Now Thats Democracy

I heard the other day that there are plans being made to draft Jeb Bush for the nominee at the Republican Convention this August if there is no clear winner after the primaries, which seems likely. I can't imagine that going over very well at the Romney or Gingrich camps certainly but I would think that it might also anger all the people who went to the halls, listened to the speeches and talked with other folks before finally casting a vote. We have a process for picking a candidate and regardless of how odious I personally find them doesn't the fact that they have garnered so much support from rank and file Republicans entitle them to something better than a "thanks for coming but we have our winner"?   To be clear, its not that Romney or Gingrich have anything to complain about for themselves, regardless of how much money they spent, but I think their supporters have and if this were to occur their voices would be silenced. I guess when you think about it, a bunch of elites deciding what is best without regard to the people who listened, considered then spoke, is pretty much the norm when it comes to the Republicans.
When you get right down to it the Republicans are doing the economy a favor by running a jobs program where the product they are making is completely useless. They will have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising and travel to pick a candidate and in the end will simply anoint someone who didn't spend a dime. I know they dislike Keynes so I am a little surprised that they seem to be following his model for recessionary spending, though even Keynes might have balked if what was produced turned out to be a bunch of hateful television commercials.
To recap; they ignored the will of their own people and spent a bunch of money for nothing. Vote Republican!

Do the Republicans Really want to win?

In every state, in every bar and conference hall, in every high level meeting with political 'leaders' and conference and think tank the Republicans have repeated one mantra and have had only one stated goal; Beat Obama. They may talk about overspending sometimes and they certainly say how bad everything is (without saying much about how they would fix it except for giving More money to rich people) but other than beating Obama there is nothing that truly unites the Republicans. So how come they are going about it so poorly?
Gingrich says he is the true heir to Reagan while trashing Romney, and Reagan's famous 11th commandment, with everything he's got. Of course Romney, and nearly every professional (by professional I mean the country club/chamber of commerce set)Republican in the country is busily trashing Gingrich but its hard to blame anybody for being opposed to a self-proclaimed bomb-thrower. What is hard to miss is how poorly the Repub's are going about accomplishing the only goal they have for this election and so the question comes up; are the Repub's completely incompetent or are they losing on purpose?
The first is obviously the most attractive in that it fulfills all of my predictions of the hubris of the Repubs' and its easy to see that it could be true based on the evidence. The party is being split into three by orthodoxies at war with each other; the Libertarian wing at war with the Social Conservatives in regard to drugs, school prayer and gay anything and at odds with the professional or business folks for their disdain for ANY spending, including things like education or infrastructure improvements that might aid in a country's being able to do business. The Social Conservatives often feel as if they are being paid lip service by the professional Repub's in election years and then completely ignored once the election is over, much the way minorities feel about the Democrats, and for good reason. The country as a whole will not stand for prayer in school and illegal abortion no matter how loudly the Social Conservatives yell and the professional Repub's know this and so will not stake much capital on accomplishing that which they know cannot be accomplished and will diminish their power in the country at large. The Republican Party has been heading for an internal revolution for a long time due to the absolute certainty that each of these parts has in their own infallibility but are they really so certain of their own perfection that they are willing to fail so spectacularly at the only goal that every Republican is in agreement about? I have to wonder.
So lets examine the other possibility, that the Republicans are Trying to lose. They are not very hopeful that the economy is going to turn around in any big way, and of course they are in a good position with their majority in the House to thwart anything that might improve it, and so why should their guy be in the hot seat when the election time bill-paying comes due? Much better to be out of power and trash Obama for his failures. The international scene is very much in flux, the whole Middle East is in rebellion and looking like it is going toward a government run by and for Muslims', an outcome that pays very big dividends for the religious right in America. They can point the finger at Obama for losing the war for democratic government in the Middle East while stoking the fears/dreams of their own stalwart believers in the heady brew of Armageddon. The professional Repub's can let the other two wings fight it out and let on of them get stomped in the general election and when they lose show them how foolish they were to follow their orthodoxy at the cost of holding office. While at the same time its a good bet that the Democrats will be tired out and whipped by reality and the republican controlled House of Representatives with the aid of their good buddy the Supreme Court.
Its not too crazy of a theory and the Republicans have four years to prove I am right, because certainly they are going to lose to Obama this November.

The Current Republican Woes

  We have been deluged by the news of the recent landslide Republican victories in the House and less so in the Senate and while it would be idiotic to suggest that these victories were not very significant, even in an historically incumbent-bashing off-year election, I think the Republicans are not going to do so well in the next election. 
   The Congressional elections formed a perfect storm for the Republicans that will not be repeated.  The gutting of campaign finance reform launched a never-ending stream of negative ads that allowed the Republicans to wage a national campaign against Pelosi and Obamacare while not having to back a specific candidate.  The Republicans are incapable of backing a single candidate, the only thing that unites them is that they are not Democrats. 
   The Republican "car" has in the driver seat the business class that has always sat at the wheel.  They have changed direction somewhat, requiring government bailout in such a fantastic and public way, but the business class has always looked to government to "pave the way", by building projects meant to aid in the doing of business, and in removing obstacles, such as legislating tariffs.  That they expect these things while simultaneously complaining of government has been useful to keep others in their car satisfied and thereby get themselves elected.  There are two other groups vying for directional control that is the cause of the cars' erratic course.  On one side there are the social conservatives; claiming Christian values they don't want to spend a lot of money feeding the poor or helping the homeless but they very much want to see homosexuality outlawed and prayer in school mandated and maybe a flag-burning amendment.  This is in contrast to the growing Libertarian bunch reaching for the wheel on the other side who have taken seriously the verbal trashing of government and want nothing to do with an engaging foreign policy.  The only federal spending they are in agreement with is for defense and they are opposed to government regulating the private lives of individuals.
   The Republican car may be currently driving down the middle of the road but that is due only to the social conservatives and the libertarians pulling in equal measure in opposite direction.  Once they are obliged to agree on a single candidate with a cogent agenda will we see their car weaving and lurching.  We can only hope they are cited for reckless driving by an intelligent police/electorate and have their licenses/seats suspended for awhile.