Republicans undergoing a tectonic shift

The Republican Party is probably facing its most serious challenge in decades. At the heart of this challenge is a deep division between those who want to get along with what they describe as the educated class and those urging the party to return to the nation’s roots and reaffirm the founding principles of the Constitution. The former call themselves “moderate Republicans,” while the latter group is made up of Tea Party types.

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That’s not where the vortex ends. The debate has begun to involve establishment Republicans like Carl Rove, who are displeased with recent Republican primary races that resulted in Christine O’Donnell of Delaware and Alaska’s Joe Miller. Rove was particularly upset with O’Donnell’s victory over Mike Castle, who was the official GOP candidate for the senate. This situation has resulted in heated debates across the nation with one side claiming that the current crop of Washington politicians are “elitists” who feel entitled to their congressional seats and the other claiming that knuckle dragging, uneducated troglodytes are taking over the party and attempting to impose their unsophisticated views on the country. Debate of this type is healthy in that both sides have a valid point. What’s being lost, however, in the heated frenzy to redefine the party is that in the final analysis we’re all Americans and the radical policies of the Democrats has put the nation at risk. Republican intellectuals like David Frum are urging fellow Republicans to be realistic in terms of social changes like gay marriage that are a part of the inevitable transformation of the social landscape. Conservatives who also happen to be social conservatives are denouncing Frum and his ilk for selling out to liberal elites. The most tempestuous part of the debate among the GOP is the accusation that many establishment Republicans are progressives with an elitist view of governance. This accusation is countered by the assertion that having common, every-day individuals in power is just another form of elitism, namely that of populist politicians. While this debate is unlikely to resolve itself any time soon, it is important for both sides to understand that Christine O’Donnell or Sarah Palin is not the enemy. The enemy is the cabal of Washington power wielders like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and yes, Barack Obama. It is the policies espoused by these politicians that have put the nation at risk of imploding with unsustainable spending commitments and pedestrian economics. What’s more, the Twentieth Century has resulted in the creation of a dynastic climate in American politics wherein names like Roosevelt, Kennedy, Clinton and Bush have appeared all too often in positions of power, as if there were a right of inheritance to elected office. This trend is reinforced by the sense of entitlement that the current crop of politicians seem to embody, going so far as to exclude themselves from healthcare legislation to which they have subjected all Americans and giving themselves a cost-of-living pay increase while denying the same to the nation’s seniors living on Social Security. The Tea Party movement and other populist endeavors are undertaking to return the nation back to its citizens, something that many of Washington’s insiders are having problems with. It’s important that this trend be encouraged and that the debate, particularly among Republicans, continues. What’s most important in this debate is that we stick together and refrain from splintering into a multi-party system. The best insurance for the continuation of true majority rule is the two-party system. The size and the power of the government has far exceeded that envisioned by the framers of the Constitution and this debate is the first step in returning to Constitutional basics and the people taking back control of the government. It’s been a long time in coming, but thank God that it’s finally here.