Thursday, May 20, 2010

The GOP Needs To Pull Itself Together

It is pretty astounding when a former GOP Speaker of the House says, "the President's secular-socialist political machine represents as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union once did." Then, a couple of days later a GOP candidate for the U. S. Senate (Rand Paul of Kentucky) is forced to say, "I don't think it will be necessary to repeal the Civil Rights Acts of 1964." Oh, thanks Rand.

In the case of Newt Gingrich, this is just embarrassingly, shocking hyperbole. In the case of Rand Paul, he opposes, and has stated such on a number of occasions, provisions of the Civil Rights Act dealing with private establishments, believing that these businesses have the right to discriminate against people of the bases of race, religion, or sexual orientation. To hell with the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, I suppose he is thinking. The thoughts represented by both Gingrich and Paul's comments are a radical departure from mainstream thought in America. Yet these are visible, high-level representatives in the Republican Party.

Where is the leadership of the GOP? Does House Minority Leader Eric Cantor think it is ok for a restaurant to bar him from eating there because he is a Jew? Does he agree with Gingrich's comparison of President Obama to Hitler and Stalin, two of the worst anti-semites of the 20th century?

A friend told me recently he feels some people are confusing the radical right and the mainstream GOP. Well, where is the leadership of the mainstream GOP? Where is Mitt Romney, Mike Pence, John Thume, or Michael Steele? Colin Powell once said when he hears outrageous statements by Lambaugh, he responds to them, and he would like to see others do the same.

Unfortunately, I think mainstream GOP leaders are afraid of the power and the numbers represented by the radical right. They know they need them at election time. This is a sad state of affairs for America and for the Grand Ole Party. America needs a strong, credible, two-party system. There is no room for fear-mongering, hate, or talk of a return to "Jim Crow" in either party. The real issues are too important and the stakes are too high. Come on GOP, pull yourself together. America needs you as a legitimate player.
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownMay 25, 2010 at 7:45 AM

    OK Bob, I bit. Why does America need a two party system, anyway? The party of Limbaugh is not a party for me. The party of Pelosi is not a party for me. If you are saying that you have to have two parties, I say there should finally be a middle of the road party that is socially responsible, but honors the the people who do work for a living and are robbed by the rich, the poor, and the Government. We spent 20 years saying we didn't want to be overwhelmed by social welfare, economic control, the military, and bureaucracy. Sorry, but we are here. Not because of Obama, or Bush, or Clinton, but because of us. Government was never intended to be the largest employer in the country. That's why we have UK and Scandinavia. Even Russia is trending away from government control while we are trending toward it. Am I simple minded? Hell yes, but maybe a little smarter than my government takes me for. I work way too hard and have for too long to just give it all away. And Kathy will probably lose her job next month. I guess Obama world will create three BS jobs out of it and take credit. Time to wake up Bob. It ain't Shangri La out there. But I do like your blog. You are a very smart guy.

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  2. bbogodfrey17@gmail.comMay 25, 2010 at 8:52 AM

    Kathy (Ray), wonderful comments. Thank you. I think the two-party adversarial sytem works well most of the time. I think we are going to have to adjust to the new methods of media / comunications which tend to empower the masses in a new way and wreak havoc on a sytem built in a quieter time. I don't worry about America drifting too far either left or right. The best check on it is this two-party adversarial system. America pulls off a nice balance between government and the private marketplace. The partnership has created the greatest standand of living for the largest number of people, by far, in the history of the world. What we are going to have to do to pull ourselves strongly out of this down cycle is create a new wave of productivity through innovation or events which we probably are not even aware of presently, such the micirochip, the internet, the industrial revolution, or wars did in past down cycles. It will probably revolve around alternative energys, or a technology yet to be created. Thank you, but I am far from smart. I just seem to grow more interested and curious with time. Hang in there, and we will do the same. Bob

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