The Republican Party - Dead at 154
The Republican Party died in 2008 of self-inflicted wounds and lack of the will to live. The party leaves behind more than 50 million registered members and millions of others who relied upon it to stop America’s decline into the swamp of socialism.
Born in 1854 in Ripon, Wisconsin, the party stood in opposition to the Democrat Party which encouraged the expansion of slavery. In only six short years, this upstart party captured the White House with the election of Abraham Lincoln. The Republicans would dominate through the years of the Civil War and throughout the reconstruction period.
Throughout the south black Republicans were elected to offices from sheriff to mayor to state senator, and Republicans would champion civil rights for blacks against fierce opposition from Democrats right up through the integration battles that followed Brown v. Board of Education. Unfortunately, through an inability to communicate effectively, and a pathological resistance to defending itself, the Republicans lost the support of this nation’s black population who now vote 98% of the time for the Democrat Party – the party of Jefferson Davis, Orval Faubus, George Wallce, and Bull Connor. Robert Byrd, the longest serving Democrat currently in the US Senate once said, “The [Ku Klux] Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia. It is necessary that the order be promoted immediately and in every state in the Union.”
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Democrat cartoon depicting the Republicans as the party of negroes.
The Republicans resisted President Franklin Roosevelt’s machinations which first turned the United States into a quasi-socialist state, but were unsuccessful. The Democrats would go on to control the US congress, and thus the US government, from 1954 to 1995. The Republicans stood by helplessly in the 1960’s as the Democrats launched their “War on Poverty” and began to bankrupt the United States. Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, AFDC, WIC, SSI, and endless other transfers of wealth from the productive citizens of society to the sick, lame, and lazy buried the nation under a mountain of debt.
The party surged back to life in 1980 with the election of Ronald Reagan. President Reagan brought Americans out of the dreary morass of the 1970’s; Vietnam, Watergate, and Jimmy Carter’s misery index. He revived America’s national spirit, rebuilt its military, and almost single-handedly brought down the evil empire of the Soviet Union. He convinced congress to slash income taxes and he repealed thousands of needless regulations. His economic policies unleashed the largest peacetime expansion of American economic prosperity that is only now coming to an end. His leadership was so great that he accomplished all this while being fought every step of the way by the Democrats. Unfortunately, the Democrats retained control of congress and spending on socialist programs continued to increase wildly.
The GOP had one last chance to save itself from irrelevance when, in 1994 they took control of congress for the first time since 1954. The “Contract with America” promised reform of wasteful congressional spending and governmental interference in the lives of citizens. Under withering attacks from their enemies and their own greed and sloth, the Republican majority slowly but surely became – Democrats. They spent money they didn’t have, they tinkered with the tax code instead of scrapping it in favor of one that is simple and fair, they took bribes, sold their votes, expanded government, and acted outside the scope of their constitutional authority – just like the Democrats before them.
Senator John McCain - AP
The end came in 2008, when the GOP nominated Senator John McCain for president. Senator McCain was a man with a great affinity for Democrats, who had spent much of his career attacking his own party. He was a man who held the same fundamental socialist beliefs that underpin the Democrats; heavy taxation – even of the dead, central economic planning, government welfare to the poor and lazy, government control of everything from transportation to education and industry. The only difference between him and his Democrat opponent, Barak Obama, was the degree to which the government would grow, spend borrowed money, and unfairly tax its citizens. Given the choice between a youthful, charismatic, and enthusiastic socialist, and an aged, grumpy, quasi-socialist, Americans chose the former.
Now the Democrats have seized near total control of the federal government and the majority of statehouses around the country – energized and radicalized as never before, while the leadership of the deceased GOP gropes hopelessly for a message. When the Democrats passed a trillion-dollar spending bill, consigning the nation to bankruptcy and placing future generations under an insurmountable debt, the chairman of the Republican could only say that he was “disappointed.”
And so, the GOP has died at the age of 154. Like the Federalists, Whigs, Free-Soilers, Know-Nothings, Bull-Moosers, and Dixiecrats before them, they fade into history. It is now for the Reagan Conservatives to take up the mantle of leadership, build a new party, and reclaim the legacy of our founding fathers; to demand a return to constitutional government, a repeal of the income tax, a return to sound money, and an end to strangling government regulation that has brought us to the brink of ruin.
