The Decline into Crazy

What Happened to the Party of Lincoln?

by Max

Bob Dole would have been a good President. He had served his country honorably in the military, he understood compromise, and was a decent leader in Congress. Senator John Danforth was a good senator who crossed his party to do the right thing for the Country. Representative Phil Crane of Illinois ran in 1980 for President and would have found common ground with Democrats. All of these people understood that they were running for President of the entire United States in which the majority are not corporate minded and are not rich. Where did the crazy come from? In 1996, the crazy candidates did not win anything. The Alan Keyes and B-1 Bob Dornans did not win anything.

The Party of Lincoln starting in 2000 lost its way, and the party insiders took over. The party became only about elections and not governing. The extreme came to the forefront, and took control. They ran candidates who you would want to have a beer with, and really did not believe in anything. They could be controlled and would not get in the way of the military industrial complex. They would bow to the corporate interests, and show patronage to the rich who would fund the campaigns. They could be populists with a small dash of experience but basically a blank slate. These new candidates are crazy and extreme.

Michelle Bachman is part of the American Taliban. She wanted the US government to default on our obligations to pay our bills, which would have been a catastrophe. She hates gays and has extreme religious beliefs. She would be a disaster for the United States, and yet people like her anger and passion. Amazing.

Rick Perry is even scarier. He actually said that if he won, he would make the federal government was irrelevant in our life. What does that mean? No more air traffic controllers? No more forest rangers? No more customs and border control? Speaking of the border, he suggested we use drones to patrol the Southern border. Drones patrol the Afghan border and kill terrorists. How are these comparable? His state is in the bottom third in almost every category that have to do with people (35th in Annie E. Casey Kids Count health of the children). He has extreme religious beliefs, and would be a disaster for the United States.

Mitt Romney built his career on shutting down companies, and yet he is running on the smart businessman. What kind of upside down world do we live in? He was the leader of the corrupt Salt Lake City Olympics, and does not seem to understand normal human interaction. Romney passed a good stab at health care reform in Massachusetts, but he is running away from that law. He has extreme religious beliefs, and would be a disaster for the United States.

Ron Paul is the one major candidate who does not have extreme religious beliefs, but all of his other ideas are extreme. He wants to plunge the federal government into a financial abyss by eliminating the Federal Reserve. Paul wants to do away with a bunch of federal agencies and leave it up to the market (that worked great for our coal mines and oil platforms). He rails against the war which is fantastic, but his economic ideas are crazier than Bachman's religious beliefs. He thinks that prostitution should be legal, but on the other hand he voted against the Patriot Act. Paul opposed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act but on the other hand he advocates for an end to the War on Drugs. Ron Paul is consistent and he is committed to his libertarian beliefs.

The rest of the field have no shot and are for the most part even more extreme than the top candidates. Newt Gingrich is a weird narcissist hypocrite. Rick Santorum is part of the American Taliban and is offended by half the people he wants to lead. Jon Huntsman seems like a center right candidate, but he has extreme religious beliefs. Herman Cain is another extremist who speaks well but has a simplistic view of the world. Tim Pawlenty left the race because he was not extreme enough and he had gone hard right to win in Iowa. How did they all get to be so extreme?