Insanely out of balance, the Republicans are all set to fail

[T_i_B]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/09/republican-conservatives-balance

Michael Steele, the new chairman of the Republican party, is surely setting some sort of land speed record for public-relations disaster. Elected on 30 January, he barely lasted a month before the first calls came for his resignation. The month in question included various oddities on his part, most notably his disastrous attempt to show he was a bigger dog on the Republican porch than radio fat-mouth Rush Limbaugh, which ended with Steele in full retreat, tail between his legs.

The calamity proved that Limbaugh, in Republican and conservative circles, is not to be tampered with. Everyone has observed that. But few have taken the lesson one step further and asked what, in turn, is proved by Limbaugh's preeminence within the party. Within the answer to that question lies Steele's biggest task as chairman, but it's a task that, for implacable structural reasons, he'll find impossible to take on. If you've been wondering why the Republican party is such a train wreck right now, this is why.

Limbaugh is a dominant figure because the Grand Old Party is no longer a political party in the usual American sense. It is an ideological faction. In America, as you know, we've had basically a two-party system for most of our history. In parliamentary systems, small ideologically driven groups tend to form political parties, win a few seats, and make coalitions with larger parties.

A cohort of moderates remained within the GOP through the early 1990s. Today? There are 41 Republicans in the Senate and 178 in the House of Representatives. Perhaps four of the former and 10 or 12 of the latter can be called moderate. The rest are committed conservatives. This is insanely out of balance for an American political party. You look at the Democrats, and they aren't uniformly liberal in the way the Republicans are uniformly conservative. Of the 58 Democratic senators, nearly 20 are genuinely moderate. This exasperates liberals and will get under President Obama's skin. But historically speaking, it is as it should be. American political parties are supposed to be big and diverse.

[tabasco]

1. Good article.

Ike wouldn't recognize the radical group known as "republicans" nowadays.

[Ilsa]

2. K&R. Great article. They aren't going to let Steele revive a moderate

wing of the GOP. The conservatives took power in the 1950s and put alot of money into their conservative infrastructure. We saw that happening in the 1980s also with their grass roots efforts to develop 99% inclusion of the religious organizations.

If the money-changers and other leadership in the GOP don't accept changes toward the middle ground, they are doomed unless Obama is a bigger failure than Bush*.

[babylonsister]

3. Rec'd. Thanks. nt