In a dramatic display of the new Republican order, Minnesota’s state GOP banished 18 prominent party members — including two former governors and a retired U.S. senator — as punishment for supporting a third-party candidate for governor. The stunning purge, narrowly passed by the state Republican central committee last weekend, suggests more than just a fit of pique: by banning some of the state’s leading moderates, the Minnesota GOP moved toward extinguishing a dying species of Republican in one of its last habitats…. “The Republican party is trying to become … you would call it introverted totalitarianism,” said former congressman and Gov. Al Quie, a onetime vice presidential prospect who plans to stick with the party despite the penalty. “It’s just plain dumb on their part. … In the long run, if the party persists with this, [it’s] going to just become smaller and smaller and eventually something else would come in its place.”…. Among those rebuked along with Quie were former U.S. Sen. David Durenberger, former Gov. Arne Carlson and former state House Speaker David Jennings.
Growing up in Minnesota, politics seemed a relatively polite affair. Given the state’s reputation for “Minnesota Nice”, politics was never really anything one could have described as Machiavellian. Sure, people had their disagreements, but they voted and they got on with their lives. Now it appears that the attitude that politics is a blood sport has infected Minnesota’s GOP…and the results don’t exactly paint a flattering picture of tolerance and plurality of opinions.
The one thing that seemed to characterize Republicans nationally this election cycle was a slavish devotion to talking points and singularity of thought. Critical and independent thinking weren’t really values that Republicans fostered…or in the case of Minnesota’s GOP, tolerated. Yes, that’s right; Minnesota’s GOP Politburo excommunicated two former governors and a former US Senator, along with 15 others, for having the temerity to think differently than the Republican hive mind. (Note: my biggest political triumph was throwing snow balls at Gov. Al Quie’s limousine when I was in college.) Their thought crime? Not marching (goosestepping?) in lockstep behind the state GOP’s anointed gubernatorial candidate. Sure, this “heresy” may have ultimately swung the election to Democrat Mark Dayton, but you’d think that Republicans would be wondering why they couldn’t have fielded a candidate that could have garnered widespread and enthusiastic Republican support. Then again, introspection has never been a hallmark of the Republican hive mind. Enforcing ideological purity and conformity has been.
I understand the advantages of party discipline, but this is still a democracy, no? Democrats may be disorganized and unruly, but we value our differences. Republicans are genuinely threatened by anyone with the balls to think for themselves, as if independent thinking is a threat to the hive mind. That Minnesota’s GOP leadership could see their way clear to excommunicating two former Governors and a former US Senator speaks to a stunning lack of tolerance and flexibility. The message is clear; deviate from the party line at your own considerable risk. Minnesota’s GOP suffers from the same sort of sclerotic thinking that ultimately doomed the USSR. When lockstep ideological conformity is valued over creative and/or individual thinking, it’s not going to be long before originality withers and new ideas disappear. Party members will learn not to rock the boat, and the Prime Directive will be ensuring that no one deviates from the groupthink that sets and enforces the talking points.
Personally, I could care less if Republicans think it appropriate to eat their young. Frankly, I find it rather entertaining, and it distracts them from the real work at hard. Let’s face it; if Republicans are worried first and foremost about enforcing conformity and uniformity of thought, they’re going to be far less likely to do any serious damage. It just surprises me that this sort of thing would happen in Minnesota.
I guess you really can’t go home again, eh??
