusal by many in politics and the media to focus on the serious agenda underlying all that ridiculous right-wing rhetoric.

Here's the problem: the agenda is quite clear. Unfortunately, far too many liberal pundits and partisans, in concert with the media, have decided to label the conservative opposition as racist, as sexist, as unrepresentative and behind the times, which allows them to ignore how mainstream and reasonable the points of view often are. It then gets to the point where opposition to Barack Obama is not based in policy from previously-disengaged voters angry about a health care bill and a stimulus package, but simply from racism - the always-easy go-to for decades. If Hillary Clinton had won, the "Republican War on Women" would have merely been shifted to 2009 as opposed to 2012 with the same results - why bother engaging in discussion about "the serious agenda" when we know our go-to constituencies will lap up ignorant claims of racism like a pig at the trough?

How much further can the GOP go to the right without openly declaring themselves the party of racism and religious dominionism and embracing violence as a tactic?

There's a ways left to go in order to move rightward. The NSA issues of the summer have awoken the libertarian streak that the Tea Party movement stirred up. But, of course, libertarianism is just about getting rich white males in power, right? I'm sure that messaging will continue to work, allowing those opposed to ignore "the serious agenda" once more.

Come the 17th it doesn't matter though right? We're going to be heading headfirst into failed state territory.

So just to be perfectly clear.

You're basing your model of what conservatives think on articles from Salon and Democrat Underground. Not National Review or The Wall Street Journal's editorial page.

That explains a lot.

Threaded | Flat