IT’S THE GOP LEADERSHIP THAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEMISE OF THE GOP

…The founder of the Grand Old Party, Abraham Lincoln

 

Being untruthful with their own members is killing the Republican Party.

 

As my blog readership and followers have thankfully continued to grow, so have the comments pro & con, on what I write. 

 

However, what has also increased is how more and more of the readers are commenting on the disarray of the Republican Party, and how it continues to get worse.

 

With all the latest activities in the House of Representatives, the other item that continues to increase is a references to the contents of a book written in 2010 by Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan, and Eric Cantor titled the “Young Guns”.

 

Today, we keep hearing from the political pundits that it’s the far-right of the GOP that is bringing down the Grand Old Party.  But the reality is, and the "Young Guns" book confirms that it has been the latest party leadership that has been causing all the major problems that are dividing the GOP.

 

For instance, let’s look at what those young Republican leaders wrote in the “Young Guns” book back in 2010.

 

“They think if they [the Democrats] make government so large and the debt so big it will be impossible to reverse it.  Who would have thought America could be going the way it’s going now? With government taking over businesses? With government taking over health care? We’ve always believed in freedom as a country but now we’re starting to understand that we have to fight for it.” Therefore the obvious goal: “….unshackling the grip that Washington has on so much of our lives.”

 

Other comments were, “The Republican base was angry about the way the party had betrayed its principles.  Under Republican leadership in the early 2000s, spending and government got out of control. And as government grew, there were scandals and political compromises.”

 

Yes, the authors of these comments about their own party were the “Young Guns”: Kevin McCarthy, with additions by by Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan.  

 

But as of today, Cantor is gone, defeated by a Tea Party Member in 2014. McCarthy has backed off of replacing John Boehner as Speaker and Paul Ryan has a good reason to fear the consequences of his trying to lead the conservative fanatics he and his colleagues helped bring to the US Congress.

 

The real cause for the party disarray is that these “Guns” and others are the ones that brought the problems upon themselves with their phony promises and empty rhetoric.

 

These young Republicans kept saying that they could get rid of Obamacare, which was impossible, but they staged over 50 “show votes” in the House that meant nothing.  Kevin McCarthy also talked about repealing the bank bailout, and unwinding “the vast amounts of government spending and mandates that distorts the innovation and free enterprise in our financial services industry”.  He was referring to the new ACA health care system, the saving of the US Auto Industry, (whose loans were paid-back in full), and the on-going investment in our clean energy sector.

 

Mr. McCarthy had said, “Should we regain the American people’s trust, we will insist that our feet be held to the fire.”  Well they did, and those feet obviously couldn’t take much heat.

 

A few of the traditional Republicans that don’t think the word compromise is a “Four-Letter Word”, have since gone on record protesting the “Young Guns” approach to their “non-governing”.

 

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) says that his caucus has become a “banana republic”.  Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) has suggested getting together with Democrats to counter his party’s “rejectionist wing,” and Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) has criticized time and again GOP tactics based on government shutdowns with zero chance of success.

 

But even with these select few, those in their base leadership still avoid any debates over what conservatism really means or discussing whether compromise is even an acceptable avenue.

 

They continue to make inflammatory pronouncements, just to appease the far-right wing.  But this approach has only become a form of disrespect for true Republican politicians who sincerely care about outcomes, and not just the phony words.

 

So, with all of that, we are left with a party that has no idea as to what they are, what they believe in and a party that can no longer recognize the truth.

 

To function as a democracy, we need at least two serious political parties.  It truly is sad to watch the demise of the party that was founded by the great Abraham Lincoln.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2015