I finally understand it — I think
Why the GOP is at war with itself.
I grew up in Texas — along the gulf coast. Fairly liberal parents, my dad was a union member working for Dow Chemical as an electrician. (He died in 1963, and they still, today, ship those truck sized motors he used to rewind and repair - locally then — by train today to Houston. If only they’d paid what he was truly worth to them.) But because I ended up going to a military school in central Texas — Allen Military Academy — I ended up fairly conservative and voted more Republican then.
Until the middle of the GW Bush Administration, when I realized the sorry SOB was lying to us all. I then started voting a mix, because there were a couple of Republicans I respected, even if by then we were living in Maryland.
But certainly by Obama’s Administration, I truly ended up not just Democratic, but actually Progressive. Today, due to Trump in particular, I wouldn’t vote for a Republican even if the only opponent on the ballot was, as we say in Texas, a dead yellow dog.
What changed? The GOP. As I’ve mentioned before, after Gingrich got elected Speaker, they changed. Contract with America sound familiar? A lying piece of crap, whose only true purpose was to enrich the already filthy rich. But that’s when I started my conversion, in fact, looking back on it today. They decided that since the other side was electing non-whites and women, the old order of “comity” no longer applied, since those people didn’t have the same values as they did.
And, critically, what were those values? Ah, that’s the reason for this article. The few out there who’ve read my articles so far here think I’m gonna say something like “keeping the rich white guys in charge.” Not today.
I think I know why the GOP is at war with itself, as my headline claims. Bear with me.
One side of this war are of course, the MAGAts. Trumpsters. Cultists. All kinda words. The other side is the “traditional” Republican “moderates”, as they’re being described. And yes, they’re fighting over control of that Party.
But have you wondered why the values of the GOP have changed? It wasn’t Trump, per se. He is, I think, a diversion to keep us guessing. You see, the moderates are pissed because they see their control slipping, and that the Party has abandoned their values. The values of Conservatism. And no, I’m not talking religion, specifically. Christianity yes, but not Evangelicalism. More the traditional slightly conservative groups like the Southern Baptists, who weren’t so damn crazy in the old days. At least in public, anyway.
Back then, they ruled the Party, and had a large conservative following. Family values, yes, and at one time, union support. You’re all familiar with these. That kept them in power enough to keep the Democrats in line, at least until the big switcheroo, when the Southern Democrats switched Parties because of civil rights. That’s when the war really started but they still hadn’t realized it.
Because that’s when the wannabe oligarchs really started getting involved.
Let me explain, but we have to go back to pre-Constitution times. Are you ready? Put your memory caps on and think back to when you got taught about the beginning of our country. What’s the biggest slogan from those times?
“Every man is created equal”, right? There are a couple of hidden things going on in that phrase.
First, the obvious. “All men?” Well, in my day, back in the fifties and early sixties, they explained that away by saying that’s only a generalized term for “mankind.” Yeah. Sure. I’ll get back to that.
Second, that part about being “created.” That was a buzz word to haul in and satisfy the religious folks who wouldn’t have ratified the new Constitution without something getting tossed their way after the clause about “no religious test for office.” A tasty bone, if you will.
But, again, remember that word “men”? Yep, that one. That wasn’t an accident, nor was it a “generalized term for mankind.” It meant exactly what it said. Men. Only men. Not women, and the hidden part was that they didn’t consider black or otherwise colored men to be “equal,” either. That would have exposed the hypocrisy, wouldn’t it?
And that slogan was there to enlist the help of the common “man.” It worked, even though they snuck in the provision that at first only men who owned property could vote. Meaning of course, rich men, men with money and influence. Which, naturally, in a new country, every man hoped to get there themselves, so that got ignored. Which means they missed the obvious, that eventually, moving west, the country would grant property to anyone who could get there, mark it, defend it, develop it and get it registered. Which eventually meant that enough common people voted that the “property” requirement was eventually dropped. Oops.
But, moving on. So why, you ask is this a big deal? And what does it have to do with today and the big fight that ended up with McCarthy getting tossed on his ass out of the speakership? Hang on, we’ll get there.
So, think back to the Constitutional Convention. Who were the big names? Guys like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington? Ring a bell? What do they have in common with so many of their fellows in Philadelphia that summer? They were rich. I mean how many of the common folk had the cash reserves to take an entire summer off work and attend a political convention? Or even part of a summer? Not many.
So think back some more. What kind of men were they? Our history taught us they were men of principle. Men of The People. Yeah? Washington was a harsh slave master. I won’t repeat any of the stories here, but yes, he was a harsh man to his slaves. Created equal? I don’t think so.
Need I remind you of the entire black branch of the Jefferson family? The branch that exists because the man raped one of his slaves and had more than one child by her? Did he free those kids? No.
Need I go on? What did these men have in common? An economic interest in keeping the cash here that was collected by the British and sent back to the economic task masters in Britain. They figured that since they were living here, then they deserved to be in control and get the power and the cash. So, they made a plan. They got people like Thomas Paine excited and behind it, and talked it up.
