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The Republicans Are Now the Stupid Party
Obama’s defeat of McCain and Palin has left the Republicans as more a sect than a party, corralled in a few Southern states. This is not good for the conservative movement, nor for democracy in America. So what went wrong for the GOP?
On November 4, two thirds of voters under 30 voted for Obama. That’s the future. A large majority of voters with college educations voted for Obama. That represents the best informed segment of the electorate. So, how did everything go wrong for the Republicans?
A good place to begin would be Barry Goldwater, and his ironic role in history. In 1964 he voted against Lyndon Johnson’s Civil Rights Act, believing on principle that it violated states’ rights. The only states Goldwater carried that year were six in the South. Johnson understood that the Civil Rights Act would cost the Democrats the support of the South for a long time.
In its embrace of the religious right under George W. Bush, the Republican party became the stupid party. And committing suicide along with it has been the conservative movement. The party united around god, guns and gays is finished.
But the South is the section in which fundamentalist religion is most heavily concentrated. And Goldwater, a western individualist leaning libertarian, loathed fundamentalism. He later said that “Real Christians should line up to kick Jerry Falwell in the ass.” Goldwater also supported Roe vs. Wade.
Goldwater opened the door to the Southern Strategy for the Republican Party, but Nixon and Reagan largely gave only token support to Southern prejudices. Reagan’s first Supreme Court nominee was Sandra Day O’Connor, whose record indicated that she would not oppose Roe.
George W. Bush was another matter. Karl Rove understood that we are in the midst of what historians call the “third evangelical awakening.” Bush exploited this opportunity, as in his third televised debate in 2000, when asked what thinker had most influenced him. Bush replied, “Jesus Christ. Because he made me a better man.” No one opposes Bush being a better man; but the evangelicals understood the signal. In 2000 Bush carried 70 percent of the white evangelical vote.
And he rewarded this faction: stem cells, “strict constructionist” judges (oppose Roe), religious reasons for invading Iraq (outlined in a speech in Irvine, California), faith-base initiatives (“abstinence only”), and even blocking funds for family planning in Africa!
Needless to say, much of this moves against overwhelming forces in history. Diana Trilling said that the long gestating women’s revolution has been the most profound revolution in history. Women’s equality, for example, has moved slowly ahead since agitation began in the middle of the nineteenth century. Women didn’t get the vote until 1920 (19th Amendment). Former male slaves got the (constitutional) right to vote in 1869 (15th Amendment.)
The availability of abortion is connected with women’s equality. Planned Parenthood vs. Casey: “The ability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the country.” Half the undergraduates on most campuses today are women. Men don’t have their plans de-railed by an unwanted pregnancy.
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Abelard
So, how can the GOP recover? I think the first step would be to drop-kick the religious right out of the tent (or, at the very least, severely curtail its power). In the short term, this would not be without pain; I think that the non-evangelical party would not be able to field a viable president candidate until 2016. But in the long term, the GOP would gain more support than it lost.
Will the GOP do this during its time in the wilderness? Given the seeming support that Gov. Palin for 2012, initial appearances would indicate otherwise. I've predicted elsewhere that if she is the candidate, the GOP will tear itself apart and she'll lose to President Obama with a performance somewhere near that of Alf Landon's in the 1936 election. Here's hoping that the cooler (as opposed to the kookier) heads prevail in the GOP...
Catch22
While I'm okay with the writer here bashing Christainity, I must ask for a little better research. I am a Christian, but I can acknowledge thatPalin and the extreme conservatives make us all look bad. That said, her belief in the rapture has significant scriptural basis despite the author's claim that it does not. This is the prime example: "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). There are also passages in John, Matthew, and other books of Paul's letters that support the rapture in some form.
pani211
Yes, there are extremists on the right, but there are extremists on the left, also. I am a Christian who voted for Obama, because I was open to listening to his middle ground philosophy, and because he reached out to people of faith. I love God, hate guns and capital punishment and this endless war.I am an environmentalist, populist, and I pray for an end to unnecesary abortions. I have gay friends, but I am opposed to gay marriage. My friends do not shun me for that, they know I love them and respect my faith as I do their personhood.The dems and r's would do well to stop assuming that Americans are not complex in the way they view the world of politics. When both parties pigeonhole people into voting groups, they do not allow their parties to shift with the times. I believe Pres. elect Obama will have a place at the table for people of faith-in that he is the future of a third way in politics..
r
Catch22
This is why as a Christian Sarah Palin and the extreme right piss me off. They make the rest of us look equally ignorant and close-minded. However, I must ask what scripture the author is looking at when he claims that the rapture has no basis. In Christian scripture (presumable in Palin's Bible, because it's in mine) there are several examples of prophecy about the rapture in Paul's letters and the books of John and Matthew. The prime example is from 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17: "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with themin the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord." No mention of "whooshing" but sounds pretty clear to me.
jettrock138
Guess what, religion is not what most younger kids are thinking about. They want a future in life not a key in the gates after death. Campaigning about the afterlife has no relevance to what is happening in reality. Stop preaching about the after life!
chitoiur
The title may be a bit strongly worded, but good article nonetheless.
