Yup--I'm a registered Republican and I know I'm not alone experiencing alarm at the way the party has disintegrated into balkanized factions and then writing it off with an awkward grin as "a deep bench". Truth be told, if they got into issues deeply, they'd be more fractious than they are now. Call that bench "deep" all you like, but the waters the bench wades in remains pretty shallow with the mud all to easily accessible.
Like I said when I first ran for office, I'd spent a lot of time recognizing Chicago politics to where I could smell it miles away, as I hail from the other end of the state of Illinois. I really looked forward to moving to Republican-run Arizona when I changed jobs. Guess what--that wasn't much of an improvement, actually. Power corrupts, and this applies to both parties. AZ actually elected the atrocity we know as "The Guv", Ev Mecham.
Please.
When I moved to Oklahoma, I first registered as an Independent, only to find out that I was denied a vote in any primaries. When Ron Paul was on the rise, I decided to register again as a Republican. Went to a Republican meeting in Oklahoma to find that the establishment really really really really really frowned on Ron Paul, and I'm guessing it's because, at the time, he was also working out stuff with Ralph Nader and it's the two of them that founded the original Tea Party, which I didn't mind proudly proclaiming I was all in favor of. The Republican establishment, not so much. Somebody reported at the meeting how Oklahoma proudly got from Washington more money than it kicked in, in taxes, and I recall speaking up saying that we would be prouder if we were self-sufficient enough that we didn't need any Washington money...and that how that statement went over like a lead balloon. But this is the only state that gave Wesley Clark a primary win, too.
Then the Gadsden Flag Tea Party came to Enid; I talked to the organizer of the rally on the library grounds and he said that he and the Tea Party despised Republicans, and I was wondering if that didn't automatically make them Democrats. Mike Jackson showed up to the rally and was really kissing TP butt, so I guess not, and then I wondered, why not?
Well, now that Republicans are splitting hairs over what kind of Republican is which, I'm going to just put it out there that I'm an Eisenhower Republican. Yeah--a pre-Lyndon Johnson Era Republican, for all you David Duke Republicans out there, which is why I have as much a problem with Log Cabin Republicans as the sons and daughters of the Republican establishment have, as much a problem as our governor has, which is none whatsoever.
You highly religious conservatives brought up your sons and daughters on the straight and narrow, like the upright Christian good parents that you are, and your sons and daughters don't (by and large) have a problem with Log Cabin Republicans. You fell down on the job as parents somewhere, according to what you believe, then. And so you face the choice between sticking to your godly principles OR appeal to most voters against your principles so that you can win the presidency. It should be apparent to you that those two things have become mutually exclusive at this point. Lindsay Graham, a long time Republican establishment guy, polling at ZERO, was unthinkable 8 years ago. Establishment Republicans can't sway the balance of power there even WITH their thumb on the scales.
The Tea Party has been hijacked by people who claim to be more conservative than establishment Republicans, trumpeting the Constitution as Absolute Law from Above while at the same time showing complete disregard for the part of the Constitution which prohibits a religious test for public office OR positions of public trust. Threw that completely out the window.
Every once in a while you'll hear Tea Party complaints about large corporations, too, and the Republican Party used to be pro-business. Your ultra-conservative Tea Partiers are indeed sounding more and more liberal, all the way down to deriding mega-corporate National Broadcasting Corporation, maybe because they had a problem with Saturday Night Live ever since its inception. But NBC is a corporation, people--a rather large one, formerly owned by a corporation in every investor's portfolio: General Electric. Oh, I can hear the rebuttals from here: it's MSNBC that's the big liberal problem. Really? Now you guys have a problem with Microsoft now? Microsoft is the corporation that partnered with the National Broadcasting Corporation that came up with the MS part in the MSNBC name. That brings us to tonight's Republican debate on another NBC entity, CNBC.
And now they're all owned by Comcast, so now y'all have a problem with the Comcast corporation...except for your stock portfolio, and most investment packages have that stock included. Get real.
