'The Republican Party of today stands for nothing except the pursuit of power as an end in itself'

[swag]

http://capitalgainsandgames.com/blog/bruce-bartlett/1899/am-i-right-or-left?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CapitalGainsAndGames+%28Capital+Gains+and+Games+-+Wall+Street%2C+Washington%2C+and+Everything+in+Between%29

Former Reagan/Bush(I) advisor Bruce Bartlett:

On the question of where I place myself on the political spectrum, I will have more to say as time goes on. In my own mind, I have the same political philosophy I've always had--basically libertarian but tempered by Burkean small-C conservatism. But I am no longer a member of the Republican Party and no longer consider myself part of the "conservative movement." That's not because I changed, but because I believe that they have. The Republican Party of today is not the party of Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan that I was once a member of; it stands for nothing except the pursuit of power as an end in itself, with no concern whatsoever for what is right for the country. In a recent interview with The Economist magazine, I characterized the Republicans as the greedy, sociopathic party. I stand by that.

As far as the conservative movement is concerned, I think Russell Kirk and Bill Buckley would be absolutely aghast at the things it stands for today and the people that are acclaimed as its leaders. When clowns like Glenn Beck are its leaders and right-wing bigots pander to ignorant yahoos about a planned mosque in lower Manhattan, I want to be as far away from any such movement as I possibly can. And readers of this blog know what I think of the know-nothing tea party movement, which conservatives have latched onto en masse.

[ThomCat]

1. That is true of all corporate-owned politicians.

They all exist in politics solely for the sake of holding power, and holding it in proxy for their corporate masters. They have no other purpose. That is true of all but an incredibly few republicans (usually lower level office holders are the exception) and it is also true of an increasing number of Blue Dog Democrats.

:(

We still have a fair number of politicians in our part who stand up for good things sometimes. Some more often than others. A few stand up for the people and for good ideas every day and fight like hell.

I wish those good politicians had an easier time of it. But this Citizens United decision is going to make it worse instead of better.

We all have an uphill battle ahead of us.

[AlinPA]

3. The Citizens United decision is our biggest problem now. Tens of billions of dollars will be

flowing instead of hundreds of millions.

[AlinPA]

2. Good description by Bartlett.

[K8-EEE]

4. K&R, darling Swag! nt

[Stuart G]

5. K and R