re GOP and ethics in conflict

Boston MA

Description

Political Scientists believe it began with Ronald Reagan. Don't get me wrong, I am a Reagan fan, but that is when the real divisions became visible. But honestly, it began in 1964, when LBJ, in honor of his predecessor enacted the Civil Rights Bill and slapped squarely in the face all the southern Dixiecrats who then ran to the open arms of the GOP. When Anita Bryant began selling more than just orange juice and made a political attempt to fire all homosexual teachers, and her efforts failed, her "Save Our Children" hordes who had previously been apolitical ("In the world, not of it") also flocked to the Republican Party. They morphed and became the Tea Party, a group of brilliant, young, enthusiastic conservatives on steroids that had the audacity to confront not the opposing party, but their own. Such a thorn in the side of the old establishment they became, there was hidden warfare as they actually tried to take over! The GOP's response was to supoort a lifelong Democrat to be elected to the executive office, calling him "Republican," in hopes of finally quelling these meddlesome pests. In a true Shakespearian irony, this madman and his even madder followers tore the party asunder. Probably not in my lifetime, but certainly in the not too distant future both parties will split because of their radical fringes. Then I suppose the moderates of the two original will unite and form one unstoppable block, and we will become as in Great Britain, a multiparty nation fighting for dominance.