At the American Thinker, Lee Cary writes:
If the GOP gains control of one or both Houses of Congress in the November midterm elections, and then does not make good on its promises to reverse and counter the Democrats’ socialist agenda, we could hear the death knell that signals the end of the Grand Old Party.
The wisdom of the conventional response to conservatives who threaten, out of frustration, to align with a third party is well-established by tradition and history. Theodore Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party brought the nation President Woodrow Wilson, and Ross Perot’s entry into the 1992 race elected Bill Clinton. Both were movements based on personality-in-the-moment. TR didn’t like Taft, and Perot had a grudge against Bush 41. In the 2000 election, Perot only begrudgingly endorsed George W. Bush, laying aside his animosity against the family name.
On those two occasions, when a third party played the spoiler, personality-in-the-moment was the primary driver. National circumstances and the mood of the voters are much different today.
Still feeling betrayed by the GOP’s failure to live up to its promises going back to soon after the Contract with America, conservative voters are preparing to march to the polls in decisive numbers, but not with wild-eyed enthusiasm for the GOP. As they vote to oust the current Democrat Congress, under their breath, they’ll be muttering the warning, “This is your last chance, Republicans.”
I have no doubt that this decade, with its toxic combination of a bottomed out economy, out of control government spending and regulation, and ongoing threats from terrorism, will force substantial changes to both parties’ worldview. Particularly via a finally reawakened conservative/libertarian grassroots base that scares the Ruling Class to death. (QED.) But as I said last night, in the short-term, Whatever Your Ideology, Your Opponents’ Worldview Is Officially Dead.
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