It is an interesting image you selected, because I surmise that the GOP has hit its high-water mark for some time to come. When the Dems were divided, it hurt them grieviously, and now the same has happened to the GOP. In the end, it will be good for them (particularly if they are out of the WH in 08 - see my blog for reasons why), but they will not have any serious power for some time to come, and with the country becoming more ethnically diverse, the GOP will become marginalized until they can bring over middle america again. To do that, they will have to go back to the issues that got them there - taxes, property rights, crime & safety, and intrusive regulation. This will be a massive rebuilding effort, done first at the local level.
I look to the GOP to go back to state level organizing for another reason. The geographic divide is catching up with the political one. Blue states are getting bluer and vice versa. What the GOP might do is solidify themselves in base states, and agressively seek to build those states into business magnets. Southern Red states aggressively co-opt business from blue states, and the national party would do well to be active in that effort. If, for example, North Carolina can convince BofA to move its remaining operations out of Mass and RI(and recently blue NH and Maine) to Charlotte, that would be a huge blow to New England. Or just think of how vulnerable NY state is. Until now, many states had Dem congressman and GOP governors, but as states like Mass. and NY go deep blue, the GOP is not constrained by the prospect of hurting their own. They might forge coalitions to convince corporations to forgo the obvious charms of having offices in NYC or Boston. Then, they can savage the economy in the Northeast, leaving the Blue States with the empty office and factory space, and the unemployed. And after a proper census and redistricting, the Northeast will lose House seats to the South and West, just as it has continued to do for for many years now.
Have you ever watched someone trip and fall, furiously attempting to latch on to something, anything... before their ass finally hits the floor? Almost as if in slow motion? Their grasping and clawing to avoid the fall is funnier than actually seeing them on the floor.
That's what the GOP has reminded me of in the last few years. And their pathetic excuses as to who left the object that made them trip in the first place is even more laughable.
Good riddance I say... the GOP was undone in 12 years. Typical republicans don't have much staying power anywhere from what I hear. Probably what makes them so frustrated.
2 comments:
It is an interesting image you selected, because I surmise that the GOP has hit its high-water mark for some time to come. When the Dems were divided, it hurt them grieviously, and now the same has happened to the GOP. In the end, it will be good for them (particularly if they are out of the WH in 08 - see my blog for reasons why), but they will not have any serious power for some time to come, and with the country becoming more ethnically diverse, the GOP will become marginalized until they can bring over middle america again. To do that, they will have to go back to the issues that got them there - taxes, property rights, crime & safety, and intrusive regulation. This will be a massive rebuilding effort, done first at the local level.
I look to the GOP to go back to state level organizing for another reason. The geographic divide is catching up with the political one. Blue states are getting bluer and vice versa. What the GOP might do is solidify themselves in base states, and agressively seek to build those states into business magnets. Southern Red states aggressively co-opt business from blue states, and the national party would do well to be active in that effort. If, for example, North Carolina can convince BofA to move its remaining operations out of Mass and RI(and recently blue NH and Maine) to Charlotte, that would be a huge blow to New England. Or just think of how vulnerable NY state is. Until now, many states had Dem congressman and GOP governors, but as states like Mass. and NY go deep blue, the GOP is not constrained by the prospect of hurting their own. They might forge coalitions to convince corporations to forgo the obvious charms of having offices in NYC or Boston. Then, they can savage the economy in the Northeast, leaving the Blue States with the empty office and factory space, and the unemployed. And after a proper census and redistricting, the Northeast will lose House seats to the South and West, just as it has continued to do for for many years now.
Have you ever watched someone trip and fall, furiously attempting to latch on to something, anything... before their ass finally hits the floor? Almost as if in slow motion? Their grasping and clawing to avoid the fall is funnier than actually seeing them on the floor.
That's what the GOP has reminded me of in the last few years. And their pathetic excuses as to who left the object that made them trip in the first place is even more laughable.
Good riddance I say... the GOP was undone in 12 years. Typical republicans don't have much staying power anywhere from what I hear. Probably what makes them so frustrated.
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