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Divorced From Reality: Republicans Are the Party of Chaos [1]

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Date: 2023-10-24  

For at least a generation, it has been a political truth that the right is ruthlessly focused on power, and will do anything to remain in power, even sacrificing much-loved leaders to do that. In that time, the right has formed the natural party of government here in America, with the Republicans, as well as in the United Kingdom, with the Conservatives. When Bill Clinton first ran for president, he had to persuade voters that he would carry on the fiscal discipline associated with Republicans. In the UK, Conservative leader, Margaret Thatcher, called her successor, Labour leader Tony Blair, her greatest achievement . Even today, Democrats and Labour live under the shadow of the myth of Republican excellence and prudence in governing. This explains why progressive ideas such as modern monetary theory (MMT) have failed to take hold within the Democratic party: we still believe we have to live up to Republican ideals of how government is run. However, there has been a shift in the Republican and Conservative parties which suggests that they are no longer concerned with power. The chaos surrounding the Republican attempts to find a speaker are not a mere curiosity that Republicans will eventually resolve, they show how the Republican party has been held hostage by a faction that does not want to govern.

The Far Right and the Art of the Impossible

In the past, it would have been unthinkable for a senior Republican to say, as Rep. (R-Fla) Matt Gaetz, did, that “chaos doesn’t scare me” . Yet, these were the words of the man who brought down Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif), triggering the latest tortured search for a speaker . Seven members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, had even said they were “prepared to accept censure, suspension, or removal” from the House Republican Conference in order to get Freedom Caucus vice chairperson, Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio), the speakership. The Freedom Caucus does not care about governing. Governing, you see, is about compromise, or, to quote French president Gen. Charles de Gaulle, “Politics, when it is an art and a service, not an exploitation, is about acting for an ideal through realities”, or as German chancellor, Otto von Bismark once said, “Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best". For the Freedom Caucus, anyone who is not committed to their goals and to their willingness to fight the status quo, is unacceptable. For them, there is no “next best”, there is no compromise, there is no alternative.

In the United Kingdom, the Conservatives are in a similarly tortured process. The far right, either through Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, or within the Conservative party’s mostly white, over-60, and male membership, has led the party and the country into a series of gigantic disasters, each of which was the stated target of the membership, from Brexit to Liz Truss’ disastrous tenure and now even through Rishi Sunak.

Gaetz and his followers do not care about governing, and therefore, the compromises the old Republican party would have made in order to maintain the image of a competent party, are absolutely useless to them. He was honest when he said he was not scared about chaos. That quote also reveals just how marked the change has been within the party. Republicans can no longer be relied upon as a competent partner in government.

The Dilemma

As fun as watching this mess may be for us, there are obvious downsides, mainly, that we now have a dysfunctional House at a moment in which the country is faced with enormous economic and geopolitical challenges. There is also harm to America’s already declining prestige abroad. Congress cannot deliver on its obligations to Americans if the House remains so dysfunctional. That poses a problem for Democrats. If Democrats cannot rely on Republicans, what is to be done? This may be how the House functions unless Democrats can consistently convert their demographic advantage into Congressional majorities. Democrats have to learn how to be this century’s natural party of government and turn Republicans into a permanent minority party.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/10/24/2201387/-Divorced-From-Reality-Republicans-Are-the-Party-of-Chaos

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