Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Does The Republican Party Really Exist?

Talk radio loves to bash the GOP. "Rockefeller Republicans," "the donor class," "the political class," "RINO's" "Country Club Republicans."  Beck, Limbaugh and Levin rarely, if ever say anything good about the Republican Party. Even the ever-predictable Sean Hannity loves to point out that he is not a registered Republican.

Supposedly, the Grand Old Party has been infiltrated by unwashed Tea Party types. If the Tea Party is so damn influential why did all the cyber-beggars refuse to return David Brat's phone calls prior to his primary victory over Eric Cantor? What exactly do those Tea Party groups do besides rattle their begging cups?

The question, "Does The Republican Party Really Exist?" is of course a rhetorical one. We know they have a building and Reince Priebus is their chairman. Perhaps a better question is "what do they do?" Do they have phones and desktops at their headquarters? It seems that the most influential Republican is Karl Rove whose Crossroads America has no official ties to the Republican Party (as far as I know.)

The Republican Party seems to have faded away on the national level and they seem to have lost even more influence on the local level. The Massachusetts Republican Party was viable and competitive a decade ago. They are so dysfunctional that carpetbagger Scott Brown fled the state to better advance his career. New Hampshire still hosts a Republican Party but they are woefully disorganized and lose clout every election cycle. 2010 looks like a fluke now.

Of course, Republicans lack vision.  What is needed is ten or so popular ideas the whole party can support. Think Contract With America. They can agree with repealing the ACA but after that it gets murky. What is needed is a unifying purpose promoted by a great unifier.  A leader. Reince Priebus is not that man.

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