Invitation to a Funeral
Whether it is that of the Republican Party(in a sane world it would be) or a fatal turn of the circle again in a world that has a linear destiny for a mass casualty set of crises, is something I don't know.
Punditry. All of our reasons, even grounded on as much fact as possible, proceed first from the heart. I don't pretend to have a definitive take on the future of politics, just a feeling following the path, past to present and the terribly set mindset to the future.
The Republican party died with Lincoln. He was the pivot, a Westerner in a regional, industrial plutocracy party coming to be, putting down the fiery adherents to a long dead culture of slavery and land aristocracy. With him died any liberation of both slaves and workers in one grand vision. The defeated South was pretty much allowed to go its own way and the black Republicans went extinct. Were there ever any not kept in office by Union rifles and only in the South?
The grand vision was the pride of money, big money, unshared money. The middle class increased from the top down and I suspect the cherished loyalty the generational GOP has is founded on these supposed good times. That the South and West were scorned when workers really could be forced to churn out votes for the owners was another arrogant wonder. When the workers rebelled and the depression hit, that one two should have killed the GOP- again.
After FDR, the plutocrat party went trolling for misdirected hate, always a plentiful resource and startingly became a states' rights racist fan in a new coalition because the strange Democratic FDR coalition had its own craziness regarding good politics- which was to avoid populism and embrace sensible capitalism where the rich could have their place safely. The big tent looked like all three books of Dante's Inferno combined.
With LBJ and Kennedy the FDR thing doubled down with the Civil Rights' movement. The yellow dog South went yapping over to the GOP. Red scare(neatly forgetting the plutocrats for Hitler). Family Values(i.e. boldest hypocrisy). Hatred. Religion. Fear. Anything that worked to advance the desires(profits) of the big money ambitions. Where the money flowed, the people and votes followed but by definition the post Lincoln, anti- Teddy Roosevelt aberration, GOP would never give more to the people than to the controlling few. When they wanted more the nation had to pay up, good times and especially bad. The strangeness of the two party system kept this scam going. Millions died from the miserable reign of GOP values. Billions more deaths await.
The Democrats don't want to be really progressive(in a changing world that demands it for mere survival)
and don't want their beloved brother party to croak. Don't get the depths of desperate evil the GOP must keep sinking to with their unsustainable premise. Don't really perform very well to crush with ease the incredible lie that is the Other Choice.
I just have this feeling about my country(having lived in a couple of others) that the transformed Democrats(diverse Jeffersonians allowed to emulate Republican presidents of dubious character?) are feckless. Loveable maybe, but not progressive, almost apologetic about defending what is right. The GOP has blown any chance since Nixon(my lifetime) to do anything at all for the people or nation. Doubled down on evil, denial, blame, transference. Conservatism is a joke, morally and intellectually bankrupt(to put it kindly) that poses primly as the exact opposite. They never produced any relevant thought or analysis, economic or political other than hacking off limbs to force the body into their small box. All of its fans are just that. Emotional fanatics loyal to team talk, delusion and expecting to win like spoiled children. The nefarious are infantile. The righteous are anything but. What is left is cowardice and meanness because they thrived for generations on hate, fear and sacrifice to mammon. Yes, they are eating their own, stuttering in the usual blame and denial too. Democrats would take the opposite tack and blame themselves in areas where they are often blameless. Ay least this is not so bad or insane, I suppose.
But do not doubt the cyclical farce can stutter on even in a world with more concerns that deranged American politics. Another wave of the wand perhaps, more surrender, naivete, lost opportunities, a continuing vacuum where progressive populist and scientific reality should dominate. Where the idiot rich are still entitled to destroy us all.
So what is the real future of the two parties? By the pure demographics and economic performance the Democrats have history in the bag. If they care to deliver or instead stupidly blow it for the next plutocratic onslaught. My feelings about the two parties is that neither one is yet in tune with any center of the wrongfully propagandized electorate. And neither delivers without bowing to the liege lord rich.
But the GOP keeps redefining the word abomination in trying to describe its purpose, rationale or legitimacy
Make elections fair. Public news fairer. The oddity of both parties has gone on so long the people are badly damaged in the heart when it comes to thinking about government, their government.
So these are my feelings. My punditry. I feel we have won another victory against anti-democratic forces.
And that is is not to be spoken about in most national circles as we go about repairing all too few of the problems. The GOP awaits burial in 2014, 2016. For God's sake, for our children's at least get a shovel.