The main issue I disagree with when it comes to the Christian right is how they force their beliefs on people. It's none of your business who I'm dating, what I believe in, what a woman should do with her body, what my views about foreign policy are. NONE OF YOUR GODDAMN BUSINESS!
Visualmyth
"Real Christians should line up to kick Jerry Falwell in the ass."
Perhaps the best place to start today is with the Chrisitan Embassy, a fundamentalist organization that operates at the highest levels, flag officers and those with top secret clearences, within the Pentagon. Their stated goal, removed from their mission statement on their website, is to "raise up a godly military". While individual faith is our right, to have an organization that is trying to destroy the seperation of church and state with a fundamentalist agenda is a threat to the Constitution, in my, Christian opinion. So perhaps it is time to shine the light on this organization and for the military to wake up to the threat of fundamentalism inside their own organization, while they fight the same fundamentalist threat in foreign lands. A spit shinned "kick in the ass' would be a good start.
LuniusMaximus
pani211... NEWSFLASH, your gay friends (if you truly have any) DO shun you for your opposition to gay marriage! Your arrogant view that they don't only adds insult to injury... is it not enough to strive to remove someone else's fundamental civil liberties, must you then absurdly claim that they would not resent you for it?
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ivyhouse
For an opinion from someone who thinks that ALL parties are "stupid" (rather, are not serving us the way they could) check out this post:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Welcome-to-the-U-S-S-A-by-Matthew-Hard y-081101-464.html
sakura
Party of god guns and gays.
philipjames
before you get carried away, just remember that almost the same amount of people voted this time as in 2004... there was not a great increase and that the Republicans were still in that 40% - 50% range which both parties go up and down within....
so give your head a shake and at least have a reasoned point of view...
2004
BushKerry
62,040,61059,028,444Total: 121,069,054
2008
McCainObama
56,477,64463,987,562Total: 120,465,206
hronbp1
First, Hart states that, On November 4, two thirds of voters under 30 voted for Obama. That's the future. A large majority of voters with college educations voted for Obama. That represents the best informed segment of the electorate. So, how did everything go wrong for the Republicans?
This is an asinine statement that ranks right up there with Donna Shalala saying that we didn't send our brightest and best to Vietnam. Assuming that youth and college educations equate "voter intelligence" is truly a stupid and biased statement. Arguments could very well be made just the opposite since our college campuses are hotbeds of liberal indoctrination PURELY BECAUSE youth are the easiest segment of society to indoctrinate!!! They aren't called "groupies" for nothin' !!! Most youth haven't figured out who THEY are yet . . . let alone what party most closely represents them philosophically. This is not a criticism of youth . . . it is a simple fact that youth is more malleable.
Secondly, I really take offense at "Conservatives" being bunched in together as fundamentalist, gay-bashing, stem cellist (even though other countries have proven that the same life-saving, disease curing work can be done without killing babies, but instead, from using umbilical cord cells as well as cells from our own bodies). . . this is Hart's own hate-filled, bias.
Thirdly, Hart does stumble upon one correct point . . . a battle for control of the Republican Party has been ongoing for decades. However, this past election, I would assert, is a demonstration of just how poorly a LIBERAL REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN fares. You can't offend or ignore a huge portion of your base, emulate your opponent (which, in case Hart doesn't know it, is the Democratic Party) and still win elections.
All dividing the Republican Party will get you is a three party system.
Hmmmm . . . Ultimately, perhaps not such a bad idea . . .
hronbp1
Abelard
philipjames raises an excellent point. Given the extreme distaste with which the majority of the electorate holds the Bush Administration, the fact that McCain won so many votes at all is a sobering thought. I really wish we could know (for both sides) how many votes were being cast with noses held...
All, in all, though, President-Elect Obama has recognized this fundamental fact of American life in his acceptance speech. I think that he realizes that he needs to govern from the center if he doesn't want this new era to be stillborn. We'll see more in the coming days and weeks as we learn who will be in the cabinet.
Abelard
hronbp1 --
You wrote "Secondly, I really take offense at "Conservatives" being bunched in together as fundamentalist, gay-bashing, stem cellist (even though other countries have proven that the same life-saving, disease curing work can be done without killing babies, but instead, from using umbilical cord cells as well as cells from our own bodies). . . this is Hart's own hate-filled, bias."
Hart is indeed biased, but he also seems to be right on this particular question. For years, Republican politicians have been marching in lock-step with just such people and have been rewarded for it.
You then wrote: "You can't offend or ignore a huge portion of your base, emulate your opponent (which, in case Hart doesn't know it, is the Democratic Party) and still win elections."
Last time I checked, wasn't the base exactly the group you didn't want to be lumped in with? Could you explain which portions of the GOP base you feel were left in the cold?
Thank you.
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