Let's be honest with ourselves, if we all step off of our respective political soapboxes, we can probably find the best action for policy through compromise. Somehow through that daily gnashing of teeth, the Democrats and the Republicans (at some time I'm sure) have eeked out bipartisan agreements for the better of the country.
Not to pick on them, but Republicans obviously do not agree.
According to a recent NY Times article, Republicans are experiencing extensive party infighting that threatens to divide them into moderate and far-right camps. Even the candidates that the RNC recently elected (in what they purport is the most poignant referendum on the Obama agenda yet) are in danger of falling victim to the party's mechanics:
Conservatives counter that Republicans have become Democrats’ enablers in bigger deficits and bigger government, and that the way to win is to sharpen the distinctions between the parties.And there you have it folks. Conservatives and Republicans. Now I know its politically reductionist to lump them into the same camp but for at least the past eight years they've both run under the same banner. Furthermore, if compromise is the best road to productive legislation, it appears that the right will have nothing of productivity.
The next big question is, what effect will this have on the midterm elections next year? Democrats are, as a historical trend, poised to lose seats in the next election, but will this new found infighting between conservatives, Republicans, Fox News, and the RNC have an effect?
You know what to do. Feel free to leave your comments at the front desk.
1 comment:
Complicated issue here. Obviously discarding members of your existing minority is a mathematically challenging way to make a majority. On the other hand obstructing what most of us see is a Republican tradition. A former trade group president, now lobbyist at the IA state capital once told a small group of which I was a part that in his view the best possible outcome is for the legislature to do nothing.
Then again the current crop of Conservatives have long ago left the traditional definition of their movement as advocating traditional things and and seeking to preserve a way of life. They've moved on to aggressively trying to create a way of life which in fact never existed. They take the term "Culture War" quite literally and see ANY compromise as a loss.
All of this is probably a result of the GOP embracing these crackpots http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society and letting them out of the box into which they were stuffed over 40 years ago. Handing them a cable news network and major political party has obviously been energizing in the short run (2000-2004) but I can't help but think the Republicans will be increasingly marginalized as people recognize these groups are very destructive when placed in positions of power.
Our existing problems will almost certainly become worse during this period of political paralysis, but it simply can't last.
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