Tuesday, October 13, 2015

"Why Today’s GOP Crackup Is the Final Unraveling of Nixon’s 'Southern Strategy.’"

The reason why I cannot be a Republican: Neither country-club elites nor social-issue hard liners serve Kool-Aid to my taste.

At the same time, I'm cognizant of what unprincipled one-party dominance is doing to erode New Albany's future prospects -- and they're Democrats, not Republicans.

I suppose one must continue his search for a third way: Non-partisan localism, fiscally conservative and socially liberal.

In the interim, don't expect me to mourn the national GOP's travails.

Why Today’s GOP Crackup Is the Final Unraveling of Nixon’s ‘Southern Strategy’: Tea Party rebels are exposing the deep rifts between country-club elites and social-issue hard-liners, by William Greider (The Nation)

Fresh chatter among Washington insiders is not about whether the Republican Party will win in 2016 but whether it will survive. Donald Trump—the fear that he might actually become the GOP nominee—is the ultimate nightmare. Some gleeful Democrats are rooting (sotto voce) for the Donald, though many expect he will self-destruct.

Nevertheless, Republicans face a larger problem. The GOP finds itself trapped in a marriage that has not only gone bad but is coming apart in full public view. After five decades of shrewd strategy, the Republican coalition Richard Nixon put together in 1968—welcoming the segregationist white South into the Party of Lincoln—is now devouring itself in ugly, spiteful recriminations.

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