If GOP hates so many, how can they win elections?

November 10, 2012

William V. DePaulo: GOP doomed by its hateful message

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Don't read this if you think Barack Obama's re-election was a result of tilted polls, media bias, Acorn-type voter fraud or a vast Kenyan-Islamo-Socialist conspiracy against Judeo-Christian values. Candidly, you folks can't be helped; just burrow into the alternative reality you've comfortably occupied, warmed by your hatred of "them," all people who don't look like you, love like you or pray like you.

But if you think a vibrant Republican Party is an important national asset, keep reading, even if with one eye sharply focused on the author's point of view. Because this epistle is written by an unrepentant liberal, yeah, that dirtiest of all political words for the last decade or so. But note, being a self-described liberal is not the same as being a Democrat. If perpetuating Democratic occupation of the White House were the only objective, the prescription for the Republican Party is simple: don't change nuttin.

To be sure, your scrivener has acknowledged to friends that the greatest acts of political courage in his lifetime were performed by Republicans: Nelson Rockefeller at the 1964 Republican convention firmly refusing to be shouted down by the extremists on the convention floor; Elliot Richardson declining on principle to fire the Watergate special prosecutor, resigning as attorney general, and thereby ending his career as a Republican politician, and -- most surprising -- Bush Attorney General John Ashcroft, literally rising from his deathbed to resist a dark-of-night White House effort to extend authorization for a program of unconstitutional spying on U.S. citizens.

So this writer values a principled Republican Party. For one simple reason -- a vibrant GOP is critical to keeping the whole system honest. But fixing the current Republican Party requires first that one honestly diagnose the problem, for which history has some value. A candid review of the last 50 years of our political history requires a would-be fixer to face one overriding reality: the modern Republican Party is a product of political reaction against change, the biggest of which was the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Regardless of his positive qualities, Barry Goldwater ran in 1964 (in a campaign marked by Ronald Reagan's introduction to national politics) on a platform committed to repealing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which LBJ realized was giving the South to the Republican Party for a generation. Nixon picked up the theme in 1968 with a thinly-veiled call for "law and order" which no one confused with a simple concern for enhanced law enforcement; it was all about keeping "them" down.

More recently, purported efforts to ensure the "integrity" of the election process were transparent attempts to disenfranchise historically excluded African-American citizens, an effort that backfired enormously in the Tea Party governor of Florida's restriction of early voting days, by galvanizing black churches into a get-out-the-vote effort that surprisingly delivered 29 electoral votes to the Democratic candidate.

Over time, Republican political operatives added to the list of those whom it was OK to hate: "treehugger" environmentalists (including locals who oppose destroying 480-million-year-old mountains for the temporary expedient of boiling water to turn turbines in coal-fired electric generation plants), illegal aliens (the first of whom was some guy named Columbus), gay men and women (particularly those seeking the most conservative institution on the planet -- marriage), "liberal" intellectuals generally (Democratic Sen. John Kerry shockingly spoke French!) and climate scientists in particular (creators of that biggest of all scientific hoaxes, "climate change" -- the reality of which has already reduced west Texas to a desert) and religious minorities like Muslims (who now outnumber Episcopalians in the United States).

Critically, it was not enough to simply disagree with these "others" -- it was necessary to hate them. Over time, the collective electoral effect of the Republican Party's expanding appetite for hate has been to make the GOP the new minority, easily the simplest explanation for the ability of a Democrat to win election in an era of persistently high unemployment and exploding debt.

So that's it, really. The Republican Party cannot build a future based on expanding the list of Americans whom it is OK to hate. The totally foreseeable and only logical result of that endeavor is that, in time, the purveyor of hate is reduced in direct proportion to the increase of those hated. So it behooves Republicans to seriously examine their affinity for marketers of hate, whether on hate radio, in high-sounding but bogus philanthropic groups, or in their individual hearts.

There is, after all, an alternative model for Republicans to follow; a man named Lincoln who issued the Emancipation Proclamation ending three centuries of slavery for millions of Africans brought to this country against their will in chains. Yes, Lincoln, the first Republican, whose stature in American life grows exponentially with every book written and every movie made about him. Think about him as an alternative to the recent hatemongers. We will welcome you back to the contest for America's soul!

DePaulo is a Charleston lawyer.

 

Electoral College Reform

If we must have an electoral college, here is how it could be structured.

