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There is only one route to restoring health to the American polity, comity to its dialogue, constructive and collegial approaches to governance, an end to extortion and a restoration of the belief that the United States truly has a government of, for and by its citizenry.
That way is to defang and defeat the Tea Party, the far right-wing of the Republican Party, their supporters, enablers, acolytes and cheerleaders. They are the principal source of governmental paralysis, unbridgeable political divisions, continuing and dangerous economic brinkmanship, extremist policies and a growing lack of respect for the political process in general and the Republican Party in particular. They need to be dislodged from the elected positions of power and influence they currently enjoy in both Congress and state legislatures.
In 1967, I conceived of and, with the late Allard Lowenstein, organized a grassroots effort that came to be called “The Dump Johnson Movement,” which intended to provide an alternative to extremism, reverse the upward trajectory of American involvement in Vietnam and remove the principle buttress of that escalation from power. When Sen. Eugene McCarthy provided national leadership for that effort by mounting a challenge in the Democratic primaries, I enlisted in his campaign. When McCarthy began his candidacy, he was unknown to 57 percent of the American citizenry. When I took the train to New Hampshire to help coordinate McCarthy’s campaign there one month before the primary, polls showed only two percent in the state supported his candidacy. The conventional wisdom was that a sitting president could not be beaten within his own party. But we succeeded in making it impossible for Johnson to seek reelection, transforming the Democratic Party’s advocacy from pro-war to anti-war, and creating a permanent majority national popular opposition to the continuation of the war.
Only a similar major grassroots effort in GOP primaries by mainstream Republicans and Republican-leaning independents now can reverse the destruction the right-wing is wreaking to party and country.
The first step on this road is to cease dignifying the far right with the word “conservative.”
The essential underpinnings of conservatism from Burke to Buckley have been a respect for the institutions of both governance and society, moderation in manner, skepticism about major and abrupt change and a concomitant rejection of extremes. True conservatives’ belief in traditional values is leavened by a tolerance for diverse views. Their support for free markets is tempered by understanding the need for constructive regulation of their excesses. They are committed to human equality and support equality of opportunity without a mandate for equality of result. Their vision of governance is by representative rather than direct democracy and, where possible, a civil approach to political dialogue and a rational approach to public policy.
The Republican right-wing is the antithesis of historical conservatism. It is radical in approach, extremist and reactionary in viewpoint, uncompromising in mode of operation, lacking in respect for the institutions that undergird the American republic and contemptuous of any opposition to their viewpoint.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2013/10/how_to_save_america047398.php?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
There is only one route to restoring health to the American polity, comity to its dialogue, constructive and collegial approaches to governance, an end to extortion and a restoration of the belief that the United States truly has a government of, for and by its citizenry.
That way is to defang and defeat the Tea Party, the far right-wing of the Republican Party, their supporters, enablers, acolytes and cheerleaders. They are the principal source of governmental paralysis, unbridgeable political divisions, continuing and dangerous economic brinkmanship, extremist policies and a growing lack of respect for the political process in general and the Republican Party in particular. They need to be dislodged from the elected positions of power and influence they currently enjoy in both Congress and state legislatures.
In 1967, I conceived of and, with the late Allard Lowenstein, organized a grassroots effort that came to be called “The Dump Johnson Movement,” which intended to provide an alternative to extremism, reverse the upward trajectory of American involvement in Vietnam and remove the principle buttress of that escalation from power. When Sen. Eugene McCarthy provided national leadership for that effort by mounting a challenge in the Democratic primaries, I enlisted in his campaign. When McCarthy began his candidacy, he was unknown to 57 percent of the American citizenry. When I took the train to New Hampshire to help coordinate McCarthy’s campaign there one month before the primary, polls showed only two percent in the state supported his candidacy. The conventional wisdom was that a sitting president could not be beaten within his own party. But we succeeded in making it impossible for Johnson to seek reelection, transforming the Democratic Party’s advocacy from pro-war to anti-war, and creating a permanent majority national popular opposition to the continuation of the war.
Only a similar major grassroots effort in GOP primaries by mainstream Republicans and Republican-leaning independents now can reverse the destruction the right-wing is wreaking to party and country.
The first step on this road is to cease dignifying the far right with the word “conservative.”
The essential underpinnings of conservatism from Burke to Buckley have been a respect for the institutions of both governance and society, moderation in manner, skepticism about major and abrupt change and a concomitant rejection of extremes. True conservatives’ belief in traditional values is leavened by a tolerance for diverse views. Their support for free markets is tempered by understanding the need for constructive regulation of their excesses. They are committed to human equality and support equality of opportunity without a mandate for equality of result. Their vision of governance is by representative rather than direct democracy and, where possible, a civil approach to political dialogue and a rational approach to public policy.
The Republican right-wing is the antithesis of historical conservatism. It is radical in approach, extremist and reactionary in viewpoint, uncompromising in mode of operation, lacking in respect for the institutions that undergird the American republic and contemptuous of any opposition to their viewpoint.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2013/10/how_to_save_america047398.php?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