Comments
This is a stunningly dishonest article. Since 1964, the Dixiecrats have been unwelcome in the national Democratic Party, and the Republican Party has embraced the "southern strategy" and first incorporated, and then was swallowed by the Dixiecrats. Who are the party's leaders, and where are they from? Trent Lott spoke for the GOP. And Newt Gingrich, and Rush Limbaugh.
The two parties have aligned with different social groups over the past 40 years: the GOP with religious ignorance and the racism of the past, the Democrats with intelligence and a multi-racial future.
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no mentioning of the most previous bush administration...interesting
Get over it.
The GOP is the American fascist party. Your radio and television demagogues spew their hateful bile on the airwaves. Your nasty little pocket dictator abrogated the Constitution for eight years. In such a short time he did more damage to the United States than Osama Bin Laden could ever hope to do.
"This is a stunningly dishonest article"
took the words right out of my mouth.
This just in: Examiner designers die in their chairs due to poor photo illustrations and bad jpeg compression.
Wow, that is some pretty cool stuff. Good points!
RT
www.privacy.at.tc
Shenanigans. This article is out and out bullshit. I regret even giving this site a hit in order to read it.
The "socialist" package, landed at $789 billion. Even if you squint a lot you're 20% wrong.
lol - " and an end to strangling government regulation that has brought us to the brink of ruin". So our current economic situation is caused by too much regulation? I was some of what your smoking!
If the GOP is dead, it's of a self inflicted wound.
Reagan era policies destroying years of regulation are now bearing fruit in our economic chaos.
You also conveniently forget that in 2000 we had a surplus-courtesy of 8 years of a democratic President.
Then we decided we needed to fight a war: how much money has been spent there? Wouldn't it be nice to have that now?
You are truly an idiot! Also... there is no such thing as the "Democrat Party," you moron!
Wow...Why are republicans in the south so racist then if they helped black people so much? You ever been to south? South conservative louisiana is full of racist anti-minority white people and the repubs represent almost 100% of the KKK. Get your facts straight
Great Story, bro!
Wow. What a bitter rant from a disgruntled Republican. Why is the Republican party so bad? "Blame the Democrats!" All those problems in our history? "Blame the Democrats!" Any opposition to progress? "Blame the Democrats!"
BTW, one glaring error. The Republicans have constantly painted the Democratic Party as "tax and spend". But if you look at the previous Presidents terms, we find that the Democrats ARE the party of taxes. But the Republicans ARE the party of spending. And that, in the end, makes you correct. Republicans have not been the Conservative party, outside of social issues.
The lack of "strangling government regulation" is what allowed the banking sector to come up with debt instruments that capsized the largest economy in the world.
They called them "credit default swaps", because calling it "insurance" would have meant that government regulation would be in play. So, the solution was simple. Change the name, and avoid regulation.
Do your homework before pointing the blame finger. Otherwise, you're just making noise like every other tool out there.
While you're at it, look up "socialism" in the dictionary. 99% of people who throw the term around can't even tell you what it is.
Gotta love the time warp between 1994 and 2008. No mention of what the Republican party did during this time frame. I guess the truth is very relevant.
The GOP died because it didnt stay true to its ideals. It was supposed to be about conservatism, but it turned into an apologist for shredding the constitution. All founding principles of the country (free speech, privacy, *everything*) was taken away and justified as the right thing to do. On spending, the national debt skyrocketed 300% in just eight years.
The GOP died eight years ago, when spenders and torturers with GOP masks took office.
The problem with the GOP is that they're no longer conservatives. You can't blame the Liberal Democrats on doing what Liberal Democrats do better than Republicans do what Republicans are supposed to do. The Dems are being Dems and the Reps are being Dems. Who is the true conservative voice of the GOP? Ron Paul. One Idea: Follow the Constitution and the ideals of the Founding Fathers.
Sounds like a bunch of democrats in are in a state of denial. The GOP surely isn't perfect, but at least it didn't try to introduce socialism here in this country. Your man Obama is going to see to it, just wait and see.
