The Destruction Of The Republican Party Part Trois

I recently sat down with my father, and after sitting and talking about family stuff, how the Wings totally blew it against Anaheim, and whether he thought the Tigers were going to make it this year or not, we got into it in politics. My father is a Vietnam Purple Heart Recipient and a staunch die hard red-blooded Republican, even though he is not as right wing as he thinks he is. This is a major point to this post, so I will validate that accusation and come to that conclusion later in this post, just take this little ride with me for now.

To my father I am still a "liberal", since I took that wing and pledged allegiance to Al Gore in 2000. Despite the fact that I'm more "conservative" now than I've ever been in my life, he still criticizes my viewpoints, even though his seem to change as the newest and latest GOP platform comes out of the woodwork.

Anyways getting into this conversation, or actually more of a debate, my father and I duked it out on issues such as Illegal Immigration, the environment, and how good of president he thinks George Bush is. I was shocked to realize that the same man who had facetiously called me a "Flower Child" had now passed far left of where I was standing.

In this fragmented political world of information, it seems that we are nothing more than labels when it comes down to how these politicians look at the issues. To political leaders and decision makers it's not about what John Doe or Jane Doe think,, it's about the letter following their names. Suddenly everyone who voted for George W. Bush has the same opinion on every issue and all Republicans march to the same beat. Suddenly everyone who voted for John F. Kerry has the same opinion on every issue and all Democrats march to the same beat.

As this debate went on, I came to realize that my viewpoints were now more conservative than what my father's were. As my father sat and talked about climate change and how illegal immigration is being overblown by "racists and bigots" it was unbelievably hard for me to actually believe that this was the same man who had climbed all over my back for my support of Al Gore in 2000. Especially considering that if my Dad were to run for President, his platform might be something similar to Gore's back in that election cycle.

It's not that I had a problem with his opinions, even though I definitely didn't believe in them, it's just I came to a revelation. Apparently the Republican Party isn't just acting left, it's going left.

It all has to do with loyalty.

Listening to my Dad now, it's hard to believe that he was the same man who supported Reagan rabidly during the 1980s. Now you would think he was a member of the Clintonian brigade. In fact now you would think that a lot of Republicans are members of the Clintonian brigade. In fact you would even think Bush himself was a member of the Clintonian Brigade.

I admit that I was one of those people who rolled my eyes at Bush's "compassionate conservatism" rants of his first election to presidency, but I actually think that I might have been right, just for the wrong reasons. In fact a lot of conservatives who supported Reagan in the 1980s, had a hair rising experience when Bush 41 uttered the words "New World Order." Many thought to themselves, "what in the world can he be talking about?" What the hell is this New World order crap?"

At the time, being the naive little indoctrinated liberal that I was, I feared the whole concept of conservatism, but now I find my self fearing Bush's concept of Conservatism. This New Order Conservatism, which seems to echo the thought processes of Carter rather than the virtues of Reaganism.

But many GOP supporters have swallowed this BS line. They've simply changed with the GOP over the years, so now they look at real conservatives with this animosity that you wouldn't even expect to rise out of rivaling political ideologies. The ill-will that these Bush-Cons feel towards actual conservatives, is unbelievable. More unbelievable than that is that the Bush-Cons are in the far minority, yet still feel that they hold power over the majority, and that has made these people very dangerous.

I started to think that there was just a split and a few differences in opinion, and I believed that in the 2006 election that many of these Bush-Cons would wake up and smell the coffee, but I don't think for a second anymore that these are misled individuals. I believe they are working towards an agenda, and it's not a bright one in that matter.

It has become apparent to me that Ronald W. Reagan was more of a rebel than we'd had thought, because the GOP as it is now, stands for nothing compared to what Reagan stood for, and I am glad that I never called myself a Republican.

It is truly apparent that the Republican Party is making a bee-line for the political crematorium, because before 2008, the Bush-Cons will leave office with the GOP in flames.