Is There Anything Left in the Republican Party Worth Salvaging?
Koh Lanta Island, Thailand, September 25th, 2024.
Salaroche

The stability and well-functioning of the American Political System depends on the balance between left-wing and right-wing political institutions. Let one of them openly embrace extreme views and both will lose legitimacy in the eyes of the electorate. The one will look like a weak and inefficient institution, thereby disappointing its constituencies, while the other will look like an obstinate, devil-may-care, rulebreaker, thereby alienating anyone who doesn’t share in their extremism.

The Democrats have looked weak over the past near-decade, even as Joe Biden won the Presidency in 2020, while the Republicans’ constant irrational, amoral, bullying has allowed them to dominate most news cycles, thereby appearing to be strong, regardless of how morally weak they may be.

Whatever leftwing-rightwing political equilibrium there may have existed in America before 9/11, it has already been 24 years since it started to break down, to the point of near-collapse we all witnessed on January 6, and the point of serious, ominous uncertainty that we are witnessing today.

The Republican Party clearly started down the wrong path in 2008, when Barack Obama was first elected President. The deep-seated racism that they had until then somewhat managed to hide under the guise of “conservatism” couldn’t withstand the striking reality that the American electorate was as far ahead of their backward political ideas as to put the reins of the country in the hands of an African-American individual, who was later reelected to a second term.

So they snapped.

They had to do something about it. They had to stop such unacceptable “Liberal” tendency on its tracks, no matter how drastic and extreme the measures required to do so might be. And then, as if the whole situation had been scripted, along came “birtherist” Donald Trump marching into the political scene and straight up into the Oval Office.

With such dark light beaming constantly from the White House for four years, the white-supremacist tendencies that had always lurked latent in American conservative minds gradually crept up into their consciousness to activate their desire for racial dominance, at all cost if necessary.

But the Trump presidency didn't last long enough for Republicans to realize how real were the possibilities to finally strike a terminal blow on the liberal, progressive aspirations of the majority of Americans. It was when they saw the magnitude of the “Stop the Steal” movement, that they realized that no preexisting rules applied anymore.

From then on, Republicans no longer see the need for political power to be approved and legitimized through Democratic means. In their desperate, warped perception, political power can now be taken by ruse, deception, and even violence if necessary.

For them, the end justifies the means, and the end is to put in place a regime in America with characteristics similar to those existing before FDR’s New Deal. Trouble is, a good majority of Americans don't want to go back.

In the face of such undeniable, critical reality, is there anything that can be done to bring the Republican Party back to its pre-9/11 conservative roots? Is there anything left in the Republican Party that may serve as base to rebuild the conservative ideas that were once at the heart of their political ideology? Not in my view.

As I see it, the only way to revive the American conservative movement would be to have real Conservative Americans like George Will, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger et al., organize a new political party with values based on traditional, true, conservative principles that emphasize the new party’s perpetual adherence to Democratic and Constitutional ideals.

It is necessary, no, it is actually essential, to have a Conservative Political Party in America. The stability and well-functioning of the American political system depends on the balance between left-wing and right-wing ideological forces.

But the Republican Party is no longer a conservative political institution. It has now become an extreme-right-wing organization bent on dismantling the institutions that have kept the American Government functioning in the mostly-stable manner in which it has functioned for over one hundred years.

In the view of a good number of Americans like me, there is no hope of revival for the GOP. The Republican Party has to be razed to the ground so that a new, true conservative political institution may replace it.

In the meantime, vote Democrat in November. I already requested my Absentee Ballot that will soon be emailed to me, and when I get it I will vote Democrat across the board. In these elections, there is absolutely NO other choice.

Voting Republican in November means voting for the forces of chaos.

Salaroche

P.S.: September 26th. This morning (Thailand time) I received via email my Absentee Ballot along with the Voter Declaration/Oath of Voter, sent to me by the California County where I am registered to vote. The email also included clear instructions on how to Mail or FAX both documents back to them. If you are an American living abroad and wish to cast your vote in these crucial elections, please get in contact with the Registrar of Voters in your County/State and ask them to email you the Absentee Ballot Request form. In the State of California, where there are NO influential Maga Republicans trying to obstruct or restrict voting, it was a smooth, streamlined operation. Please don’t hesitate to request your Ballot, regardless of the County/State you’re registered in.