You probably once contemplated voting for Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, or Rick Santorum precisely because Romney was a flip-flopper who invented Obamacare…So how can you be surprised that other Americans never warmed to him as a choice for president?
If those on the right side of the political spectrum aren’t seriously reconsidering the future of today’s Republican Party, they’re whistling past the graveyard. It’s too early for an authoritative postmortem on the results of Tuesday’s election, but there are some disturbing trends that Republicans ignore at their own peril. Yes, some of the GOP’s Far Right base clings to positions that don’t- and can’t- win elections (see Mourdock, Richard; Akin, Todd; and West, Allen). Perhaps even more important to the future of the GOP is the reality that Latinos and voters 30 and under went overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. Until and unless the GOP leadership (yes, I’m talking to you, Reince Priebus) effectively and honestly addresses this demographic reality, they’re destined to remain on the decline. Tuesday’s results contained a demographic time bomb that Republicans need to determine how to defuse. As things stand currently, there’s no way those on the Right can agree on something that give the party a fighting chance. So many factions are so inextricably tied to their pet agendas, and few if any of them are amenable to any sort of compromise. Failure to coalesce around a more moderate and tolerant agenda could well spell the eventually death of the Republican Party.
I’m not certain that’s cause for mourning….
Few of us on the Left will mourn the demise of a party populated by those bathed in hatred, intolerance, ignorance, and reaction. Still, America needs a viable and effective political alternative to the Democratic Party. Yes, I’m a committed and partisan Liberal Democrat, but I understand the perils of a one-party system. One need not look for beyond our own borders to find examples of what happens when one party accumulates enough power to guarantee that it won’t be threatened by other parties come election time. In time, sclerotic complacency and corruption become the order of the day…and in the end no one wins. As much as I hate to admit it, America needs a functional, competitive Republican Party…or at least some party that represents those with Conservative philosophies. There needs to be a counterbalance to the party in power, if for no other reason than to keep those in the majority honest.
The problem in the aftermath of this election is that Republicans appear as if they may not be up for the challenge. If that’s the case, it will be a problem for all us, regardless of where we sit on the ideological spectrum.
