I Can See Clearly Now

I remember sitting down for lunch with a good friend nearly four years ago and asking him how the GOP would right the ship.  At the time I was a registered Republican.  McCain had selected Palin as his running mate and it was fairly obvious at the time the GOP was headed in a strange direction.  I cared about my party and it troubled me we (Republicans) were squandering our reputation as a respectable party. 

Simply because the politicians might have different ideas on some issues, running mates, or tactics doesn't mean they're off track, that's politics.  But what they represent and how they represent it is the main factor when I claim they have squandered their respectability.  They no longer rely on fact, history, or compromise.  Instead they pander to the fringe.  They employ the Fox News business model for their campaigns and use the "I'm rubber, you're glue" defense when questioned about any of their nonsensical statements.  You are either with them or against them and they are happy to give you the boot if you can't buy into rhetoric. 

As I write this, even just a a couple paragraphs in, I know there are people that are reading it and already thinking about the Democratic Party and their shortcomings.  Asking themselves why I'm blind to the left's mistakes and failed policies and this is exactly my point.  Looking to the "other side" and pointing out their flaws is no form of self reflection.   When I was having lunch with my friend a few years back I wasn't interested in what the Dems were doing wrong. I was interested in what my party was doing wrong and, more importantly,  when and how we would start to do things right again.  The good news is it seems I can finally envision a day where the train can get back on the tracks. 

A few weeks back I predicted Sarah Palin would end up with the Republican nod for the presidential ticket.  The reason I made this prediction had nothing to do with Palin per se.  It was based more on the atmosphere and the dynamic the Tea Party brings to the table.  That the Tea Party exists and people have rallied to form this group isn't of major concern to me.  It would be more concerning if people couldn't unite and join groups they willingly wish to participate in.  The troubling part about the Tea Party is the fact they've hijacked the Republican Party. Romney is the front runner but all indications are the GOP just can't get excited about him and rally behind him.  This is completely false.  It is the Tea Party that isn't excited and can't rally behind him. 

It is the riff in the conservative party that I identified four years ago when questioning my buddy about the GOP.  I was having trouble trying to envision how the party could reconcile this divide.  I stress, it doesn't have anything to do with who is right or wrong, what is patriotic or Nazi, raising or lowering taxes, gay marriage or civil unions; it has to do with how these factions on the right come together again.

The Tea Party is looking to support anyone who will defend their ideas with vigor.  That is why I predicted Palin, she is certainly capable of doing that.  Now it seems Bachmann has emerged and filled that void while Palin toyed with her followers.  And for the good of the Grand Old Party I sincerely hope she wins the primary.  As long as the Tea Party loses and the "other guys" are in charge they will continue to be a force.  However, when they finally get their way and their candidate is on the presidential ticket I can see reconciliation in on the horizon.

It won't be until their candidate is completely destroyed in a general election that the moderate lot of the Republican Party will be freed from the shackles of the Tea Party. If Romney or any other non Tea Party candidate wins the primary the Tea Party will continue to stick around and haunt the GOP.  However, if Bachmann or Palin or Perry get the nod and then go on to completely get demolished in the general election, which seems inevitable, it will create a window of opportunity for the Republicans to reclaim their party.

With the national debt at historic levels, gas prices sky rocketing, unemployment at alarming levels and an incumbent victory in the general election the moderate Republicans will have all the ammunition they need to fight off the fringe element of the party.   It will be darkest before the storm and, indeed, it will be a scary time when a Tea Party candidate makes it to the finals with only two remaining choices for ruler of the free world.  And I will admittedly be nervous during the run up to the election with the likes of a Bachmann type nominee representing the conservative party.  But it seems the only real way to rid this cancer from the Republican Party.  When she loses we can all, Democrat and Republican, breathe a sigh of relief that the American public is smarter than what the Tea Party has to offer.  If she wins we're all fucked.