How is this possible? Has the U.S. electorate suddenly gone socialist? I think not. The answer is that the far-right and religious-extremist wing of the Republican party has simply gotten out of control as kingmakers. This was clear in the 2000 election, when McCain, a strong leader with a solid background, a mind of his own and heroic military service was passed over for an empty suit with a bankable name, and the “correct” religious reprogramming that could be easily shaped and formed to suit his backers.

Unfortunately for McCain, he waited too long in this campaign to try to get the far-right on board with him and had to do it at the time when he really needed to be talking to the undecided moderates and independents that actually decide the election. Picking Gov. Palin for the VP and hearing her on the campaign trail is a constant reminder to the moderates of how powerful the extremists are in the party. Her scolding tone and self-righteous manner are exactly what many fear about the Republican party. It is also a constant reminder of the last eight years of ideology and religion trumping knowledge and experience. It also has not helped that many of the Republicans in Congress have acted and voted a lot like the Democrats when it comes to spending and protecting sacred contributors.

Hopefully, this stunning loss of a seasoned statesman with solid conservative credentials to a smooth-talking liberal with little more than magic beans will be enough to make the Republican party wake up and realize that a major house-cleaning is in order if they want to win the White House any time soon. It took the Democrats a few cycles to also realize that they had let the extremists take over. But they finally decided that they wanted to win more than they wanted to continue to appease the ” ban all guns and save the transgender spotted owls” set in their party.

The Republican Party is a natural place for the religious right, but there is more to it than that. For many Libertarians, middle-class working families and entrepreneurs the Republican party is also a logical home because of the same basic beliefs in keeping government restricted to certain “legitimate” roles while allowing the populace a maximum of individual freedom. But in recent years, the Republican party had been so dominated by religious/morality issues that it has driven out many of us. David Brooks has a very good piece on this called “Ceding the Center.”

Here’s hoping that it doesn’t take the Republican party any longer to figure out that abortion and gays aren’t the issues that matter to a lot of Americans, especially when the economy is on the brink and we are fighting wars in two distant countries.

© Ron Denton for aRdent Voice, 2008. | Permalink |