What happened? It started when they decided that winning was everything, and to accomplish that they welcomed the racists and religionists into their party, and sold their souls to the corporations for campaign money. They thought they could control them all, but they were wrong. Now they are the sad remnant of a once viable and useful party.
One might think that as a progressive, I would celebrate the destruction of the Republican Party -- long the home of real conservatives. I do not. We need two parties. In fact, we need as many viable parties as possible. When there are two or more political parties, there can be real debate -- and each party can serve as a counter-balance to the others, reining them in when they go too far.
I hope this is just a passing fad, and that reasonable men and women will once again take control of the GOP. Their extremism and racism is not just unseemly -- it is damaging to this country.
The bigger problem is that we do not let other parties participate. I don't know if it is the fault of those media that organize debates or that the Ds and Rs have so much money they are able to deny access to other parties like the Green Party. The Libertarians seemed to have allied themselves with the Rs but there are probably over a hundred other parties out there that get little or no air time. Few people know they exist.
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