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You are exactly right, and his experience paralells my own, or at least his conclusions do.

The only place we part company has to do with the fact that I am far more cynical. Maybe it has to do with spending the past few years in Tom DeLay country, but I have moved beyond the vow of never voting for a Republican again.

Because, truth be told and sad as it is to say, there's only one party now. I sure hope Howard Dean or someone can prove me wrong, but they won't.

And now that there's just one party, everyone can either pull their collective pants down and bend over for another 4, 8, 12, 16 years. Or everyone of every political stripe can swallow hard and actually go join the Republican Party and attack the disease from within.

The strategy is to form a "moderate" wing of the party again and vote the neonincompoops out on their fringy asses.

I'm serious.

Think about it.

What other choice do we have?

Posted by: UncleBob at December 3, 2003 06:51 AM

I don't know how to respond. Except that my entire family has left the Republican party. We were purged in the late 80's. I have voted across tickets for many years having never been a part of either party. But I have to agree with David's premise. The Republican party is in the midst of a fascist takeover and the only proper response is to vote against them at every opportunity. I will not ever vote Republican again for any race no matter how minor. I have begun giving money to their opposition and intend to continue to work harder and harder to oppose them.

In my considered opinion the Republican party has become the biggest threat to my ability to care for my family and live my life there is.

I have to respectfully disgree with you.

Posted by: filchyboy at December 3, 2003 09:23 AM

Actually, I believe we agree in principle and only disagree on strategy.

I consider the Republican Party, with the Neocons in charge, as a huge threat too, not only to my family's well-being, but that of the whole country.

That's why I say, invade 'em Trojan Horse style.

(I used to be only about 25% serious about this. Now I think I'm up to maybe 65%. The other 35% of me knows too many people would wind up vomiting as they signed the party cards.)

Posted by: UncleBob at December 3, 2003 09:32 AM

The problem is exemplified though by the bonus link I just added. When a fascism has begun you cannot counter it from within because you will be "taken out" by the party membership. The poster wants death but as David makes clear this goes into jobs, relationships, etc. Hannah Arendt has done a great job of laying out the evolution of a fascism. I think it's too late now.

If my family and others did not allow themselves to be purged back in the late 80's and early 90's by those wishing to pander to the religious right then what you propose would have been possible. If it had been done before 2000 then it might have worked. Now I fear there are simply too many party members who have a fully construsted demonized view of the opposition.

You are advocating rebuilding a moderate wing which has been purged and rendered useless for well over a decade now. I just can't possibly see how that can be reversed. You would do far better I would suggest by pushing the same agenda within the Democratic party. The fringe elements of the Democratic party are far weaker and far less dogmatic at this point in history. The deonization on the left began waning in the 70's and is pretty much a factor of history now.

I think though that we may be able to come to an agreement about a proper strategy. What exactly are you refering to when you say a Trojan Horse? How would one do such a thing when the party is ascendant and brooks no dissent?

Posted by: filchyboy at December 3, 2003 09:46 AM

Ah, it's probably just a pipe dream. But I know a lot of people like myself why are disenfranchised enough that we haven't belonged to either major party in decades if ever.

Trojan Horse: It's mathematically possible for enough independents, Greens, Democrats and other third-party people to become a majority within the Republican Party simply by signing up as card-carrying members.

The fringies might be entrenched now, but if they were outnumbered in every district and county, they could be replaced, one-by-one at the precinct level at first, if need be. Obviously this would be no instant solution but it's mathmatically possible.

(Sigh) However, it would take a hell of a coordinated effort. And at some point the fringe lunatics would become aware that they'd been infiltrated.

Really, I think there's already some turmoil within the GOP as senior congressmen who don't happen to be on the fringe have finally started to recognize that they've been usurped by radicals.

The first line of hope would be that these more moderate old bulls have the ability to wrest it back. I don't see that happening as long as Bush is a viable candidate, but the next election will be more interesting.

The second line of hope would be that the weak-ass lawyer-suck-ups now running the Democratic National Committee are capable of pulling their heads out of their asses and realizing that Bill Clinton's successful past strategy for beating the Republicans is just that: Past. Pretending to be Republican Light won't work. Liebermann is finding that out the hard way right now. Unfortunately, the DNC braintrust and many of the tired old dogs of the party refuse to back the one man able to make an electric connection with voters outside of Washington - Howard Dean.

Instead of trying to cut his knees out from under him, they need to acknowledge he's by far the best chance they have, and help him refine his campaign behavior and mature as a candidate. If they would quit trying to hold people back from embracing him, they could instead wind up raising a buttload of money for the presidential elections. And they're going to need a big buttload of money to take on Bush Corporate.

Really, all of this is just kind of window dressing for the fact that it's become Corporate America vs the American citizens. Those in power in the Republican Party are those who have most clearly demonstrated that they will do anything - anything no matter how repulsive or reprehensible - to meet the special needs of the big corporations. And the big corporations have made it totally clear that large and continuing bribes await those politicians willing to sell out the United States of America for personal material gain. In so many ways, people's employers are stabbing them in the back while simultaneously handing them their paychecks.

Gagh! I'm rambling again!

Posted by: UncleBob at December 3, 2003 11:26 AM

1) Orcinus piece: fabulous, absolutely spot-on.

2) The truly disgusting part of that letter-to-the-editor? As a sonar technician in the Navy, the author will NEVER serve in Iraq or Afghanistan. He has absolutely NO CLUE what's going on, on the ground, and the chance of him or any member of the Navy (with the pointed exception of Naval pilots) will be asked to shed blood for this trumped-up and fallacious cause. I'll take my cue from folks who've actually served there and from veterans of Gulf War I and other wars. I've yet to hear from a veteran who's actually seen combat that this war is not a crock.

Posted by: Rayne at December 3, 2003 01:20 PM

No matter the legitimacy of the war or not it is exactly this propensity for viollence which is what David refers to in his piece. This is NOT the American way. Dissent is patriotic and whether the war is right or not shouldn't effect the validity of pursuing your agenda through violence. This little sonar Navy guy is an ignorant simp but he is seeing his views reflected in the words and actions of the Republican party. This is the face of fascism: corporatism with a violent face. This is so wrong on so many levels.

Posted by: filchyboy at December 3, 2003 01:37 PM

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