The Good Republicans - Democratic Underground

Plaid Adder

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Wed May-25-05 06:28 PM
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The Good Republicans

I haven't seen Voinovich's speech yet. I hope there will be video of it somewhere soon. The threads about it reminded me of something I wanted to say about the whole Republican Party power struggle going on right now.

I dedicated *Snake Bites* to my father, who has always voted Republican--until 2004, when he voted for Kerry, despite hating him, because he was more scared of Bush, and because he knew how I felt about it. I said in the acknowledgments that whenever I hear people talking about Republicans the way Ann Coulter talks about liberals, I try to remind them that there are Republicans like my father out there, who are decent people, and who are increasingly distressed about where Bush and his base are taking their party and, alas, their country.

Although I think he does consider himself a Christian, he's primarily a fiscal Republican, mostly liberal or perhaps I should say libertarian on social issues (he supports same-sex marriage, for instance, for reasons you can probably figure out). But he voted for Bush in 2000, on the theory that he would "surround himself with good people," and it took a lot of convincing to get him not to do it again in 2004.

One of the things I got from my father was a commitment to honesty and transparency in all your dealings, business or otherwise. My father has always operated that way, and although he has never questioned the basic assumptions that support the economic system that benefits him, he has always tried to make his part of the system honest. Now, of course, the big question is: why would a guy like that fail to realize how completely corrupt the Republican party leadership is before it's (almost) too late?

The answer to that question might also explain why Voinovich would vote to pass the Bolton nomination out of committee but try to persuade his colleagues in the Senate to vote against him, or why the 7 "moderates" who just signed the filibuster deal waited until this particularly dreadful pass before publicly standing up to their extremist masters.

The kind of vacillation Voinovich has gone through over the Bolton thing is not necessarily a sign of duplicity. When you are part of an organization, and you have a lot emotionally invested in it, it can take a long fucking time to realize that it's corrupt at the top. You keep coming up with ways to explain what's going on that will allow you to believe that the organization is still healthy, because you don't want to face the fact that the people you've always thought of as friends and colleagues would betray you or things that are important to you (like, you know, the country). I have gone through this myself, and after I finally left the organization in question I was amazed at how long it took me to realize what was really going on, and how long I helped the other leaders justify their increasingly insane conduct out of loyalty to them and to the group. And this was just a piss-ant little electronic feminist community where nothing was at stake. The doublethink effect must be much stronger when your organization actually has power.

Then there is the phnenomenon I see in my father all the time, which is the mistaken assumption that all the other Republicans are, like him, honest and upright fiscal conservatives who may have their little quirks but at least understand the all-importance of keeping the economy humming along and keeping the market honest. It took him a long time to come around to the conclusion that the "good people" Bush had surrounded himself with were fiscally insane. I think he's still working on fully grasping their moral insanity, but one thing at a time.

I sent my dad his copy of the book, and he just sent me a very nice letter about it. He said his favorite ones were "Cassandra's Curse" and "After the Ball." "Cassandra's Curse" is about why it was not possible for more people to figure out that the Iraq war was a hoax until after we were already mired in it. Maybe he identifies. Who knows. He also said that he thinks fundamentalism of all kinds is the most dangerous force in the world and that it is unbelievable that people are trying to stop high schools from teaching evolution.

He's not the only one out there. This is a very big section of the Republican base, and if they haven't risen up against the theocons before, it's because they never really believed their lunacy would get this far. They were wrong, of course; but we were all wrong too, back in 2000 when we thought Bush was just a harmless idiot. It's just taken them longer to wake up.

I have increasingly come around to the belief that there are basically two Republican factions in Congress now: there are those who have been drawn into the inner circle and understand that the gloves are off and the fix is in and therefore never expect power to return to the Democrats, and those who have not been initiated into the inner circle and still think that there will one day be electoral retribution. The second group is starting to maneuver now, partly to protect their own power, but probably partly to try to confirm their own sense that there still is something that can be done to stop the ongoing coup taking place in their own party.

My initial reaction to the filibuster deal was dismay, confirmed by Owen's appointment today. I don't think it is going to turn out to be a good thing for the Democrats. But it does give me some hope for help from the Republicans. Especially in the Senate, Bush's control depends on people always voting their party line (except for the Democrats who can be lured over). In a parliamentary system where there are more than two parties, things are a lot more volatile because even a minority bloc can prevent a majority from forming until its concerns are addressed. There's no way we're going to have a viable third party in my lifetime; but if the "moderates" really are going to form a united bloc, then we may eventually have a functional third party in the Senate, and that would be better than nothing.

We'll see what happens. I wish the Democrats would breathe more fire and lead more battles; I would like to see them standing firmer than they seem to be. But you know what, I don't care who saves me from these assholes, and if the good Republicans can help get it done, then I say welcome aboard. It may be too little and too late; and indeed that may be why Voinovich is crying. But it may also be that if we can make the fight *really* bipartisan, as opposed to the Bush Bipartisan system where the Democrats agree to vote Republican, then things could start getting a lot more interesting very soon.

We can hope,

The Plaid Adder