The Imminent Demise of the Republican Party

The Republican Party, in the full blush of triumph in control of all the branches of government and large sections of the media, stands on the edge of certain extinction.
Following the election of 2004, much has been made of the weaknesses of the Democratic Party, even its possible end. But it has escaped the notice of our blow-dry television pundits and political observers alike that the Republican Party, in the full blush of triumph in control of all the branches of government and large sections of the media, stands on the edge of certain extinction. The reasons grow daily more evident. Over the past three decades, the moderate, business-oriented party of Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower was captured by its extreme right-wing thereby becoming a party dominated by ideologues, increasingly divorced from unmovable facts. But no organization, political party, or nation can long survive by ignoring realities of ecology, social justice, law, economics, and true security. Sooner or later, it will step off the proverbial curb into onrushing traffic of events, forces, and trends that it refused to see.

The Republican Party has already stepped into the road. The question is not whether it will survive as presently constituted, but what else will be destroyed as it collapses in ruin and ignominy, sooner than later. Beneath the noisy spin of its media echo chamber, the true platform of the Republican Party, its future epitaph, is founded on denial. The rules of the Republican Party of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Tom Delay, and their brethren are these:

â?¢ Deny science when its findings are not agreeable to your base. Republicans, notably, are on the wrong side of the largest issue in human history: human driven, rapid climate change. Theyâ??ve chosen instead to live in a Crichton-esque science fiction fantasy in which real science has no standing and human actions have no tragic, irreversible, and global ecological consequences. This is not just boneheaded, it is a form of criminality for which we have, as yet, no adequate words.
â?¢ Deny the looming approach of peak oil extraction thereby advancing the potential of economic, political, and social chaos when global oil supply and demand diverge as soon they will.
â?¢ Deny the proven potential of superior technologies, design strategies, and policies that would move the country toward energy efficiency and a secure energy base of solar and wind power as well as the reasons of self-interest and economic advantage for doing so.
â?¢ Deny the true costs of air and water pollution thereby undermining the health of Americans.
â?¢ Deny the human and economic effects of pandering to the wealthy, thereby undermining social cohesion and the sense of fairness?historically, often a prelude to societal breakdown and revolution.
â?¢ Deny any and all mistakes, bad judgment, and corruption, relying on spin not truth and thereby building a solid reputation for mendacity and incompetence.
â?¢ Deny the limitations of military power to impose order on a recalcitrant world and thereby condemn the U.S. to a future of international isolation, conflict, and endless terrorism.
â?¢ Deny the great vulnerability of the American infrastructure to malice, malfeasance, and acts of God, thereby laying the groundwork for a future of recurring disasters.
â?¢ Deny the necessity for civil discourse, honesty, and transparency in the conduct of public life, thereby holding the citizenry in contempt and promoting a spirit of meanness.
â?¢ Deny without admitting it the democratic values of the country enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Gettysburg Address, and the Four Freedoms of Franklin Roosevelt, thereby undermining democracy at home while purportedly fighting for it in Iraq.

The Republican Party has chosen to deny social, ecological, cultural, religious, and economic realities which are unavoidably complicated, complex, diverse, ironic, and paradoxical. Instead they have chosen to make their own simplistic, ideological, and chauvinistic fantasy world that has little affinity for law, science, a free and independent press, fairness, true security, ecological sustainability, and the accountability that is requisite for genuine democracy.

That fantasy is on the cusp of becoming a real life nightmare. Having made the United States a large bullsâ?? eye for terrorists and malcontents, it may implode catastrophically taking much else with it. It may come undone more gradually, but no less catastrophically, as the economy sinks under the weight of war debt and foolish tax cuts. It may be overthrown if and when thoughtful conservatives disturbed by fiscal recklessness and imperial pretensions, all honest persons offended by mendacity, bombast, criminality, conniving, and diversion, and all Christians sufficiently alert to notice the discrepancy between the words and life of the â??Prince of Peaceâ?� and our foreign and domestic policies finally shift alignments. It may take longer as the die of climate change and ecological deterioration is finally cast and we trigger adverse global changes of which we have been often warned. Unlikely as it seems, in a different scenario the Republican nightmare still could be averted by an effective, committed, agile, and strategic opposition smart enough to recognize the historic convergence of opportunity, patriotic duty, sheer necessity.

