What is a Republican nowadays?There was a time, long ago when I worked for the Republican Party briefly on the Hill. I had interned at the Free Congress’ America’s Voice network for two years just down the road, so the natural progression was to peddle my resume up in the House and Senate office buildings after I graduated from college.
I actually got a job fairly quickly and was hired by a very cool guy who taught me much about how Washington, at lease the House, worked. Once I saw how it worked though I became very disheartened.
I was naïve, green, maybe a little soft, but I soon realized that Washington was no place for ideas. (Queue the laugh track.) I had left the world of ideas at Mary Washington College. Frankly, I should have known better, I did intern in the vicinity for 2 years.
I foolishly believed that the GOP stood for limited government.
Now, this was just before Bush came into power and so the GOP as the party of small government was still kind of legit rhetorically. But it had really seeced to be a small government party long before I entered the RNC building. I wonder if the GOP ever was the party of small government. Maybe if we had had a president Goldwater. Perhaps not even then.
I truly believed, and continue to believe, that the size of the government should be shrunk. But the Republican Party, though paying lip service to limited government, has never engaged in an effort to limit government.
On the Hill I saw that limited government took a back seat to making sure power was consolidated for GOP members of congress. If that meant expanding a military base in the member’s district at the cost of billions to the taxpayer, so be it. Shrinking government means shrinking power. It is a rare Congressman that is secure enough psychologically to curtail his own power.
Power is seductive. It is sweet. Once one has the ability to put the fear of God into one’s enemies it’s hard to give that up. Power gives security, and money.
Washington is a place to get paid at the expense of the citizens of the vast American empire. It’s a big jack folks. The gangsters (Washington establishment) steal from you, with the power of law, to enrich themselves and the groups that will ensure they remain in power. It’s a syndicate. But we are so damn conditioned to accept it that we do. It doesn’t even occur to us that maybe, just maybe, our government has gone off the tracks. Maybe the government has become illegitimate.
So anyway, what is a Republican nowadays?
Is it Rush Limbaugh? Honestly the man was a heroin addict (granted hillbilly heroin but heroin none-the-less.) It doesn’t seem to me that the man has ever made his way around a running track. Should this guy be speaking for the GOP? God I hope not.
Is it Sarah Palin? This woman was a huge mistake. Yes she’s attractive and she’s a woman but she has no vision (to put it kindly.) If the GOP wants another George Bush it should support her. She’ll work out about as well.
Is it Ron Paul? Now, according to a prominent senator Ron Paul is not the leader of the Republican Party. But damn he sure looks it. He’s the only one with any credibility in the face of the financial crisis.
But how can a dissident lead a party? The establishment GOP hates Ron Paul because he actually believes that war mongering is evil and that expanding that military base on the taxpayer’s dime is wrong. He believes in cutting taxes but he also believes in cutting spending. This is very inconvenient for a deficit happy Republican Party. He believes in hard decisions and recognizes that the American people are ready for hard choices so long as they are the right choices.
Just because Washington is morally bankrupt does not mean that all of America is.
The GOP needs to learn this. If it does not it will no longer be a viable party. I am sad to say that the party I once supported may rather shoot itself in the head rather than embrace a true small government agenda. Small government means small power, and that is the crux of the "problem."
-Nick Sorrentino
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