How the right destroyed itself: History, ideology and strategic blunders

[DonViejo]

Republicans can't moderate because their base won't allow it. Even if they could, Democrats already beat them there

BRIAN BEUTLER

Last week I wrote an article arguing that the impediments to conservative reform are structural — that the idiosyncrasies of the Republican base make appealing to moderate voters a zero-sum game for the party, and thus eliminates the incentive that, for instance, impelled Democrats in the 1980s and 1990s to cater to less-liberal voters.

The article generated some interesting responses, which is fortunate, because they provide a jumping off point to explore the historical and political context of the GOP’s unique predicament.

I think it’s fairly evident that Republicans’ increasing reliance on an older, whiter, more conservative constituency has trapped them into a number of non-negotiable policy dogmas. And I think they they bear most of the blame for their own circumstances. It’s an outgrowth of a conscious political strategy. They began the country and their party down this road, hoping, as Pat Buchanan famously put it, to “split the country in two and…take the bigger half.” They fused the low tax, low regulation agenda of wealthy elites to the worldview of religious conservatives. They birthed the Reagan Revolution, then milked it so vigorously that they’ve become unable to wean themselves from it more than 30 years later.

But there’s more to the story than one losing bet. And I believe the historical backdrop supports the conclusion that there’s no space in U.S. politics for Republicans to undergo a DLC-style reform.

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/01/27/how_the_right_destroyed_itself_history_ideology_and_strategic_blunders/

[djean111]

1. I would wait until after 2014 to declare the Right as having destroyed itself.

Looks like the Third Way is rushing in to fill that vacuum, anyway.
I am hoping there is some sort of progressive, liberal presence in Washington, after the dust settles. Not real hopeful, though.

[last1standing]

2. All Praise to the Third-Way Agenda!

If I have Beutler right, Democrats selling out to Third-Way (nee DLC) was a good thing because it kept the name alive and the republicans should emulate it, but can't.

In other words, having both major parties sell out to the ultra-wealthy is something to celebrate, not oppose. No thanks.

[bemildred]

3. Yes. Both parties have crowded onto the right side of the political spectrum,

slurping up the money as they go, and meanwhile running the nation into the ditch with authoritarian dogmatism and the stonewalling of adaptive change. Now there is no adaptive change to be had, and all the open political space is over on the left. They made enemies of the American people, exploited our nation as their personal army and piggy bank, and they are so ANGRY about it too.