Consider, the U. S. House of Representatives represents the people, each state is proportioned representatives according to its population.

The Electoral College represents the electorate, the voters, therefore electors should be apportioned according to the number of registered voters in each state.

Then, when the election is over, those electors will vote in proportion to the registered voters who actually voted.

For example, if a given state has five electors, based on voter registration, but only 60% of those voters cast their votes, then only three of those electors would get to cast their vote.  And their vote would be proportioned to the winning candidates.

Weltschmerz week of Oct 29

Musings not so good week of Oct 29

With wind and rain on Monday and Tuesday, our fringe effects of Hurricane Sandy, power was out from midnight Mon to noon Tues, not too much to put up with, but Tessa, little terrier mix, was sick with fever and lethargy and apparent pain—difficulty moving from one place to another, and needing help to get onto or off the couch.  And I had a toothache. 

As rain diminished later on Tuesday, I made an appointment with the vet for Tessa, and took her in at 3:15.  While he could not pinpoint her problem, he was able to rule out Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, and a couple of others, gave her shots of antibiotic and anti-inflammatory drugs, and pills to take twice a day for fifteen days.  I also got a refill of Frankie’s allergy pills, which are also administered twice daily.  I am happy to say Tessa has made an amazing recovery, is really all better now.  It remains to be seen what happens when her drug regimen is over.

On Wed I voted early at the courthouse, there was a line, not intolerable, chatted with some friends, manned Democratic headquarters in the afternoon.  Did some phone banking.  On Thursday I mailed copies of 13 pages that we had done to the state hdqtrs.   Received new pages by email from state hdqtrs, with a note, “Forward.”

I went to the dentist on Fri a.m., was diagnosed with abscessed tooth, and was prescribed an antibiotic for that.  I then stopped by the Dem hdqtrs—not open in the morning, and someone else had duty in the afternoon, but I needed to drop off some materials.  After I exited the building, I realized that I had locked the key inside the building, had carefully locked all the doors before exiting.  We keep the key to the front door in a lockbox at the back door.  Well, at least I had not locked my car keys inside, and my cell phone was working, so I called Dorothy and laid it on her.  I just could not bring myself to try to track down somebody with another key.   Then I went to Southern States to get some feed, and discovered that I could not find my debit card.  No problem, I just wrote a check.  I stopped by dollar store to get some tinned cat and dog food, ‘cause they have our brands cheaper than elsewhere.  They have a system where they just take the blank check and run it through, and then you sign on the little window.  But it wouldn’t take my signature, and she couldn’t get it to work; after several tries to reboot the machine, etc., we finally switched to another machine and had to start all over.  In the meantime, rummaging around in my purse I found the wayward debit card and was able to use that.

I came home and took a long nap.

But these travails are all trivial compared to what is going on elsewhere, and I know much was preying on my mind.  There was a pall hanging over the nation in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the overwhelming, heartrending scenes of devastation, and the reality that this was the fruition of long years, decades even, of denial of scientific evidence of global warming, failure to take any action to mitigate the inexorable progress of climate change, and consequent disastrous weather events.   As well, watching the antics of voter suppression, concerned with how this would affect the election, and most of all, affect our democracy. 

Then, on Friday evening, I was watching the msnbc special on Hurricane Sandy, a tribute and benefit concert.  After some banter and music, a scrolling of scenes from the beaches and communities devastated by the storm.   Much moved, I sat at my computer and started making the following notes:

Did anyone really think it would end with Katrina?  Or did anyone think anything would be done to prevent such a horrible event occurring again?  Storm of the century, indeed.  The century has barely begun and we have already had two “storms of the century.”  And don’t even think about the drought, the wildfires, the floods, the tornadoes, and elsewhere, Africa drying up, Asia washing away, Arctic and Antarctic breaking up, glaciers melting, Australia not sure whether to expire under wildfires or floods—and now, watching those scenes from Staten Island, Rockaway, the Jersey beaches, the blizzards, it doesn’t even bear thinking about. 

And it didn’t have to be this way. 

It was at this point that it was like a huge stabbing pain in my heart, and overwhelmed with despair, I burst into tears.  I cried and cried, all the pent up despair over the years, decades even, of watching the failures to heed the warnings of scientists about global warming/climate change, the denial, the refusal to take any action over this, the gravest problem facing the world.  While we crept inexorably toward the tipping point, the point of no return.  While the whole world watched, and waited, and hoped.  And now, it is too late.