weighted down by a rigid, contradictory ideology. It is against abortion because it kills babies, but has no compunction about killing babies in foreign countries in the name of "defense". It wants limited government but supports a strong defense; a "defense" run by the largest government bureaucracy of all. It wants low taxes but fails to see the cost of the "defense" it demands. It wants a free market but fails to recognize that a free market needs more than a few large, bureaucratic corporations. It wants to clamp down on illegal immigration but fails to recognize that this country was founded on an unstoppable wave of "illegal" immigrants who overwhelmed the earlier inhabitants. It wants "bipartisanship" but fails to recognize how much its base so readily believes a few extremely partisan commentators. And if that is not enough lead ballast, it opposes the President even when he espouses ideas first espoused by Republicans!
The sinking of the Republican Party is not a good thing because it is leading to a one-party democracy as described by Thomas Friedman in "Our One-Party Democracy", New York Times, 2009-09-09. There is some old saw about there being no political parties in the U.S. – the Democratic half is based on the large number of factions within the Democratic party making it hard for Democrats to govern. This is Friedman's contention; the factions in the Democratic party are making it difficult to pass legislation that will allow the U.S. to compete against the likes of China. China's one-party autocracy is taking steps to be a leader in many 21st Century industries.
It is time for pragmatists in either party to form a new party based on the idea of governance as put forth by the Founders. It is time for a new party that will take bold initiatives like the early Republican Party's extensive support of the transcontinental railroad. It is time for a new party that doesn't judge taxes as being too low or too high, but asks if they are appropriate for the needs of today. It is time for a new party that doesn't judge the size of government as too little or too big, but asks if governing is being done at the appropriate level for the tasks at hand.
I hope that the handful of "liberal" Republicans and the many "conservative" and "moderate" Democrats will seriously consider another meeting like was held in Ripon, Wisconsin in the mid-nineteenth century. "As our case is new, so must we think anew."