David Orr ([email protected]) is a Paul Sears Distinguished Professor at Oberlin College. Author of The Last Refuge (Island Press, 2004).




Peace

Finally!! Thank you Herbaholic, this article expresses what I've been saying all along, that the Republican party is giong straight to hell. The current party has absolutely nothing to do with the great republican presidents of old. Believe you me, if Bush was president instead of Lincoln, slavery would still be in full swing (Bush's policy of pandering to rich people proves this quite nicely).

With the current party, we are returning to an age of blind ideology and ultra right wing government, the kind of which hasn't been seen since WW2 (in North America and Europe, at least).

Hopefully, Americans will wake up and ralize what's happening sooner rather than later, and let's all hope that the next four years won't be too bad.... (unlikely as that is....)

"The Republican Party, in the full blush of triumph in control of all the branches of government and large sections of the media, stands on the edge of certain extinction."

Hmmm, is it just me or does the author of this article seem kind of delusional? I mean really, if the repos are in firm control, why should I think they are near extinction? Looks a little more like the demonrats are closer to extinction then the repos are. It also seems a little like the demonrats are denying that they are in decline by claiming the repos will self destruct.

Hate of a political party is what leads to oppression of political groups. Not all repos are the same, or believe the same things. Same with other political leanings.

"Deny any and all mistakes, bad judgment, and corruption, relying on spin not truth and thereby building a solid reputation for mendacity and incompetence."

LOL! As if liberals are any different. I find it rather funny that the repos blame all their troubles on the demonrats, and the rats blame all their troubles on the repo's.

"Deny the looming approach of peak oil extraction thereby advancing the potential of economic, political, and social chaos when global oil supply and demand diverge as soon they will."

That is a lie. I don't care much for liers. It ruins the whole message for me to find out the author is willing to lie to get his point across.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...030130-20.html

Gov Owens supports this, and he is a repo
http://www.pureenergysystems.com/new...elCellCapital/

I could go on with this, but I reckon you get the picture. This article is a biased piece of trash. Washing minds is an easy thing to do from the looks of it these days. It seems people will belly up to any old bar to drink, just as long as the watered down whiskey that bar is serving has the right label on the bottle.

Toker

Howdy LT,

I like your analogy-it slams the nail on th head..:"I could go on with this, but I reckon you get the picture. This article is a biased piece of trash. Washing minds is an easy thing to do from the looks of it these days. It seems people will belly up to any old bar to drink, just as long as the watered down whiskey that bar is serving has the right label on the bottle.

Toker"

The 'demonrats' are the ones losing the confidence of the American citizens-and it's their party-which has been rejected by the populace..not the other way around..the 'demonrats',are in trouble and they are in denial for the most part.

If the Hildabeast,runs in '08',you're gonna see even more mobilization of the conservative vote..Hitlery plans on steering this country as far to the Left-as she can git away with..and we ain't gonna let that happen.

Have a good one...Torog

yeah, why let hilary bring this country 'to the far left' when geoge bush is doing exactly that, right now. and to the far right as well. it's dictatorship after all, which likes the left and the right.

the rest are left to suffer as they watch both 'sides' cheer their rights away.

and you'll go ahead and vote for arnold if he runs against hilary, because he's a socialist who wasn't born here, and you're all about being a conservative.

In a two party system the only lossers are the people.

thats for sure!!

Hate to break your bubble, but it's the democrats who are going down the shitter. Take a look at the last two elections...if they couldn't beat a dipshit like Bush, what good are they? I don't like Democrats, generally, too mealy mouthed hypocritical do-goodery. But I wanted them to beat Bush. Instead they rean unelectable idiot assholes with no platforms and managed to lose elections they should have been able to win running Bill the Cat. Now they are heading right off towards losing the next one.
They just don't get it. But somebody has got to derail the Bush machine...it's getting terrifiying. Maybe what we need is a non-partison anti-war movement??????"?

in the 2000 recount effort al gore raised 6.5 million dollars,bush raised 13.5 million.bush put a cap on his donations to 2000$,gore did not.of the 6.5 million dollars gore raised 5 million was raised at 2 parties.and get this,one was a MALIBU BEACH PARTY,the other was a fundraiser in manhatten?and the republicans are the party of the rich?hahah

i promise the republican's are just praying hillary run's!!she will lose big time!!

and the guy that posted this is teaching our children.SCARY!out of touch.