What has happened to the Grand Old Party?

 This is the best piece I've read on how far the Republican Party has fallen. originally a party of ideas and principles, since the time of Newt Gingrich it has become a party of crooks, opportunists and bullies. All idealism has been lost as it panders for votes among the troglodytes-- who in fact form a major segment of our body politic. It's depressing, but they will do anything-- even dismantle our democratic processes and bring down government's ability to govern--  to gain votes and win elections.

But read Norm Ornstein. He was there when it happened, and tells the story well.

Sample:

In 1976, I worked on a project to reorganize the Senate’s committee system. The effort was led by Democratic Senator Adlai Stevenson III, but involved Republicans, including Bill Brock, Bob Packwood, and Pete Domenici. After a long day during which Domenici had worked nonstop on our committee, I asked the freshman senator why, with so many other assignments, he was giving so much to a panel whose rewards were limited. Any changes we made in committee numbers, assignments, and jurisdictions were sure to infuriate his colleagues. “Serving in the Senate is the greatest honor I can imagine,” he told me. “I am determined to leave it a better place than it was when I came in.”

Domenici, like many other Republicans of his generation, had a great amount of what scholars call “institutional patriotism”: a concern for the operation and integrity of Congress as an institution, and its relationship to the other branches. They cared about integrity in governance and personal rectitude. They believed in the independence of Congress and its need to provide a check and balance against corruption and maladministration in the executive branch, whether the president was from their own or the opposite party. Unfortunately, they were unable to transfer those values to succeeding generations, or to overcome the regional shift in American party politics, the rise of manipulative leaders, and the growing influence of extremist tribal media.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/08/decline-gop/614983/


posted by milo

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