"Democrats with intelligence and a multi-racial future."
Democrats and intelligence are a contradiction of terms. Our future was multi-racial regardless of who won the election. Somebody's dreaming in their little make believe world.
Very nice write up, although several people are attacking this article over the gap in years, the message was clear. Bravo! I haven't had a party to call home since Bush II took the US to the brink.
Wonderfully selective article, there, Todd.
I do hope you are right about the party being dead, though.
It is about time that you realized that there is such a thing as "the common good" and "We The People" instead of the (now-ex) Republican screed of "I've got mine. <i>Screw you!</i>"
Seriously, though. I think there will be a new conservative party arising from the ashes. I hope that it is based upon respect for the Rule of Law, but it is clear that we need an opposition party. While I may be one of those Democrats that you cannot stand, I do understand and respect the need for a loyal opposition, because we're in for a world of hurt if SOMEONE can't come along and at least ask the question "Are you really sure that's what you want to do?" followed by the other one "How do you plan to PAY for this?"
But I'm still hacked off by the divisive politics of the last eight or sixteen years and the vilification of anyone who disagrees with Republican or (in the case of Carville) Democratic policies.
"You're either with us, or with the terrorists."
Grrrr. Do you wonder why so many independents are upset?
"And may God forgive their souls."
I find it interesting to note that you mention the Old Republican party and not the New Republican party. If President Lincoln saw what some New Republicans stand for these days, he'd roll over in his grave.
The New Republican party needs to return to fiscal responsibility (and actually follow through on it). After that everything else can be tailored to individuals home districts.
The Red Herring is dead sir. Its been dead since the 90s. Socialism is no longer a misunderstood word. Using McCarthy's methods to demonize the Democratic party will get you nothing more then it got him. A few years of power followed by crushing defeat.
Return to the road of reconciliation. Win over your opposition through honesty and straight talk (I hate how McCain has ruined that phrase). No more of this name calling. If you want to matter again, fill your ranks with intelligent conservatives. Not these 'my way or the highway' types that have sprung up. Do those things and maybe the party will be vibrant political power once again.
The autopsy will reveal the real cause of death: the GOP became the party of unending hatred and xenophobia and incompetence. The modern GOP occasionally spouted rhetoric about smaller government and fiscal responsibility, but even their 'leaders' no longer believed that. The only thing that mattered was not governing well or setting an example, but getting the gays and getting the liberals and getting the arabs and hatred, hatred, hatred against anyone who might say that was wrong. Rush Limbaugh is now the GOP's leader, and Ann Coulter its soul. And people really wonder why its out of power?
I am a centrist and have voted for many republicans in the past. No longer. The wreck the country is in is 80% the GOP's fault, and everyone but the GOP faithful can see it as clear as the sun in the sky. You want votes from people like me again? Come up with actual workable policies that do not punish people who do honest work, understand that you have to govern for everbody and not just the rich or your fanatic constituents, and prove you can actually stick by the core principles you espouse.
It's worth noting that the quote by Robert Byrd is from a letter to a KKK leader in 1946-1947, which was 5 years before he was elected into the House.
That said, it was a terrible thing for Byrd to write, and a very thought provoking article you have written. Thanks!
this article smacks of racism, distorts information that are already half-truths and is just poorly written in general. If you even try to make a connection in anything beyond name between the party of Lincoln and the version of the party that has existed for the last forty to fifty years, you sir are a moron. You are someone that hears a talking point and repeats it because its just too hard to do some research and speak on facts. You want to know what the real decline of the republican party is? The infiltration by the fundamentalists that want to retard education while controlling behavior. Get that stone untied from around your neck and your party might be something viable again. It's funny to read this while a simple minded-asshat such as yourself throws a good man under the bus because of an inability to take responsibility or present solutions to the problems we currently face and that were twenty years in the making. I may not agree with John McCain's politics but that doesn't change that he's a good man, making it laughable when one of his own (behind the safety of a keyboard) just makes ridiculous over simplifications as to where the failure lies. I can't get over this revisionist history and worship of Reagan, who was a terrible president with one of the most simple minded economic policies that helped usher in the current economic problems of then as well as now. This is just a sad propaganda piece for a party that was claiming it was a moral referendum when they received 51% of the vote. I can see how they can make such claims when people like you will write two-dimensional fluff pieces perpetuating lies and taking no responsibility. Apparently you approach journalism and good ol' fashioned research the way a lot of your members approach science, faith based.
