My name is Brian, and I'm a Republican." While it may seem a bit odd for someone to make an Alcoholics Anonymous-style confession like this, especially now that the Republican party seems as strong as ever, that is exactly how I have begun to feel lately.
Being a Republican, which used to bring pride and comfort in the knowledge that I was supporting candidates I actually believed would do the best job, now seems to bring me only shame, guilt by association and even embarrassment with each passing day.
I find myself agreeing more and more with recent critics on campus such as Dick Swett and Paul Tsongas -- both defeated Democrats -- that the GOP has swung too far to the right and become hostile and divisive. By placing so much hateful emphasis upon the need for religion and the evils of affirmative action, immigration, abortion, taxes and budget deficits, the new party is clearly trying to divide and conquer America along racial and socioeconomic lines, which is a very disturbing trend.
These manipulative appeals to the basest human emotions are disgraceful and are transforming the GOP into something that no longer represents me. And I know that I am not alone. Numerous polls indicate dissatisfaction among the silent majority of moderate Republicans who are horrified to see the noisy minority of radical rightists take over.
It wasn't always this bad. In the days of the old pre-1990s Republican party, my political ideas, while not shared by all, seemed to at least have their own sizeable niche within the party. My political heroes were always people like Nelson Rockefeller, Jack Kemp, the early George Bush, John F. Kennedy, Teddy Roosevelt, and others like them.
Usually, but not always, they were Republicans, and they were never very conservative. What impressed me about them was the way they transcended party lines and stood for a mix of fiscal conservatism and social liberalism -- which, to me, seemed ideal and seemed to represent their real, coherent view of what government should do, not just a strategy to win votes.
At the same time, I came to respect many of the more liberal Democrats who may not have shared my philosophy, but were at least not intentionally divisive or hostile. However, I quickly came to dislike the nasty, mean-spirited extremists on both sides, those who tried to win by pitting segments of society against one another. Back then, these were people like Jesse Helms, David Duke, Strom Thurmond, Lee Atwater -- seeing their strategies, whether smashing Toshiba stereos to please Japan-bashers, running racist attack ads, or other hostile tactics, left a bitter taste in my mouth. Luckily, they were never really dominant in those days.
However, times have changed, and so far society has become, if anything, more divided than it was then. In this age of anti-establishment militias, rural cult colonies, the L.A. riots, new scientific theories about racial superiority, the anti-immigration movement and other highly charged issues, both parties have abandoned moderation and begun to cater only to their hard-core supporters, usually by excluding others.
Apparently, as seen in the 1994 electoral landslide, the GOP has adjusted to this political realignment very effectively. However, this has meant that the old generation of moderates has been pushed aside in favor of new, aggressive agitators.
The new symbols of the GOP are "real" conservatives like Newt Gingrich, Phil Gramm, Pat Buchanan and Dan Quayle -- men who support and are supported by the "Religious Right," anti-abortion forces, the Moral Majority, and the National Rifle Association. Moderates who hope to stay in the game, such as Pete Wilson and Bob Dole, have been forced to prostitute themselves by taking new hard-line stands that don't quite seem to fit, while the moderate voter has been ignored in the whole process.
Hopefully, either this game of who-can-be-more-radical will end in failure, letting the Republicans see the error of their ways, or the moderates will finally rise up and demand a say in the party's direction. Otherwise the GOP as I have known it has little hope for survival.
