| Following the election of 2004, much has been made of the weaknesses of the Democratic Party, even its possible end. But it has escaped the notice of our blow-dry television pundits and political observers alike that the Republican Party, in the full blush of triumph in control of all the branches of government and large sections of the media, stands on the edge of certain extinction. The reasons grow daily more evident. Over the past three decades, the moderate, business-oriented party of Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower was captured by its extreme right-wing thereby becoming a party dominated by ideologues, increasingly divorced from unmovable facts. But no organization, political party, or nation can long survive by ignoring realities of ecology, social justice, law, economics, and true security. Sooner or later, it will step off the proverbial curb into onrushing traffic of events, forces, and trends that it refused to see.
The Republican Party has already stepped into the road. The question is not whether it will survive as presently constituted, but what else will be destroyed as it collapses in ruin and ignominy, sooner than later. Beneath the noisy spin of its media echo chamber, the true platform of the Republican Party, its future epitaph, is founded on denial. The rules of the Republican Party of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Tom Delay, and their brethren are these:
- Deny science when its findings are not agreeable to your base. Republicans, notably, are on the wrong side of the largest issue in human history: human driven, rapid climate change. They’ve chosen instead to live in a Crichton-esque science fiction fantasy in which real science has no standing and human actions have no tragic, irreversible, and global ecological consequences. This is not just boneheaded, it is a form of criminality for which we have, as yet, no adequate words.
- Deny the looming approach of peak oil extraction thereby advancing the potential of economic, political, and social chaos when global oil supply and demand diverge as soon they will.
- Deny the proven potential of superior technologies, design strategies, and policies that would move the country toward energy efficiency and a secure energy base of solar and wind power as well as the reasons of self-interest and economic advantage for doing so.
- Deny the true costs of air and water pollution thereby undermining the health of Americans.
- Deny the human and economic effects of pandering to the wealthy, thereby undermining social cohesion and the sense of fairness?historically, often a prelude to societal breakdown and revolution.
- Deny any and all mistakes, bad judgment, and corruption, relying on spin not truth and thereby building a solid reputation for mendacity and incompetence.
- Deny the limitations of military power to impose order on a recalcitrant world and thereby condemn the U.S. to a future of international isolation, conflict, and endless terrorism.
- Deny the great vulnerability of the American infrastructure to malice, malfeasance, and acts of God, thereby laying the groundwork for a future of recurring disasters.
- Deny the necessity for civil discourse, honesty, and transparency in the conduct of public life, thereby holding the citizenry in contempt and promoting a spirit of meanness.
- Deny without admitting it the democratic values of the country enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Gettysburg Address, and the Four Freedoms of Franklin Roosevelt, thereby undermining democracy at home while purportedly fighting for it in Iraq.
The Republican Party has chosen to deny social, ecological, cultural, religious, and economic realities which are unavoidably complicated, complex, diverse, ironic, and paradoxical. Instead they have chosen to make their own simplistic, ideological, and chauvinistic fantasy world that has little affinity for law, science, a free and independent press, fairness, true security, ecological sustainability, and the accountability that is requisite for genuine democracy.
That fantasy is on the cusp of becoming a real life nightmare. Having made the United States a large bulls’ eye for terrorists and malcontents, it may implode catastrophically taking much else with it. It may come undone more gradually, but no less catastrophically, as the economy sinks under the weight of war debt and foolish tax cuts. It may be overthrown if and when thoughtful conservatives disturbed by fiscal recklessness and imperial pretensions, all honest persons offended by mendacity, bombast, criminality, conniving, and diversion, and all Christians sufficiently alert to notice the discrepancy between the words and life of the “Prince of Peace” and our foreign and domestic policies finally shift alignments. It may take longer as the die of climate change and ecological deterioration is finally cast and we trigger adverse global changes of which we have been often warned. Unlikely as it seems, in a different scenario the Republican nightmare still could be averted by an effective, committed, agile, and strategic opposition smart enough to recognize the historic convergence of opportunity, patriotic duty, sheer necessity.
David Orr (David.Orr@oberlin.edu) is a Paul Sears Distinguished Professor at Oberlin College. Author of The Last Refuge (Island Press, 2004).
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This is
billiantly stated!
Imminent ???
Toward the end it says. 'it may take longer' as the world is destroyed. Such a optimistic title for a depressing article. I wonder if he made the title first or last.
Utopian nonsense
I'm as glad as anyone else here to read about the death and destruction of the repug party, but this imbecilic drivel is almost off-putting in its naivete.
There will be no "secure energy base of solar and wind power" - because those sources are not productive or cost-efficient enough to power our infrastructure, and will not be for the foreseeable future.
Their "solid reputation for mendacity and incompetence" isn't quite so solid with a very substantial portion of voters.
"[H]uman driven, rapid climate change" is happening, no doubt - but not quickly or, presently, profoundly enough to have an impact on legislative races.
And most of all, nothing described here is "imminent". I'd love to be able to believe that the demise of repugs is just around the corner, but based on this, I can't help but think that it will still require a huge amount of effort on our part. There is no silver bullet, no inevitability to the prayed-for ending of repug power.
Orr's analysis is largely accurate, don't get me wrong, at least in factual terms; but the conclusions he draws are too far-fetched, and too likely to lead to complacency on our part.
