From a former Republican Oregon Representative and former Republican in an opinion piece run in our local paper today. I'm quoting it in case our local paper blocks linking to their website.
http://www.gazettetimes.com/print-speci ... f4968.html
As I See It:
(Tony Van Vliet was an Oregon state representative from 1975 to 1995 and a registered Republican from 1955 to 2012.)
Republicans have gotten what they wished for
Getting what you wish for can sometime be frightening — and that’s what the Republican Party now faces after thirty years of clever and some would call brilliant hard work.
That may sound strange coming from a former Republican of 57 years. Many of us who were moderates didn’t see the big plan conjured up in some dark room of very conservative, big time, rich Republicans who wanted control of the system.
It isn’t until one analyzes the game plan that the sheer brilliance comes to light. Since fortunes are made in the world of natural resources — oil, mining, timber, water and land — the quiet battle was going on in county and city government campaigns.
The bigger battle was being fought for control of state legislatures and governorships.
It had to be completed in time for the 1990 elections as that uses the census results for reapportionment of each state's political districts.
The Republican National Committee squads fanned out to all the state “R” caucuses with the winning message.
The game plan was simple — run on “No New Taxes,” regardless of your state's financial condition. One can always find a story of government waste to use in your campaign fliers. Most moderate Republicans refused to play that game; they saw and labored over shortfalls and cuts in education and human resources even as Oregon was on the path of doubling its population.
By 2014, Republicans controlled 68 of 98 of state legislative chambers with the largest gains in the South. This drive for power was accomplished with one iron-clad mantra — “if you aren’t with us you’re against us” — hardly a formula for solving problems jointly. For over 30 years the ultra conservatives have relied on “societal forgetfulness” of the common good or why they are elected. This isn’t Lincoln’s or Teddy Roosevelt’s party anymore, but now resembles the Coolidge and Harding era. Party discipline has risen above integrity and conscience. Even today those with measured intelligence follow blindly like lemmings to the sea. I was fortunate that in my 20 legislative years we were free to vote our conscience.
But the crack opened in the 90’s, and the ultra-right, tea party and invisible libertarians challenged those not wanting to spend their legislative years on “bedroom issues” — we lost some outstanding moderate Republicans.
Some Republicans are running from Trump hoping to get re-elected — not because they disagree with him, but because winning allows them to continue to do nothing productive! Others have struck a Faustian bargain that their soul was worth the trade for power.
Dot-connecting has become a lost logic. No “new taxes” has become “cutting taxes,” which will keep services for the most at inadequate service levels. Remember who brought you the “Teapot Dome" scandal, and the Wall Street crashes of 1929 and 2008!
This is the far-right group of Republicans that used goon squads on striking workers and have plotted for their elimination ever since. They eliminated “defined pensions” to free up billions in corporate pension reserves for CEO salary and stockholder increases.
They have championed cutting agency budgets then complain that caseloads have failed to protect children, or the lack of funds for managing the nation's resources, or the high debt of student loans.
I can’t imagine Sen. Mitch McConnell spending eight years with the only goal being to defeat the president or make sure he fails — what a waste! It is not surprising hate groups have risen from 149 to 892 during the Obama years, largely in the South.
The right wing of the Republican Party is bankrupt of statesmen and is now getting what they wished for. It’s time to remove them and refresh the party.