I just heard the point made that the energy sector is strong BUT the state mentioned is diversified. This is not true in Oklahoma and Oklahoma is finding out that giving preference to the energy sector to the point where it's at the expense of other businesses, the lack of diversity is what's causing a precipitous revenue shortfall in a state that has already let its infrastructure languish neglected for too long and a diverse business sector depends on reliable infrastructure just to operate. Giving preferences to fracking industries will keep other bricks/mortar businesses out of Oklahoma because who wants to build around where a fracking industry gets free license to wreck your property, hm? Being pro-fracking = anti-other-businesses.
It's also anti-business-workforce, too; who wants to live where your house gets to be wrecked with impunity? Conservatives don't like big government butting in on local issues, but that's exactly what we have in this state now, with state government giving the fracking industry a free license to wreck your house and your business buildings, with the best case scenario being that it gets to wreck your inventory if any of it is up on shelves. Clean up on Aisles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10!
The worst thing about Oklahoma conservatives is that all a big government liberal has to say is "I've changed registration to Republican and I'm a conservative!" to get their votes. That's all. That's how we've got the throw-money-at-it City Commission that we have now. Ward 5 Commissioner switched from Democrat to Republican because just being on the registry as Republican is magic. Ward 6 Commissioner proclaims himself to be a conservative, but he's part of the problem of downtown business occupancy and retention as property owner, and he doesn't recuse himself from voting in the interests of his property holdings when there's a vote about what issues involving downtown. Hasn't anyone noticed that the Ward 5 Commissioner, snuggling in with Main Street Enid and her business partners in the event throwing business simply parties away City money without making any difference at all in downtown business occupancy or retention?
They throw lovely parties downtown, but retail revenue is down from last year according to the last tax report from the state. These clowns have been partying your money away for years, and this is all the business we get out of it. I for one don't buy any of their claims that they're pro-business conservatives. You got liberals partying our money away while growing big city government. You need to get real here, people.
"I'm a delegate! Where's the party?!"
Edited to add....right after I hit the Publish button, Carly Fiorina made the same point I posted here. Qismat. And I'll add that being anti-immigrant under the guise of being anti-amnesty = being anti agribusiness. Seriously, GOP, get your shit together already.
Friday UPDATE, GOP letter to NBC edition: Speaking of a party that has lost its way and is now the dog getting wagged by insurgents, and making note of the fact that this is the same party which insisted that personal character was a deal-breaker issue to examine in previous presidential campaigns (Bill Clinton's case), Reince Priebus now insists that all media debates going forward have to skip over personal character questions and must function as free advertisements for the party platform:
GOP letter to NBC
Evening Edition: Well, folks, y'all knew it was a snake when you let it in. The same Wreck-It-Ralph crew of anarchists that are enraged that Boehner took away their favorite chew toy (shutting government down) have now wrecked the GOP HQ and took Fox News down with it. Face it--these aren't conservatives; they are anarchists. But the GOP knew that already.
To all of your Constitution thumping anarchists out there who loudly proclaim that any government is bad government, your claim to be conservatives is fraudulent because guess what else is hallowed by the Constitution? It's in the First Amendment, next to your religion clause--it's the PRESS.
And I'll add this, since I'm now hearing that Rush Limbaugh is one of the highly suggested moderators--what they want is a self-described water-bearer, not someone in control, and not a woman like Phyllis Schlafley. By all means, if they haven't thought that they've already made a big fool of themselves showing an inability to play political hardball. Bunch of misogynist wimps, if you ask ME.
Saturday mini-UPDATE: 4 dead in a Colorado Springs shootout,
reports CBS. And the GOP still thinks it can claim to be pro-life when, so far, they've failed to defend children's right to life in our schools. You can't be serious.
A little late on the uptake,
The Guardian now reports.
What our domestic broadcasters (other than CBS, notably) are focusing on is the rather old but still disconcerting Twin Peaks Shootout in Texas many months ago, but it's still apropos of this topic because in talking about the current destructive nature of the NRA at the top, NOBODY is bringing up the matter of the cover they give to organized crime. When conservatives wax critical of unions these days, they've been omitting the usual bromide about being against organized crime as being part of why they're against unions. That's because now that unions aren't safe havens for organized crime anymore because of successful union busting, it's simply moved from unions to the NRA--there's no better protection racket than providing 2nd Amendment cover for gun runners and gangs.
