Over at MyDD, I have talked about what I think is the key to America's future: the moderate wing of the Republican Party (
http://thresholder.mydd.com/story/2005/4/25/84617/7279#comment_top).
In that post I said,
"We can do and say what we will.
"The fact is that, right now, America is in the grip of a right wing power grab that we cannot effectively oppose ...
"UNLESS principled people within that coalition take stands based on their principles.
"Bush has had his way since he was elected governor in TX.
"He will keep having his way until Republicans of one principle or another start to establish the principle of restraint."
I talked in the piece about how Bush's program diametrically opposes the principles held my important sections of the Thug coalition. For example, Bush Co. ought to be anathema to any libertarian or anyone interested in state's rights.
The post was part of my long running reflection on what it is that keeps non-lunatics in the Republican sphere of influence in line. Today, in a tangent of a story on Bolton, an LA Times reporter gives us a clue:
"But the vote also clearly reflected the broader reluctance of Republican senators to impede the agenda of a president whose approval rating among GOP voters has consistently stood around 90%. Bush's ability to discourage defection has also been strengthened by the House and Senate gains the GOP has made in the past two elections.
"That's allowed the White House to argue that Republicans have benefited from holding together -- in contrast to the catastrophic losses congressional Democrats suffered in 1994 after the party splintered on Bill Clinton's agenda in his first two years.
"'Republicans understand that George W. Bush has brought more Republicans with him in every election that he's had [since 2000] and that means something,' said one GOP strategist familiar with White House thinking. 'In a default position, Republicans are going to vote with him and stay with him. He's got a lot of money in the bank.'"
I found this passage amazing. Here is a president presiding over disasters that literally cover the globe. His approval numbers are incredibly low. Virtually every one of his initiatives is unpopular. Many reports refer to GOP uneasiness over the upcoming elections. Bush is on many levels a lame duck.
And yet ...
If you view this thing FROM THE INSIDE, I guess it makes sense to see Bush as a success. After all, he DID "lead" the party to the biggest margins of majority in the US legislature in a long, long time. And IN THE PARTY, Bush remains very popular. I guess.
So where does all this leave us?
Well, first, I think right now it is legitimate to condemn the ENTIRETY of the Republican Party. They are ALL on board. They danced with the devil and their signatures are on the contract yielding their souls to the care of a thieving, murdering liar.
You may well have, as I have often done, made a habit of distinguishing between Republicans and the "Far Right." Heck, I know many, many Republicans who are sweet souls and "mean well." Generally speaking, these people are more ignorant than endorsing of what the party is up to.
Well, we have reached the point where, as Jeanene used to say, a vote for Bush is a character flaw. There is no distinction any more between Bush extremists and rank and file party loyalists. Every single principle held by any portion of the Thug coalition has been betrayed: libertarianism, states' rights, small government, isolationism, fiscal responsibility, etc. Even the pro-life and anti-gay agendas are repeatedly betrayed. Business in America is being strangled. Only the personal wealth of a tiny elite are served.
And yet the people who believe in these principles have happily surrendered their commitments in favor of ... what?
Well, this article tells us what: "George W. Bush has brought more Republicans with him in every election that he's had."
Translation: the GOP has been winning elections. And the GOP from top to bottom is willing to sacrifice every shred of principle it has to, well, win elections. "I wanna be on the winning team."
These people have danced with the devil and there is NOTHING left of their moral principles.
Look at Voino-Man. He stands up and tells the truth about Bolton.
Then he says, well, I don't wanna be arogrant enough to oppose the President. Heaven forfend.
Right now at the top of the GOP you have numerous people known for principle who understand and have full knowledge of what Bush is doing with Bolton, with judge nominations, with the filibuster. In their rare moments, they tell the truth about it all. Witness Hagel admitting that the GOP has no clean hands on judge approvals. We talk about how Snowe and Chafee and McCain and others are principled moderates who ...
Who what? What have they done? They've caved. Every single time.
Bolton and the Filibuster. These obscure political issues stand as watershed divides in US history. The LAT article talks about how Bush's style is to slm up to the edge of the precipice, barely steal a 1% victory, and then go careening off to do it again.
And it's working. It's working because Republicans have surrendered all their principles to "win" elections by the narrowest of margins. (Remember, folks, Karl Rove presides over NARROW elections! He never builds genuine consensus.)
And it's working because a fair number of Democrats have slip streamed along saying "me, too!"
Remember this: John Bolton's nomination was held up because a moderate Republican said "Wait a minute." Dems could do nothing but plead. Voinovich held that nomination up.
Same with the filibuster. If the moderate Thugs cave, it will be eliminated. (Leading to God knows what.)
And then there are all of those ordinary folk out there who are watching their world fall apart around them and still vote Republican. The ones who aren't lunatics. The ones who just like the idea of voting for a winning team that says attractive things.
The churches are full of them. The evangelical churches I grew up in (I need to write about that some day) were humble organizations filled with humble people. "We" never even imagined that we would have any real power in the larger world. We maintained our own, alternative world, an essentially humble place.
And then Ralph Reed taught "us" (well, not me. I bailed really early.) to aspire to POWER! WE could become active, win elections, and change the world.
And, again, that was the key to the deception. The same deal that the devil offered to Jesus: You can be lords of all you see!
The price? Oh, nothing much. Just your soul--and every last bit of moral principle you ever had. Trade it all in and get power ... by serving me. Like a slave.
Right now, there is absolutely no clear distinction in the Republican Party, from top to bottom, between the extremists and the moderates. They all listen to Rush, use DeLay's money, thrive on crooked election tactics, and serve Bush and Rove.
There are some who appear at some levels to have concerns and doubts and intimations of gloom.
But not a single one of them has broken ranks on anything important. They keep ennabling Bush and he keeps careening around the world smashing things up.
He's gonna smash the Republican Party up, too. That day is coming The very triumphalism that uses won elections as sole justification is leading that precarious coalition to an inevitable smash up. The politics of George Bush are (assuming continued free elections, a big assumption) SIMPLY NOT SUSTAINABLE!
And when the bubble of support bursts, all these moderates are going to be left standing there with lies, theft, and blood all over their hands. The GOP is headed for political disaster.
Right now, though, the moderates in the party, top to bottom, are kept in line by one fact: narrowly won elections. They're like junkies who simply cannot stop following the man with the little plastic bags in his pocket.
And here's the scary part. Bush is playing for big stakes--an end to democracy. Nothing less. He has a cadre of true believing lunatics with him.
But that cadre is no more than, what, 35-40% of the PARTY, let alone the nation. Bush cannot destroy the democracy unless the moderates help him do it. THAT IS THE BATTLE FOR THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES!
I stare in appalled fascination at the moderate wing of the GOP. There they stand, hanging fire. The fret and worry and shake their heads. "Tut, tut. Tsk, tsk." They don't like what Bush is doing. They really don't. And they drag their feet.
But in the end, what is their track record? Who among them takes the devil on?
No one. Yet. Even McCain embraced Bush on the campaign trail.
Bush is making a play to end Democracy. Which way will moderate Republicans jump?
That is the question that will determine the course of American history.