I saw this post over at Sully's Place and didn't get a chance to comment on it.
The GOP is in the midst of a crisis of consciousness. There are two poles that are fighting for control. The current dominant pole is socially conservative and fiscally liberal. Call it the "W. Pole". This locus is a great departure from the Party of Reagan. Reagan was a fiscal tightwad (aside from military spending) and socially conservative as well. Those days are long gone. The other pole that has a strong following in the GOP is the exact opposite of W's pole. That is, socially liberal and fiscally conservative. This sector of the party is represented by the Rudy Guilanis and John Mcains of the party. Call it the neo-Reaganites pole. Many younger GOP members are likely to be in the latter rather than the former. (NB: I have zero evidence for that, just me gut feeling)
The battle for the soul of the GOP is nigh. Either they are going to remain the profligate spending Christianist party or they are going to dial down the Biblical rhetoric and control government growth and spending.
The W party has killed federalism which was the soul of the party. If California wants to allow gays to marry, that's their business. If they want confiscatory tax rates, that's up to them. If Alabama wants to ban such unions and keep taxes low, that's their business. The potential downside is a balkanization of the country where people are gravitate towards likeminded people. That we'll have an over concentration of one group or another in one place that will create strong divisions between states. That can certainly lead to problems.
The neo-Reaganite poll is home to many who have no place to go. I count myself among them. I cannot vote for most Democrats for a variety of reason and reluctantly will vote for the GOP. In some cases, when the choices are both poor and ultimately meaningless, I don't vote. I voted for Bush because I feared the Democrats fecklessness and weakness in the face of a deadly and determined enemy. I'm not happy with where we are now but I know we can recover from out domestic missteps even if (God help us all) Hillary becomes president.
Democrats don't like Foreign Policy. They conflate diplomacy with policy. Diplomacy is not a policy, it is merely a tool in the policy toolbox. They don't like projecting America's interest ahead of anyone else. They want a humble US that acts as a peer among nations. This makes your average American nuts. Their job is to put our interests first. That's why we elected them. That doesn't mean we steamroll everyone to gain every last advantage. It means that we press strongly to encourage our nominal allies when our national interest is at stake. It also means we need to help those who want our help and treat us well.
Republicans don't like Domestic Policy. It's icky and requires dealing with poor people. It also requires them to sell their soul for their supporters. They have to do things they know are bad for business and bad for the country to protect their contributors. (See: airline industry)
Democrats love Domestic policy because it usually involves doling out other people's money. They steer that money to the people they like and soak the people they don't like. (Read: people who vote for them and people who don't, respectively.)
Republicans like Foreign Policy because it involves travel and the possibility of bombing somebody.
The GOP is in the midst of a crisis of consciousness. There are two poles that are fighting for control. The current dominant pole is socially conservative and fiscally liberal. Call it the "W. Pole". This locus is a great departure from the Party of Reagan. Reagan was a fiscal tightwad (aside from military spending) and socially conservative as well. Those days are long gone. The other pole that has a strong following in the GOP is the exact opposite of W's pole. That is, socially liberal and fiscally conservative. This sector of the party is represented by the Rudy Guilanis and John Mcains of the party. Call it the neo-Reaganites pole. Many younger GOP members are likely to be in the latter rather than the former. (NB: I have zero evidence for that, just me gut feeling)
The battle for the soul of the GOP is nigh. Either they are going to remain the profligate spending Christianist party or they are going to dial down the Biblical rhetoric and control government growth and spending.
The W party has killed federalism which was the soul of the party. If California wants to allow gays to marry, that's their business. If they want confiscatory tax rates, that's up to them. If Alabama wants to ban such unions and keep taxes low, that's their business. The potential downside is a balkanization of the country where people are gravitate towards likeminded people. That we'll have an over concentration of one group or another in one place that will create strong divisions between states. That can certainly lead to problems.
The neo-Reaganite poll is home to many who have no place to go. I count myself among them. I cannot vote for most Democrats for a variety of reason and reluctantly will vote for the GOP. In some cases, when the choices are both poor and ultimately meaningless, I don't vote. I voted for Bush because I feared the Democrats fecklessness and weakness in the face of a deadly and determined enemy. I'm not happy with where we are now but I know we can recover from out domestic missteps even if (God help us all) Hillary becomes president.
Democrats don't like Foreign Policy. They conflate diplomacy with policy. Diplomacy is not a policy, it is merely a tool in the policy toolbox. They don't like projecting America's interest ahead of anyone else. They want a humble US that acts as a peer among nations. This makes your average American nuts. Their job is to put our interests first. That's why we elected them. That doesn't mean we steamroll everyone to gain every last advantage. It means that we press strongly to encourage our nominal allies when our national interest is at stake. It also means we need to help those who want our help and treat us well.
Republicans don't like Domestic Policy. It's icky and requires dealing with poor people. It also requires them to sell their soul for their supporters. They have to do things they know are bad for business and bad for the country to protect their contributors. (See: airline industry)
Democrats love Domestic policy because it usually involves doling out other people's money. They steer that money to the people they like and soak the people they don't like. (Read: people who vote for them and people who don't, respectively.)
Republicans like Foreign Policy because it involves travel and the possibility of bombing somebody.
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