Once upon a time, the Republican Party had ideas. Agree or disagree with them, they campaigned on convictions. Politics has always had its share of mudslinging, but elections once resembled contests between opposing beliefs -- small government versus active government; low taxes and deregulation versus a leadership invested in its constituents' lives. Not anymore.
The Republican Party hasn't been about ideas for many years. 9/11 kept them afloat during the first half of the 2000s while they successfully played the national security card. By 2006, Americans began to catch on to the party's corruptions and moral bankruptcy. The economic crash of 2008 hammered the final nail in the coffin for Reagan-era values, wherein the boundless trust in the free market to solve all of America's problems proved catastrophic.
What does a party do when its core ideas have failed, when has nothing substantive to run on? Resort to ad-hominem attacks, scare tactics, trifling wedge issues, propaganda and lies -- anything but honest, reality-based dialogue. Every politician's game revolves around power, and its intoxicating lure makes good people do bad things. Once your moral compass breaks, you're susceptible to any wave in the sea you think will lead you to shore. Just ask John McCain.
Gasping for air, this is what the Republican Party has devolved into. Politically, their catering to the Dixiecrats, religious fundamentalists, corporate extremists and, lately, the Limbaugh dittoheads may have secured some constituencies. But substantively, these cynical pacts have drained the party of its integrity and convictions. The losers have been the American people -- as well as every country influenced by America, which is most of the world.
Now, after their late hero's philosophy turned out to be something of a fantasy, Republicans are even more beholden to inane platforms like doubting evolution, denying global warming, stripping rights from same-sex couples, prolonging the issue of abortion, vilifying immigrants and Muslims, pretending Islamic militants will take over America, supporting the sadism that is torture, and so on. They're stuck appealing to the basest elements of the American consciousness.
Bill Clinton said it best on The Daily Show in 2004: "If you're a Democrat, you win when people think." Voters tend to think most when they're facing adversity. The recessions of 1992 and 2008 led to Democratic victories. The better economic conditions of 1988 and 2004 allowed Republicans to snag voters by touting the Pledge of Allegiance and flag-burning amendments. But this strategy isn't sustainable. Ignoring the real issues doesn't really work when people are losing their homes, their health care and their retirement savings -- largely because of your policies.
The verdict is in: a dismal approval rating for Republicans alongside a popular Democratic president with a soon-to-be filibuster-proof Senate majority. Unless the GOP plans to make its opponents die of laughter, party leaders will take this nadir as an opportunity to restore common sense and dignity. There's an important place in American politics for honest conservative thought, but sadly, no party represents it anymore.
The only way for Republicans to escape this rush to oblivion is to reject the elements that are disintegrating their ideological core. Believers in limited government and individual liberty shouldn't legislate personal issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. Instead of denying climate change, devise practical, market-based solutions to mitigate it. Support the free market, but stop ascribing magical powers to it. End the silly wars against science and intellectualism. And crucially, stop letting religion infiltrate politics to such a chilling degree -- secularism is perhaps the most sacred American value.
Breaking from tradition won't be easy for the party of traditional values. But if Republicans want to remain a serious political outfit in the long-run, they need to kick their bad habits and stand for real principles. This means resisting the cheap but politically advantageous tides and instead leading the right-wing constituency in a more thoughtful and scrupulous direction. Do it for your country, conservatives. There's no better or more important time than now.
Nothing will be more ironic than if the party that snubs evolution winds up extinct because it refused to adapt.
Follow Sahil Kapur on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Sahil_Kapur
