Everything in Moderation

I had a conversation recently with a man named Charles Nichols, of the California Right to Carry.  Nichols is a great example of the depths the GOP has sunken to. Through the course of the dialogue between me and Charles Nichols, he revealed his true colors by referring to some members of the Republican Party as RINO's, which refers to certain members of the GOP as "Republican In Name Only".

That term, RINO, really highlights the problem the Republican Party is facing today. Since the early 90's, they have decided to become a radical, ultra right-wing party, pledging their allegiance to the worst of the corporationists and the radical religious groups in our country, and over the last 10 years or so, have been on  a mission to force the moderates out of the party.  Because of the success of that mission, today, the bulk of the Republican party looks alot more like Michele Bauchman, Allen West, Rick Santorum, and Todd Akin than it does Olympia Snow, or even Ronald Reagan. When the majority of your supporters resemble Michele Bauchman instead of Ronald Reagan, that should be a great indication you have a serious problem.  [By the way, while we're on the topic of Santorum, try googling it, it's fun]   

But today's GOP has been living in a fantasy land of denial and self delusion, partially helped out by their cheerleaders at Fox News. Their self delusion is so deep, they actually believe Romney is a moderate, and they lost the election because they ran a candidate that is too moderate.  Really, I'm not making this up.  It makes you wonder if they started lighting up before recreational marijuana use began to become decriminalized last week.

The truth is, while Romney is skilled at acting like a moderate, there is nothing moderate about him. He is a hybrid Republican. A combination of two of the worst parts of American citizenry: He's both a corproationist, and a radical religious nut job.  Romney ties together the two radical wings of the Republican party better than anyone since Bush Jr, except unlike the Bush the second, Romney is extremely smart and shrewd.

The country as a whole, however, isn't any more like the radical republicans angry at the moderates they call RINO's, than they are like the radical democrats that get so frustrated with their own moderates, which they call, "Blue Dog Democrats".  Almost all of us lie somewhere in the middle, either slightly right of center, or slightly left.  Americans are much more like RINO's and Blue Dogs, than the GOP realizes, and not recognizing that will be the kiss of death for their party, relegating them to the status of a weak, regional party.

If either party wakes up from their self imposed delusion and realizes we are a country of moderates flanked by some very loud radicals, instead of their current view, that we are a country of radicals plagued by the existence of some moderates, then they can forge a bi-partisan coalition that can successfully govern for decades.