RIP GOP

The Republican party has proven so corrupt in both Congress and the White House that it should by rights be euthanized. Unfortunately, the one party state envishioned by Karl Rove can no more be trusted to the Democrats than to the Republicans. The GOP has clearly become the OGP (Old Gangster Party) so what are we to do?

Third parties rarely get going in the US, and this is probably not time for one of those seismic political events to happen, so clearly some other type of massive adjustment is necessary. Such an event occurred in the sixties when the Democrats abandoned their racist Southern component in favor of civil rights. The Republicans inherited a significantly reformed if still bitter South, and Democratic power went gradually into eclipse. Karl Rove and his Justice Department henchmen (von Spassovsky, Sholzman, et. al.) did their best to bring back Black vote suppression but those guys may now be looking at some slammer time.

Who or what can put the Republicans back together? I sure wouldn't look for it from any of the current candidates, with the possible exception of super long-shot Ron Paul. Right now, the Republicans don't stand for anything but tax cuts for the rich and an almost certainly unwinnable war. The tax cuts will be rolled back or the country will collapse - we can't borrow a trillion a year forever. The war too will likely collapse - right now the only thing keeping it going is the Republican hope of pinning the defeat on a Democratic "stab in the back."

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