"This is a stunningly dishonest article"
EXACTLY!
This is the strangest article I've seen in awhile-- I mean, here we have a guy saying the GOP is dead (good riddance), while he says that today's Democrats are still slave-keepers. He then goes on to say that the Democrats have bankrupt the US, when we had more money than ever before Bush took office. Listen, the reason the GOP was founded was great yes but the rust of corruption and the air of incompetency is what killed it. Now we need only find it's replacement, and I suggest that all self-respecting Republicans become registered Libertarians as I am. Yes, I support Barack Obama, and I voted for him, because the other choice would've meant America would've ocntinued the same policies and activities that defined us during 2000-2008. The American people voted for something else, and if that means we end up a little socialist: oh well. Our best ally Great Britain already has implemented many of the measures we are considering, so I guess they are socialist right? And are we going to go p*ss on them because they aren't a pure free-market economy? No. Millions of our people (myself included) do not have adequate health insurance, and if you say it's because we're lazy, that's probably because A. you are white, B. you have a high paying job, and C. you are a Republican. If you have a lot of disposable income, well who cares if the health care system is broken, because when they send you a letter saying they've denied coverage for your life-saving heart surgery, you'll just pull out your checkbooks. Yeah, wish I could do that but oh yeah, I'm not rich.
Uhh Rush, The Dixiecrats are the core of the modern Republican party. The GOP is intellectually and morally bankrupt. Their only offerings are snide anti-intellectualism, corporate welfare and thinly veiled social darwinism mixed with apocalyptic mumbo jumbo from right wing shamans. Time to clean house and start over.
Please tell me this article did not just state that Reagan "almost single-handedly brought down the evil empire of the Soviet Union."
Step back Keister and look at wider political trends in American history. Wow
The repubs not only self-inflicted wounds but also are continuing to self-inflict with great vigor. There is paucity in ideas and leadership. Somewhere along the line, the philosophy must change from an extremist "reduce taxes for all problems" to a more moderate "some problems need government intervention and that is not just military and diplomacy".
We used to criticize hollywood for expressing their opinions saying that entertainers should stay away from politics. This is a time to say the same thing and tell Rush -- you are an entertainer and don't mess with the party. Yes, there was one -- but the diff between rush and the great one is the same as between Dan and JFK.
A trillion dollar spending bill consigning the nation to bankruptcy and placing future generations under an insurmountable debt? What about the fact that in the last 8 years, the national debt has gone from a surplus to the highest it has ever been?
It'd be like if a group of American Christian extremists were to crash airplanes into buildings in China. Then, China invades Canada, overthrowing the government and killing millions.
Try writing some truth and maybe I'll consider your point of view. With the amount of inaccurate garbage in this article, all you come across as is a propagandist.
Good riddance, GOP. We Libs will take over where you left off when it comes to fiscal conservatism. Unlike you, however, we'll be able to do it without the stranglehold of the religious right, without denying rights to gays and without the subtle (and routinely not-so-subtle) racism which still permeates your party, regardless of its origins.
We are the new opposition, which actually hopes for honest debate with Dems, actual ideas instead of FOX News talking points and recycled, meaningless rhetoric and name-calling, and being able to have an opposing party member in office without wishing them failure. We are the future and I'm personally satisfied that your irrelevance in the current political spectrum has become obvious, even to your own members.
As proud as I am of my current President, I can't wait to see a Lib challenge him during the next election cycle since your flaccid party, void of ideas and vision, has ceased to be. Rest in peace, GOP. Nobody with a brain and a love of this great nation will be mourning this loss.
Wow. I actually had to re-read parts of this because at first glance I thought it was a sarcastic article.
I'm sorry if this is the reality that you believe. Your visions of the causes of national debt, "socialism", "prosperity" and "American expansion" are all dead wrong.
I find it amazing that so many people can claim to read an article and still not comprehend the true content. By the time they run it through all their filters it comes out completely different than stated.
