Whither the GOP?
Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:59 am
Years ago, David Duke ran for the Senate in Louisiana in 1990, the Republican Party did everything to disavow his candidacy. The response to Roy Moore has been distinctly different.
Forget, for a moment, the idea of 33 year old Roy Moore picking up your teenage daughter after cheerleader practice. Consider that this man, in the 2nd decade of the 21st Century, participated in an educational class that said that you had a Christian duty to vote against any woman who ran for public office. Consider that in this very campaign, he told and African American man who asked when America was great, he said during slavery, because families kept together back then.
The GOP very much wants Roy Moore's vote in this razor thin Senate majority. They are willing to overlook certain things. But if Roy Moore is elected, he will be a six year pimple on the image of the GOP.
It strikes me that the GOP is being tactically smart and strategically dumb. They are holding on to their seat. They are supporting their President. They are shoving through their Tax Cut for the rich, which everyone pretty much admits is a prelude to slashing social programs. The GOP never cared about the trillion dollar hole, because they were going to use that hole as the justification to slash social programs. Of course, they are careful to say that they won't change existing retirees. They have to keep their older voters happy. And if Trump tweets out Anti-Muslim videos from a far right British Nationalist group, well that's just Trump being Trump, right?
But what happens when their older voters die? What happens when 13 million people lose their health care benefits? What happens in 2027 when the middle class sees their tax cuts expire while the corporations sail on with permanent tax cuts? What happens when the rhetoric from the Roy Moores of the Republican party land on the increasingly racially diverse ears of his fellow citizens? The GOP has made their wealthy donors happy, true dat. But as much as they can lie about the deficit, they cannot lie about its impact. Ultimately things will become apparent to some people that even if they hate the Democratic Party, the Republican Party winks at racism, lies about deficits, and tries to cover up election tampering by an enemy of the United States.
Years ago, Cadillac did a demographic study, which yielded good news and bad news. The good news was their customer base was very very loyal. They loved their Cadillacs. The bad news was that they weren't adding any younger customers, and within 20 years all of their current customers would be dead. That's when Cadillac started marketing to younger Americans who were buying BMW and Audi. Their cars got smaller, the suspensions got stiffer, and the styling got sharper. Shifters came off the column.
The GOP is kind of like Cadillac, selling to a group of old rich white people. They better wake up and do some demographic surveys.
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I will make a prediction, which is always fun because people can go back and make fun of it. But I think 2018 could very well be a watershed year, both in American and World history. It feels like 1918, 1939, 1968, like a whole bunch of historical currents are coming together. I'm not saying we're having a revolution, I hope and pray we do not. But it feels like a watershed year, like tectonic plates are shifting in American Politics. I'm not sure the Democratic and Republican Parties will be around in their current form in 2030.
Like Dylan's Mr. Jones, I know something is happening but I don't know what it is.
Forget, for a moment, the idea of 33 year old Roy Moore picking up your teenage daughter after cheerleader practice. Consider that this man, in the 2nd decade of the 21st Century, participated in an educational class that said that you had a Christian duty to vote against any woman who ran for public office. Consider that in this very campaign, he told and African American man who asked when America was great, he said during slavery, because families kept together back then.
The GOP very much wants Roy Moore's vote in this razor thin Senate majority. They are willing to overlook certain things. But if Roy Moore is elected, he will be a six year pimple on the image of the GOP.
It strikes me that the GOP is being tactically smart and strategically dumb. They are holding on to their seat. They are supporting their President. They are shoving through their Tax Cut for the rich, which everyone pretty much admits is a prelude to slashing social programs. The GOP never cared about the trillion dollar hole, because they were going to use that hole as the justification to slash social programs. Of course, they are careful to say that they won't change existing retirees. They have to keep their older voters happy. And if Trump tweets out Anti-Muslim videos from a far right British Nationalist group, well that's just Trump being Trump, right?
But what happens when their older voters die? What happens when 13 million people lose their health care benefits? What happens in 2027 when the middle class sees their tax cuts expire while the corporations sail on with permanent tax cuts? What happens when the rhetoric from the Roy Moores of the Republican party land on the increasingly racially diverse ears of his fellow citizens? The GOP has made their wealthy donors happy, true dat. But as much as they can lie about the deficit, they cannot lie about its impact. Ultimately things will become apparent to some people that even if they hate the Democratic Party, the Republican Party winks at racism, lies about deficits, and tries to cover up election tampering by an enemy of the United States.
Years ago, Cadillac did a demographic study, which yielded good news and bad news. The good news was their customer base was very very loyal. They loved their Cadillacs. The bad news was that they weren't adding any younger customers, and within 20 years all of their current customers would be dead. That's when Cadillac started marketing to younger Americans who were buying BMW and Audi. Their cars got smaller, the suspensions got stiffer, and the styling got sharper. Shifters came off the column.
The GOP is kind of like Cadillac, selling to a group of old rich white people. They better wake up and do some demographic surveys.
=====
I will make a prediction, which is always fun because people can go back and make fun of it. But I think 2018 could very well be a watershed year, both in American and World history. It feels like 1918, 1939, 1968, like a whole bunch of historical currents are coming together. I'm not saying we're having a revolution, I hope and pray we do not. But it feels like a watershed year, like tectonic plates are shifting in American Politics. I'm not sure the Democratic and Republican Parties will be around in their current form in 2030.
Like Dylan's Mr. Jones, I know something is happening but I don't know what it is.