Bottom Left Politics

You really can’t blame the withering right-wing base of the Republican Party (as if anything but the withering right-wing base exists within the GOP) for feeling powerless and backed into a corner.  These conservative purists are completely inconsequential in the House, and as proven over the weekend with the landmark vote to move forward on the health care debate, they’re really quite weak in the Senate as well.  If they hadn’t overseen the destruction of this country’s middle class, economy, and international reputation, one would almost be inclined to feel sorry for these poor bastards.  Now, any decent political strategist within the Republican Party would undoubtedly want to focus on ways to grow the party, to bring in those moderates who agree on some but not all of the GOP’s platform (which has really been the key to establishing the Democratic Party’s supermajority status).  That’s the rational approach.  But people – especially Republicans – are not rational.

Instead, conservatives’ idea to make the party more successful is to make the party…well, even more conservative.  In a strategy almost as senseless and backasswards as trickle-down economics, the RNC is actually considering adopting a purity resolution.  In other words, fewer members = more members (which is just as logical as lower taxes = higher revenue).  If you thought the Salem-esque burning at the stake of Dede Scozzafava was entertaining, just you wait.  The Great Republican Purge has just begun.

The resolution is an eerie document that manages to include virtually every Republican wet dream, all in one place (talk about “big tent” conservatism).  It establishes ten planks of conservatism, ranging from opposition to “Obama-style government run health care” to support for “the retention of the Defense of Marriage Act,” and it makes clear that any GOP candidate straying from three or more of these core “conservative principles” will be denied funding by the RNC.  If that doesn’t scream “big tent,” I don’t know what does!  The resolution does this while at the same time decrying “Obama’s socialist agenda” and (intentionally, I’m sure) never once using the title “President” when referring to President Obama (though “President” preceded Ronald Reagan’s name without fail).

One must wonder, though, where these conservative principles came from.  Presumably, since the resolution is sprinkled with glorified references to Ronald Reagan, they came from him.  But when one actually looks back into the annals of history and researches the Reagan Administration (which conservative ideologues who masturbate to the “Tear Down This Wall” clip never do), one finds that the Gipper himself would not be considered a true Republican.  The RNC would actually have to deny funding to the very deity that conservatives cite as the one true voice of conservatism.  Let’s break it down:

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill.

On Ronald Reagan’s watch, despite the “small government” rhetoric spewing from his mouth, the federal government actually grew.  The myth that states otherwise is false.  Federal spending increased (mainly in the “defense” sector), and an entire new department was added to the executive branch.  Reagan’s illogical policies led to a fiscal nightmare.  Nobody can make the serious claim that Ronald Reagan shrank government or decreased spending.

(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Ronald Reagan was a proponent of amnesty for illegal immigrants.

(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing, denial of health care and government funding of abortion.

If one believes that a zygote is a “vulnerable person” (as conservative wingnuts do), Ronald Reagan’s record on the issue is not exactly stellar.  As the Governor of California, he signed the Therapeutic Abortion Act of 1967 (even Free Republic admits it);  as President, (again) despite rhetoric, he was not a champion for the anti-choice movement and really did nothing to advance the cause.

Way to go, RNC – you’re about to adopt purity standards that your purest conservative can’t even meet.  And, just as trickle-down theory decimated the economy, these purges of moderates will continue to keep the Republicans in a permanent fringe minority.

Not that I’m complaining.

The blogger, Kristofer Paul, can be reached at bottomleftpolitics@yahoo.com.