NY Times Thinks There Needs To Be A New Grand Old Party

08 Jun, 2016 by William Teach

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I love when non-Republicans advise the GOP on how to act. In this case, it is resident “radical Centrist” Thomas L. Freidman, who, despite being a self avowed “radical centrist”, tends to take the side of the extreme Left more often. Regardless, he does actually make a few good points

Dump the G.O.P. for a Grand New Party
If a party could declare moral bankruptcy, today’s Republican Party would be in Chapter 11.

This party needs to just shut itself down and start over — now. Seriously, someone please start a New Republican Party! (snip)

And we know just how little they are attached to any principles, because today’s Republican Party’s elders have told us so by (with a few notable exceptions) being so willing to throw their support behind a presidential candidate whom they know is utterly ignorant of policy, has done no homework, has engaged in racist attacks on a sitting judge, has mocked a disabled reporter, has impugned an entire religious community, and has tossed off ignorant proposals for walls, for letting allies go it alone and go nuclear and for overturning trade treaties, rules of war and nuclear agreements in ways that would be wildly destabilizing if he took office.

Despite that, all top G.O.P. leaders say they will still support Donald Trump — even if he’s dabbled in a “textbook definition” of racism, as House Speaker Paul Ryan described it — because he will sign off on their agenda and can do only limited damage given our checks and balances.

He has a good point. The GOP has long abandoned principle for pure pragmatism. One must have some pragmatism in politics, because not ever candidate or party will jibe perfectly. What does the GOP stand for now? I disagree on Trump’s “racist” statement: it’s not racism. Mexican is not a race. It was bigoted, and, more relevantly, just a person being a jerk. As for Muslims, perhaps they should work to reduce the ever-growing population of extremists within their own ranks. Trump doesn’t seem to have a firm grasp of policy on most things. It’s all based on soundbites.

This is exactly why so many Republican voters opted for Trump in the first place. They intuited that the only thing these G.O.P. politicians were interested in was holding onto their seats in office — and they were right. It made voters so utterly cynical that many figured, Why not inflict Trump on them? It’s all just a con game anyway. And at least Trump sticks it to all of those politically correct liberals. And anyway, governing doesn’t matter — only attitude.

Again, a good point. The GOP barely stood up to Obama. They aren’t being fiscally responsible. They assailed Ted Cruz and a few others for attempting to instituted financial sanity. Too much get along go along. You know the story, no need to regurgitate it. Here’s the kicker, though. See that (snip) in the first excerpt? Let’s start with Freidman’s third paragraph, to see what kind of GOP we need

America needs a healthy two-party system. America needs a healthy center-right party to ensure that the Democrats remain a healthy center-left party. America needs a center-right party ready to offer market-based solutions to issues like climate change. America needs a center-right party that will support common-sense gun laws. America needs a center-right party that will support common-sense fiscal policy. America needs a center-right party to support both free trade and aid to workers impacted by it. America needs a center-right party that appreciates how much more complicated foreign policy is today, when you have to manage weak and collapsing nations, not just muscle strong ones.

Freidman loves his centeredness schtick. He wrote a book on it. He’s correct that we need a GOP to support free trade and fiscal sanity. But, climate change? Really? What he means by “market based solutions” is Government. That’s not the free market. By common sense gun laws he means lots of infringement on the Constitutional Rights of law abiding citizens.

But, where is the notion of a center-left Democratic Party? If we need a new GOP, we need a new Donkey Party, as they’ve left the plantation for massive Big Government. It’s not really left leaning on the political scale. It’s way, way to the right. The GOP is center right. At times, it veers into center left. The problem here is that the center has shifted. The real center would have a party that supports limited rule. Limited involvement with our private lives. Limited involvement with our economic lives. And, as part of what is American Classical Liberalism, limited federal government, leaving everything except those powers delegated to the federal government to the States and The People.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.