Where in the hell is John Gault? Bottom line is both parties are an embarrassment.
Shut up you racist asshat! Take a history lesson and stop sucking Rushbo's tiny intellect!
You are SO incorrect on SO many points in this blatant CPAC propaganda dribble that you ought' to be sent off to the Hague with the rest of the lot and tried for torture. Because that is exactly what reading this steaming pile was like — TORTURE!
You forgot to mention how Republicans happily welcomed Southern Democrats, disgusted with their party's insistence on desegregation.
See... those racists you were talking about. Yes they were Democrats, BEFORE becoming Republicans.
Funny that.
The GOP is dying, because it has no connection to reality. It ignores data in favour of belief.
How many Republicans believe that the earth is 6000 years old, despite reams of evidence otherwise?
How many Republicans believe that climate change is a hoax, despite being able to directly observe weather changes in their lifetimes?
How many Republicans still believe the unregulated markets are still the way to go, when the markets couldn't regulate their way out a paper bag without causing a recession?
Seriously guy... do you even think before you write?
@worg -
Seconded
I was hoping this article was sarcastic, but there was never really a punchline.
Those who hate social programs (and the taxes that pay for them) have no idea how much they have benefited from it. They are quite simply blind.
this fruitcake's what's wrong with america, selfish self centered doesn't give a crap about anybody but himself and what he can get, prototypical republican.
This is the most distorted and unbalanced historical account I have read in a while. And that said from both the right and the left.
Well said! All these Leftists/Liberals/Socialists have absolutely no understanding of history or the point of a constitutionally limited government. I am surprised you didn't mention the Libertarian party however... I think they're a viable candidate to represent the rest of us
Stay away, Max. We don't want you or your ilk. Keep your name-calling, revisionist history and myopic views on...I'm guessing everything...in your own, dying party.
not one mention of the cult-ish religious right that is able to justify almost anything through reinterpretations of the bible in the guise of fundamentalism. talk about detached for reality.
of course people regular people aren't gonna vote republican if every time they get in office they plainly demonstrate that they could give a crap about the people.
Todd "The Plumber" Keister has an incredibly myopic and weak understanding of history. Viable political parties change and adapt their platforms to the electorate, or they vanish. The Democratic Party (not Democrat party, you impish child) did have its share of racists, those famously known as the Dixie-crats. But the Party's platform evolved and adapted to new realities and electorate. The Republicans did so as well, just in the opposite direction. The Democratic Party has always been the Party of the people, and Republicans have always been the Party of enterprise, thus their evolution has been predictable and inevitable. The Democratic Party will continue to evolve, but I have to agree that the Republican Party is at the very least dying, if not dead already. It is too late to turn away from the racist (white supremacist) and xenophobic ideals it has embraced, and the destructive "every man for himself" economic platform that created the current crises we're facing.
I'm just a little surprised that the writer blames McCain and not eight years of a disastrous Bush presidency. It was McCain's party link to Bush that dashed any hopes he might've had to become president. That, and his new found conservative views that he didn't seem to have before he was nominated.
How "yellowduc" can argue "The Democratic Party has always been the Party of the people" is beyond logic. If his definition of being a party of the people is supporting the philosophy of the need of taking from one to support the other then he is right. However, a true party of the people is a party that supports freedom for all citizens and encourages free enterprise. Business puts food on table, cars in garages, clothing on backs, and money in retirement accounts. Govt does not generate revenue- it stifles it. So all liberals stand by and watch our great country erode under the incredible burden being created by our current leadership. When there is no one left to take from (redistribute wealth) you might find yourself having to earn something on your own.
I was ready to write a lengthy comment, but everyone did a great job covering the flaws of logic and lack of facts in this laughable article. Just more mindless spreading of the "talking points" spewed by the shills of the right.
I would love to see the Republican Party split; the sane, intelligent fiscal conservatives breaking from the radical religious zealots and uninformed, unintelligent hatemongerslooking for targets to
vent their anger and frustrations on. It would be great to have a rational counterpart to the Dems, and some real choices at the polls. It would also be nice to get rid of the partisan politics that have consumed Washington, and prevent politicians from voting with an eye towards the best interest of the people and the nation in mind.
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