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June 12, 2007
Elephants Have Rather Sturdy Legs
AC Kleinheider sat down today and belted out a righteous post on what seems to him to be a looming split in the Republican coalition. You really should read it.
I've thought the very same things myself, at times, and even wished for it to be true, so that southpaw independents like me could reach out to newly former GOP moderates (defined here as fiscally conservative, but not total tightwads; and socially realistic, if not outright libertarian) and advance policy from a centrist (but not the wishy-washy kind of centrist) point of view. [Cue music: Journey, "Open Arms." (Kidding!)]
If you will permit me to wax metaphorical: there are strong timbers in a ship's hull on either side of the keel. Together, they keep the thing upright and able to sail ahead. If these beams were all on one side or the other, or were splayed out wildly, you wouldn't have much of a boat. (I just now realized that I totally ripped that off from the more common oarsmen analogy, but here's the difference: the oars do protrude to either extreme, and those forces are necessary too. I'm talking about the construction itself, though.)
This all stems from news of a decline among rural voters' support of the Republican Party. I almost guarantee, though I have no proof, that the war is a huge factor in that. Multiple frustrations have to be mounting as death comes home to town after town, with the "cause" (i.e., "democracy" that ever fails to take hold) seeming to melt like ice cream in a Mesopotamian summer. (Note: video of the 1/181st National Guard shipping out from Athens, TN airs as I write this.)
I don't envy the rural electorate's position, for surely their choice — between a party that (they're finding) has essentially sold them out, and one which (they're told) thoroughly disgusts their values-based sensibilities — cannot be an easy one.
But here's the thing: political parties exist to do one thing, and that is to win elections. I wouldn't count out the so-called Party of Lincoln just yet. They may be suffering from a pendulum swing, but you and I both know that the Democrats are themselves fully capable of giving Americans reason to coalesce against them. All it takes is time.
In the meantime — and I'm not trying to toot the Unity08 horn or anything — but can some of us talk? Between us, we can marginalize the squawking extremists that flap like so many unkempt sails, and come to certain understandings about disagreements with which we can live, and thus set our course for the open waters of our future.
Political News | By joe lance | 10:56 PM