I really think putting the social conservatives under the same tent as the fiscal conservatives hurt both groups. We end up being saddled with the worst of both come election time- the dems happily trot out the whole anti-science trope and there's not much that can be done because a small but vocal portion of the people under the umbrella fit the meme. And who wants to vote for the adults in the room that pay attention to the deficit? Nobody wants to vote for the guy that doesn't dole out free money left and right.
I expect the left has similar problems since we can tie reasonable climate hawks to AOC's cow farts and legit social change can be linked to the rioters/looters. Potentially useful concepts easily lost by the ridiculous fringes.
Compromise, of course, is the answer, both inter- and intra-party compromise, and our Constitution was written to encourage compromise in every way they could think of, imperfect humans that they were. But everyone's on the warpath now.
And Republicans' brand of this business is a bit more troubling, isn't it? Theirs has already spilled blood in an attempted coup, however clumsy it might have been. I mocked this conservative clambake a bit, but it has me worried. As I listen to the clips of speakers, such as Pompeo and the most-warmly-received Hawley bragging about his vote against democracy, I have no doubt the Republican Party has become the Authoritarian Party. The clambake folks are wildly cheering against democracy and in favor of making their own vote meaningless, thereby rendering themselves powerless and truly in thrall to their idols. And they'll make serfs of us all, because that's all we'll be without a vote.
Some say the battle for the Republican Party has not yet concluded, but I have yet to see a battle and continue to see no signs of one threatening to begin. I did see McConnell, looking like he might wet himself or burst into nervous laughter as he spoke to the cameras and his own party in hopeful conviction that what he said would hopefully become reality, eagerly point to how united the Republican Party was in their opposition to the covid-relief bill. That's the best he could muster, the party's united opposition to the Democrats and their commitment to the warpath. I also heard him say he would absolutely support Trump if he ran a second time. That doesn't sound like the beginnings of a battle to clean up the party in the defense of democracy. That sounds like appeasement, and appeasement never works, especially with the crowd Trump has thrown the door open to -- the bigots looking to spark a race war, the bigots who don't necessarily need a race war but were too dull to be interested in politics until Trump started kicking people around, the holy rolling End of Timers, the holy rollers who believe Trump is a vessel of God, the holly-rolling pro-lifers, the anti-government militants looking to start any kind of war and all the rest who round out that nearly circular Venn diagram of shared beliefs.
I know there are traditional Republicans, but they look to me like dinosaurs now. Here's my worst-case scenario I fear from this clambake: Trump announces his candidacy in 2024. The highest-ranking Republican turtle has already pledged his support. Even if it isn't Trump, it'll be someone of his choosing, even if it isn't made tonight. And we've already seen how Trump's brand of politics would turn us all into Russian serfs with meaningless votes. There will be no fight from the elected dinosaurs, as there hasn't been to date. There is nothing to fight for, because
it was all a lie.
But 2024 will be a battle for democracy. That's something to fight for. I often wonder this when I hear these very high polling numbers of agreement within the Republican Party cincerning previously unheard questions of whether political violence will be necessary and their like: Have all the voting dinosaurs already jumped ship, leaving the Venn-diagram vandals smiling at each across their circle jerk, or has so much of the party turned to their darker angels in these trying times?
Closet optimist that I am, I hope you and your fiscal conservatives and all the voting dinosaurs, no matter where they've landed themselves today, join me in compromise at the ballot box, in defending democracy by holding our noses to vote for at least some of these Democrats, because there is no other choice, unless you choose serfdom. Personally, I have
zero fucking interest in being a serf, and I'd appreciate not being dragged into it by those more interested in settling their personal grievances than in living free.
