Commentary: Why I Am Not A Republican

Somebody once asked ex-New Dealer Ronald Reagan why he abandoned the Democratic Party.

His response:  “The party abandoned me.”

That is exactly what I would say today about the party of Reagan.

As a moderate libertarian and humanist , I can remember a time when there a place for guys like me, albeit a small one,  under the Republican tent.  The party has some cranks, sure, but they also had statesmen like Jack Kemp and Barry Goldwater, and intellectual heavyweights like Bill Buckley and George Will.  Even a populist like Reagan came with some gravitas.

We now live in a world where none of the above gentlemen would likely be allowed through the front door of the erstwhile Party of Lincoln.  Instead we get buffoons like the recently departed Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin , medieval-minded zealots like Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum (not to mention one Rick Cramer), and a plethora of mental-midget conservaclone talking heads, whose idea of show preparation seems to consist of copying each-others’ talking points, and few of whom, if any, could debate their way out the proverbial paper bag.

You mention “Republican” to many a mainstream American and you get buzzwords like “old,” “white,” and “intolerant.”  Did I mention “white”…?

What does the “Stupid Party” need to do to reclaim its former glory? It could start by acting like it really means it when it describes itself as the party of less government intrusion.  Running roughshod over civil liberties in not just a bad thing when Democrats do it, ya know.  Flush the crony capitalists and take a stand for free markets and the rule of law.

The party is in desperate need of young blood.  It could start by abandoning the efforts to turn back the clock to a Norman Rockwell-version of America (which never really existed anyway) and focus on the issues affecting real quality of life in our country...you know, the economy, stupid!

There are some (relatively) young thinking Republicans, and turning the party over to them would be a step in the right direction.  Until that happens however, the Group of Old People will continue their merry march toward irrelevancy.