Now, did they engineer a lot of the incidents that got the attention of the colonists? Besides the Boston Tea Party, probably not, it isn’t as if the British were simply innocent victims here. Not by a long shot. If the colonists had had nothing to gripe about, the local oligarch wannabes wouldn’t have gotten anywhere.
Look. I’m not saying the Founders were bad people. Like all of us, they had good things going for them and bad. Nobody’s perfect. But you cannot ignore the facts.
They set up a system that guaranteed that for at least a number of decades going forward, the rich white guys would rule. They’d reap the economic benefits of making the rules, and not have to send boatloads of cash back to the British monarchy. And that system benefitted the entire wealthy class of the colonies, all thirteen of them. How? Because they were all rich white men, and only rich white men had the vote, they had, for the moment, a monopoly on political power. How do we know?
Look at the rules. The Constitution. What's missing? I’ve written about this before. Any kind of enforcement mechanism. Why? Because they didn’t need one. They already had one, an unofficial one that depended on those like themselves having similar values and economic interests. Mainly holding onto power for the rich white guys.
Plus the Constitution allowed the rich white guys at the State level to elect their Senators — notice they called that the UPPER house. Why an upper and lower house? Remember Parliament? Upper house was the rich white guys, only they called them nobility. The lower house was The People. Only for centuries, those “People” were also land owners, just not “nobility.”
That’s how we know. It’s how they set it up initially. For themselves, not “The People.”
So, moving on. We’ve covered the oligarchs, the rich white guys. Those today are represented by the Trumpsters. So, where do the Conservatives come in?
Well, as the country moved on and grew, and power was shared with non-rich white guys and it was obvious that their attempts to not have political parties died an early and messy death, the oligarchs found that they needed something to gain supporters only without those supporters knowing who, exactly was being supported behind the scenes. Eventually, they found Conservatives, and the match seemed made in heaven.
For a very long time, the Conservative movement’s values made headway, gained support, and became influential. Especially after women got the vote, more folks with old time values were angry and wanted help to undo that — eventually.
Without going into the sordid details, eventually, the Conservatives got mad at the Democrats over something called civil rights, and switched Parties. Ever since, they’ve ruled the Republican Party , citing their values like patriotism, The Constitution, two Party rule, family values (without truly defining that of course), and so forth. It’s gained support until they had a lot of power in many of the central states in the country. Solid “red” states.
But, there was a problem.
Those nasty Democrats were electing not only women (gasp!), but also for almost the first time, blacks and browns. Holy shit. We cannot have THAT!
So starting around the time they elected Newt Gingrich to the Speakership, the GOP, that Grand Old Party, became what I’ve called for some time, the Party of No. No Policy, No Values, No Cooperation, No Respect.
So, now here we are. So, you ask, can you tell us finally, why the Republicans are fighting a war?
Sure.
Because the other day, when Matt Gaetz filed his Motion to Vacate to unseat McCarthy, he made a speech. In that speech, he finally ripped off the camoflage. He said the quiet part out loud. When he accused McCarthy of not “working for the Republican Party,” he finally gave it away. Why the MAGAts are tossing away the traditional values of the Conservative movement, and in fact, declared out loud that they were abandoning Conservative values completely. And why is that?
Because they want the same thing the Conservatives want — power. Absolute authoritarian rule, to be able to have the power to force the rest of the country to do as they want done, and not what The People want. You see, now its all out there for everyone to see.
Both the Conservatives and the Trumpsters want authoritarian rule. Both sides — the oligarchs and the Conservatives have always detested democracy. It was just a handy way to hang onto power — until it wasn’t any longer. (Remember the gerrymandering? Just a temporary measure, trust me.)
But now the Conservatives are pissed. Because they always thought they and the oligarchs had similar values and goals. And now that the oligarchs have shown clearly that they have no values or principles, the only thing the two have in common is one goal — power, and now it’s obvious they’re fighting against one another to obtain that goal — for themselves.
Ok, you ask, what now? What can we do? Those of us who aren’t either Conservative or Trumpsters.
Just spread the word. Make sure our countrymen and women know and understand that the gloves are off. That no matter which side wins control of the Republican Party, the target is still Democracy — they still want to turn this into an authoritarian country — devoid of any power for The People. In reality, the only thing we can do is to ensure that our side turns out more votes — a lot more votes, and in places that count. The very best thing we can do is to destroy the Republican party. Just goad it into destroying itself.
Then let’s create a Progressive Party that will advance all the most favored ideas and proposals Sanders made popular. Make the Centrist Dems and the Conservative ex-Republicans have to get together or die as a movement.
Did I get this right? I don’t know. I may have gotten a lot of the historical details off a bit, but the main idea was the major point — both groups fighting for the control of the GOP today are authoritarian and only want power — because it’s the only thing they both truly want. Nothing else matters, not values, not principles, not you, not me, not the General Welfare. Just power for the sake of power. And be sure, this goes all the way back. It isn’t some modern thing. It goes all the way back, and monarchy is the last major pattern they’re following. They just won’t admit it.
What do you think?
