I'm very happy the GOP is in sharp decline. We're all better for that. However, in the long run, it is VERY important to have a "loyal" opposition. I don't think the current GOP is loyal, but that's another matter.
Nate Silver had an interesting post today.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/...
got me thinking. We NEED a loyal opposition. History shows that one party rule, even when its liberal, always gets corrupt eventually. See the PRI party in Mexico.
Nate thinks the GOP has four ways to go:
Maybe you see a pattern there and maybe you don't. But of the roughly four different pathways the Republicans could take in the post-Obama universe -- toward Ron Paulesque libertarianism, toward Sarah Palinesque cultural populism, toward Mike Huckabeesque big-government conservatism, or toward Olympia Snowesque moderation/ good-governmentism -- the libertarian side would seem to have had the best go of things in the First 100 Days. There's More...
I hope the GOP goes the Ron Paul way. Libertarianism is at least a defensible moral position. I don't agree with much of it, but it is at least intellectually consistent. You can be intelligent, decent, moral, and be a libertarian. The same cannot be said for the Huckabee-Palin model.
The Olympia Snowe model is a good one also, but is NOT realistic. The GOP will never go there en masse. See Arnold Schwarzenegger.