In an effort to reassess its current pariah state the Republicans are trying to decide whether to expand or purify ("G.O.P. Debate: A Broader Party or a Purer One?" New York Times, 4/29/09).
The very argument suggests that, like all the methods and policies they have espoused for years, the GOP is officially clueless. To evolve is essential; to embrace its "Conservative" roots requires real introspection and humility, activities which seem not to be in the current version of Conservatism's vocabulary (except when deriding some liberal navel-gazer). They are capable, it seems, of neither.
The once mighty machine is now reduced to the kind of niche appeal which mom-and-pop barber shops and cable reality house flipping shows depend on for their shoestring survival. Even when standing among the ashes of the catastrophe wrought from their ruinous policies the seemingly brain-dead dead-enders still entertain whittling the party down even further to its raging essence, eventually morphing into a diamond hard kernel of a licensed private militia á la Blackwater: conservatism for hire, have automatic weapon will travel.
The voices calling for such resistance to inevitable and necessary change are living, throbbing examples of that part of the human psyche normally reserved for hopefully fleeting times of desperation and fear. But when it is on display 24 hours a day via the antics of such nutty right wingers as Michelle Bachmann, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Sarah Palin, et al. as well as the enablers, lablers and inciters of sedition at Fox News it becomes clear that it is unsound, insane and a danger to the GOP's survival and perhaps even to the national well-being.
The shame, the true shame is that the Republicans have exposed the frailty behind their bluster, the inability to take the pulse of a world in which they want to wield influence. I am not advocating for one party rule nor a purely Liberal take on everything, despite the obvious lefty, cranky sentiments which flow from my brain like so much sap. The previous HuffPost rant I posted was all about the middle being the ideal place from which to govern this society, a society whose strength is defined by the diversity of opinions and lifestyles. There is ample room for real Conservatism, one which bespeaks "limited government, individual responsibility and economic freedom" (a concept more abstract that Conservatives would like to admit), real dialogue, real compromise and not just the indiscriminate obstruction or bone-headed obstinacy which seems to come from the GOP spokespersons who are not alarmed about what they've done to the country, merely irate that they lost power.
As evidenced by the current state of things, that kind of strategy may land them without a voice, without a purpose and without a niche from which to hawk their wares. There's always Chapter 11...