Can the Republican Party save itself?

[eilen]

I was listening to NPR this morning-- Diane Rheam show-- They mentioned how in the 60's the John Birch Society which was much like the Tea Party was dominating the Republican Party but that one man -- William F. Buckley Jr. was able to-- with his program and magazine denounced them and their Randian theories as radical and reactionary and decidedly not conservative nor Republican.

It is my position that it is impossible since the Republican Party adopted the Southern Strategy. There are just not very many Republican/Conservative intellectuals anymore-- they have been driven out. Tea Party Intellectual is an oxymoron.

It is no longer an exchange or debate of ideas with this party. They don't believe in debate and no longer have ideas-- they have idealogy and dogmatism.

[Buddha_of_Wisdom]

1. Its on its way to be the Whig Party..

in other words, extinct. It'll be broken down to Liberterians and the Tea Party. The Republicans are no more...

[polichick]

2. If they can't save themselves, the country might have a chance.

[JHB]

3. Part of that was the groundwork for the Southern Strategy

The Birchers were openly anti-semitic, which killed any hope of conservatives gaining any votes from Jewish voters, even those that might otherwise be conservative. Buckley saw that for conservatives to win and oust Rockefeller Republicans, they needed to woo conservative Jews and Dixiecrats.

He worked to ensure the Birchers were marginalized, and acted as the northeastern intellectual making a case for Southern states having the right to keep Jim Crow laws. His main goal was breaking up the Democratic coalition.

[rock]

4. That is correct

There is no longer an exchange or debate of ideas with this party. They want it their way (by force), votes don't matter. They are no longer a conservative party; they are a fascist party.