Conservatives? What Conservatives?

These are very, very strange political times we’re living in. Make sure that when we’re older we tell our children and grandchildren about the middle of this decade when the ideologies of both parties were going down the drain.

The Democrats have no platform, no new ideas, no leaders and absolutely no clue about what will happen should they gain control of Congress. Their most likely leaders are so far left of the mainstream that their ideas would be considered loopy in what’s left of socialist Europe. And these are the guys that people want to run the country right now.

Why? Because the GOP, once a bedrock of classical conservatism, is even worse. I grew up in the time of Ronald Reagan, who was hailed as a model of the Goldwater small government, Jefferson-style individualist, so perhaps I’m biased. But neither Ronnie nor Barry would recognize the Party today. Read some of these statements from Goldwater to realize how low the GOP has sunk and why Election/Judgment Day cannot come soon enough.

What used to be the national Republican party has sunk to a theocratic bully pulpit that advocates prejudice against homosexuals, a usurpation of the Constitution by the executive branch, an out-of-control deficit spurred by GOP-sponsored pork spreads, laws that suspend habeas corpus for prisoners, etc, etc. I don’t need to go on. Unless you are a religious fanatic or a blind GOP partisan, this party does not represent you and is not worthy of your respect.

How telling that just a decade ago, conservative sages were intellectuals like George Will and William Buckley, who used their intelligence to calmly refute their detractors. Today, hacks like Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity spew hateful vitriol at anyone who has the nerve to think differently from them. They have even turned against many of their own party, including many of the Northeastern Republicans who continue to advocate keeping the religion out of government and the government out of your home. Reagan worked hard to bring the suburban moderates into the party – people who just want the government to do basic services, take less of their money in taxes and not give them a hard time if they had to go to Town Hall to apply for a work permit.

David Brooks (another classic conservative who has been called a liberal(!) by these bullies) has it right again – these educated suburbanites go to church and synagogues, but don’t want religion in their government. They read The New York Times and The Washington Post, but for the caliber of writing rather than the ideology. They get their frappuccinos at Starbucks, but understand the coffee chain’s dominance is due to capitalism, marketing and consumer choice instead of exploitation and corporate tax breaks.

How telling that what has finally given the GOP a spring in its step is not Iraq, deficit spending, fixing America’s perception to other countries or even the Taliban resurgence. It is the specter of gay marriage in New Jersey. Again, dogma trumps reason and freedom for the individual in today’s GOP. And don’t forget that whole competence issue I brought up last week.

Six months ago I thought the Republicans could never lose Congress due to the power of incumbency, their fundraising strength and the utter incompetence of the Democrats to offer an alternative. The Democrats are still incompetent, but to America incompetence is better than utter failure. Yes, times are strange today. On November 8, things just may start to look a bit more normal.

More Info: Looks like even big business and the lobbying industry is reading the tea leaves.