To be or not to be

Even before the election, conservatives were asking the question, should we still be a part of the Republican Party?

It is a very important question to ask, but could it be we are asking the wrong question? 

What is the question we should be asking?

The question is not whether conservatives should be a part of the Republican Party.  The question should be is the Republican Party still a viable party to be a part of?

Let’s look at some cold hard numbers. 

In the last twenty years, the Republicans have lost four of the last six Presidential elections.  If we want to base that tally on the popular vote alone, it becomes five of the last six. 

In both 2010 and 2012, the Republican Party should have taken control of the Senate.  Instead in 2010, the GOP came up short and amazingly enough in a year where mathematics alone should have given the GOP a majority, the Republican Party managed to lose seats in the Senate. 

Thanks to the Tea Party wave of 2010, the GOP kept a majority this year in the House, though they lost seats.  Part of the ability to keep those seats was a by-product of the 2010 elections.  Because the Tea Party got conservatives elected to the state legislatures and State Houses of a number of states, the GOP was able to control the redistricting process. 

That may not be enough as Democrats are not openly talking about getting the House back in 2014 and a supermajority in the Senate in 2016.  Neither is just wishful thinking. 

The Republican Party is rapidly becoming a party incapable of winning elections.  There are four people who should be held responsible for this year’s disaster within the Party. 

None of them will be held to account. 

Let’s start with John Boehner.  After his miserable two years as Speaker, he should have voluntarily stepped down.  Yes, the GOP only controls the House but can anyone point to a single time that John Boehner was able to achieve anything?

Everyone knows Boehner will not fight Obama on anything.   Obama made his first offer in the fiscal cliff negotiations.  His offer could be boiled down to give me everything I want and then some and perhaps in a few years we will think about giving you a little of what you want. 

John Boehner is the leader of the Republicans.  He is the one who must decide to fight or agree.  Obama knows this.  Many people think Obama’s offer was simply a way of pushing everyone to the fiscal cliff.  It may be.  But it also shows something else.  It shows a total contempt of Boehner because Boehner won’t fight.

The only thing Boehner has done in the last two years is to consolidate his power as Speaker.   By all rights, the Republicans should have expanded their majority in this election.  Instead, the GOP lost seats.  But Boehner will keep his.

Mitch McConnell became Senate Minority Leader in 2007 as the GOP lost control of the Senate.  2006 was a disaster election for the Republican. 2008 was even worse.   In 2010 and in 2012, when they should have picked up seats and a majority, they failed.

One of the jobs of the Minority Leader is to work hard to change his title to Majority leader.   After three elections, that has not happened and 2014 does not look much better.  If the GOP merely performs as it has in the last few elections, by 2016 the Democrats will once again have a super majority in the Senate.

The only thing the Republicans in the Senate seem to be doing is to work hard to make sure they do not have primary competition.  The Republican National Senate Committee is now working to get involved in primaries to help incumbents and stop future Tea Party challenges against RINOs.

Reince Priebus took over the chairmanship of the RNC under terrible conditions.  Michael Steele had spent the RNC into serious debt.  Priebus has done a good job of rebuilding the Party’s finances.  But he is the face of the Party.  When the Party loses as badly as it did, you need new leadership. 

Priebus will not step aside and odds favor his reelection.   And with his reelection, the establishment will remain in charge of the Party.  The Establishment is already trying to make certain that Republicans lose the 2016 election.   The Establishment is already trying to push Jeb Bush as the old white guy next in line. 

With the real possibility of Hillary Clinton running in 2016, the Establishment RINOs and the Bushies are salivating about the possibility of another Bush Clinton rematch.   The rest of us with brains realize nominating another Bush would be like the Captain of the sinking Titanic calling and telling the engine room to fire the engines up again so they can hit the iceberg one more time.

Finally, there is Karl Rove.

Rove is a part of the Establishment, but he has his own businesses so it is not like the GOP could fire him.  Rove raised and spent $350 million and his efforts did not even move the needles.   Any contributor who gives another dime to any of Rove’s organizations is a fool.  Save your self the anguish and just go blow the money in Vegas.  You’ll have a better time.

Can you imagine what would have happened if only 10% of that money had been sent to local grass roots organizations?  Tea Party groups at the local level have one thing in common.  By necessity, they are very frugal.  Tea Party groups know how to do a lot with a little. 

The greater Republican world is not going to change its leadership.   Those who drove the last train wreck are still in charge. 

We conservatives have often said that the Establishment would rather lose than see conservatives win.   At this point, the question we need to ask is, “Can the Republican Party even win elections anymore?” 

That is the question we need to ask. 

If the answer to that question is no, then it directs our next steps. 

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