What Would a New Republican America Look Like?
For an all-too-brief period between the Democratic congressional victory of 2006 and Barack Obama's inauguration as President of the United States in 2009, many progressives hoped and believed that the long conservative era in contemporary American politics was over, and that the dawn of a bold new progressive era was upon us. As Democrats in Washington have shown themselves utterly lacking in the political will to carry out their own campaign promises, however, such hopes have greatly evaporated, and a conservative movement that seems to have recovered its strength much faster than most of us expected now threatens to turn back the Democratic victories of 2006 and 2008 as quickly as they were won. Not only triumphalist Republicans, but even some on the Left are openly suggesting that, if Democrats in Washington don't change their weak-kneed ways, the coming election cycles of 2010 and 2012 could conceivably end in a Republican recapture of not only Congress, but perhaps even the White House. Given such a depressing prospect, it seems worth considering what a new Republican America might look like.
To say that today's G.O.P. is no longer "your father's G.O.P." would be the understatement of the century: Today's G.O.P. is not even your slightly older sibling's G.O.P. In 2000, George W. Bush ran for president as a "compassionate conservative." Of course the Bush years turned out to be anything but compassionate, but it's hard to imagine any Republican today playing even such a quaint tidbit of lip-service as this to any form of moderation. For any Republican politician to stand before CPAC or a "tea party" convention today and describe himself or herself as a "compassionate conservative" would be only to invite boos and hisses of angry ridicule. Today's Republican Party and today's conservative movement, purely and simply, is a raging and seething engine of hate. We gained an early look into this ugly new brand of conservatism during the 2008 campaign, when vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was openly questioning Obama's loyalty to his country and Palin's enraged followers were openly attacking Obama on the basis of his race and calling for his death. Since that time, the face of American conservatism has grown uglier almost by the day.
If I were to grasp at an historical precedent for what a new Republican America might look like, my first guess would be something like the McCarthy era, with touches of the South during the darkest days of the struggle for civil rights. I would guess that Republican leaders would be eager both to exact payback for their defeats in 2006 and 2008 and to make sure nothing like that is allowed to ever happen again. I would expect to see measures resembling those of the McCarthy era taken against progressive groups across the country, to see trumped-up charges leveled against groups such as ACORN, backed up by the full weight of a deeply politicized Justice Department and judiciary, to see crackdowns on free expression carried out in the name of national security, domestic spying programs enhanced, and blacklists written up. I would also expect to see such measures greeted with enthusiastic joy by a "tea party" grassroots eager and feeling entitled to engage in a little repression of its own. In such an atmosphere of impunity, the threats that "we're coming for you liberals" already abundant in angry comments to left-wing blog posts could quickly become a reality.
This may be only a worst-case scenario, admittedly expressed in rather extreme terms, but it's not wholly outside the realm of possibility, particularly given recent history. I've already noted the hate-filled 2008 Republican campaign, which was truly astonishing to watch, as well as the increasingly ugly "tea party" events that have taken place since the election. These events have proven to be a rich recruiting ground for white supremacist and anti-government militia groups, whose memberships have swelled since the 2008 elections as many reports have observed. Obama’s election seems to have touched a raw nerve in conservative white America, unleashing a torrent of right-wing rage unseen in this country since integration was imposed on white Southerners more than forty years ago. Conservatives are not only engaging in all manner of insane conspiracy theories regarding the election; some are now showing up at political events carrying guns. This didn’t happen when Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, nor do I think it would be happening with such ferocity had the victorious Democrat in 2008 likewise been white. as many reports have observed. Obama’s election seems to have touched a raw nerve in conservative white America, unleashing a torrent of right-wing rage unseen in this country since integration was imposed on white Southerners more than forty years ago. Conservatives are not only engaging in all manner of insane conspiracy theories regarding the election; some are now showing up at political events carrying guns. This didn’t happen when Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, nor do I think it would be happening with such ferocity had the victorious Democrat in 2008 likewise been white. whose memberships have swelled since the 2008 elections as many reports have observed. Obama's election seems to have touched a raw nerve in conservative white America, unleashing a torrent of right-wing rage unseen in this country since integration was imposed on angry white Southerners more than forty years ago. Conservatives are not only engaging in all manner of insane conspiracy theories regarding the election; some are now showing up at political events carrying guns. This didn't happen when Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, nor do I think it would be happening with such ferocity had the victorious Democrat in 2008 likewise been white.
With her exhortations to those hate-filled "real Americans" who attended her rallies in 2008, Sarah Palin knew exactly what she was doing, and bears as much guilt as anyone for their ugly outcome. Palin is as vicious a hatemonger as Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, or any other media figure on the far right, the only difference being that Palin aspires to national office and just might achieve it given the current mood of much of the country. Should this woefully come to pass, Palin would join such official Republican luminaries as Michele Bachmann, Jim DeMint, Jim Inhofe, Virginia Foxx, and others who have turned the Republican Party into something even Ronald Reagan might have trouble recognizing, not to mention Dwight Eisenhower or Barry Goldwater: conservatives, for whom I would never have voted, but who at least seem to have maintained some hold on reality. It's hard to imagine what Ike would have to say to a "tea party" convention.
Liz Cheney's recent McCarthyite attack on seven Justice Department lawyers for carrying out their assigned task of defending terror suspects detained at Guantanamo bodes equally ill for what we can expect if Republicans succeed in recapturing power in Washington. For simply doing their jobs, providing the defense representation to which anyone accused of wrongdoing is entitled under U.S. and international law (even Nazi war criminals tried at Nuremberg had defense attorneys), Cheney and her group, "Keep America Safe," have branded these lawyers terrorist sympathizers, questioned their loyalty to the United States, and publicly blacklisted them on their website, while Cheney's allies in right-wing media branded the Obama Justice Department "the Department of Jihad" (see TPM, HuffPo, Salon). Liz Cheney is obviously as vicious and vile a piece of work as her infamous father, if not worse, and would be almost certain to play a role in any future Republican administration.
Democrats and progressives truly have cause for concern at the grim prospect of Republican victories in the coming election cycles of 2010 and 2012, and the whole country - with the exception of its far-right lunatic fringe - will soon have cause for concern if this grim prospect comes to fruition. Should such a nightmare come to life, Democrats in Washington will have only themselves to blame for their failure to deliver on the mandate and the opportunity handed them in 2006 and 2008. We cannot blame Republicans who, after all, are only doing what Republicans do. It's time for Democrats in Washington to get off their lazy and timid rear-parts and start doing what Democratic voters elected them to do, so that Democratic voters will have a reason to elect them again, and again, and again. For the sake of every sane and civilized one of us, today's Republican Party cannot ever be allowed to hold the reins of power.