The last thing the progressive movement can afford at this moment in time is complacency. It's tempting, but giving in to it would amount to a catastrophic, and possibly fatal, mistake for us.
Utopian perhaps
But I think that we all dream of utopia as we live in the real world. Yep, he does jump to conclusions, but you reach for the stars understanding the the answer may well be on the dark side of the moon.
One thing for sure, he brings up denials that soon or later will effect Republicans as well as the rest of the world. I would like us to make sure that the results of their policies are not blamed on us. Because you know Karl Rove will try that spin.
There is a article at Commondreams.org that says that Bush's hand picked energy tzar has come out saying that we are almost at the point of no return on global warming without immediate and drastic changes. The administration is furious. So the wolves are at the door.
I meant brilliantly stated
Hey, ya gotta hold on to some hope somewhere. Ya gotta dream. I'm all for Utopian dreams...gotta dream it first to achieve it. And yes, we have to do more than dream. Enjoy the vision and then work really hard in every practical way possible to help it happen. We know there are a large majority of people in America and around the world who dislike these creeps...so we can't let a nasty group of bad apples destroy us...yes, we must be practically vigilant in all ways, too. One of the ways that these guys can be undermined is from within their own ranks -- it may have to take that. Alot of the stuff that has been leaked out already is because people in the ranks are mortified at what's going on -- so they may rot from within -- maybe imminent is overly hopeful -- it does seem like more and more people are starting to get a whiff of the stench. There is the balancing of yin and yang.....Bush and neocons can only overreach so far, and then things will automatically start balancing themselves out.., and well yes we hope the whole world doesn't have to explode before things start swinging back.
Just silly
This is just silly. If this is the sort of nonsense we plan to run on- we deserve to lose. And it isn't well-written either. It isn't an argument to convince people, it is a rant directed at the believers.
Plus, if you don't think the centrist Democratic Party that has been foisted on us isn't guilty of 70% of this (particularly ignoring the dangers to our national infrastructure- which everyone- including progressives- are guilty of), then you are sorely mistaken. The day the progressive movement and the Democrats in DC move past devoting unbelievable time and fantastic effort to securing four votes against Rice (as if Bush cannot find someone else to prosecute and pitch his war), and moves toward rationalizing, publicizing and selling, for example, a sane energy policy to non-progressives, it will start winning real victories that will really roll back GOP power and win real victories for real Americans.
I do not think this piece is
I do not think this piece is meant to convince the electorate but rather claims that through Republican incompetence the universe itself will unseat them. Meaning the shit will hit the fan.
I thought this was...
written to scare republicans into changing their ways. Unfortunately, the timing for this is pretty bad and would be laughed at by them right now.
killerbee1 glad to see
killerbee1
glad to see you survived the great reperations saga.
Here's one that sums up the mentality of this article
This is a good place to post this:
Gloomy Democrats left hoping Republicans will self-destruct
http://www.etaiwannews.com/World/2005/01/23/1106450610.htm
Prophecies are
never timely.....they are ahead of their time. They aren't necessarily popular. Alot of people don't necessarily see it coming. But the demise of something as flawed as this administration is inevitable -- doesn't mean we don't do everything we can to help it along!
I do understand
what he was saying or I thought he was saying there at the end that we need to start making a pitch for moderates on the repug side who are disgusted at the debt and recklessness and big government of Congress and the administration. This is not "Repug lite" its common sense.
In light of developments sinc
In light of developments since this node was written, I thought that it might be time to re-visit it. Orr makes some great points about where our opponent's (enemy's?) weak spots are, and how to exploit them.
Distinguished Professor
or not, David Orr certainly failed to realize his description of the Republican party bares an uncanny resemblance to earlier Fascist regimes of Franco and Hitler. By definition fascism is "a system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.”
As all previous fascist states have fallen, so to will today’s republican party but when and at what cost to the American way of life? I am afraid that the current ethos of the American people is not going to shift overnight. Fear and obsession are powerful tools that this administration has utilized to near perfection and the current power structure is not going to give up easily. It will take a strong united effort to alter the direction this country is currently going. I do not see the solidarity in the democratic party that will be required to achieve this end, nor is there another group with the power to make a run at them. Without a strong and independent media available, we are certainly in for a long and bitter feud. The one ray of hope is the internet and blog sites like the one in which we are participating. The republican party has locked pinky fingers and have marched in lock step down Pennsylvania avenue from the White House to the capital and now we have to throw bipatisanship into the toilet and make a firm stand before it is to late.
Don't shoot till you see their faces well, then open up them squirrel guns and really give em hell.
I think when Orr wrote the ar
I think when Orr wrote the article, he was aware that he was talking about fascism. I just don't think he wanted to say the word out loud.
He may have been avoiding the appearance of being militant. I would guess if he were to write it today, his tone would change.
I certainly have become more militant in the time between I first posted this and now. At the time I was not too sure of the true depth of the evil. Now I am positive.
Thanks for bringing this node
Thanks for bringing this node back Bill. I get the feeling though that, at the moment, the moderate Repugs are more content to ride out the storm of this administration. Being in power seems to be more important then their actual beliefs. The real story begins when the republican candidates start weighing in 2007 and where the Middle East stands at that point.