The Republican Road to Self-Destruction

More Tea, please!

Mr. and Mrs. Republican Party Advocate—don’t change a thing. Stay your ground. Keep your conservative, extremist, all-white, anti-feminist, fundamentalist, non-regulatory, pro-Wall Street, immutable tax policy, big military, anti-city, right-leaning, hillbilly sensibilities right where they are: firmly planted in very expensive cement! And, don’t forget, no-matter-what, say “No” to anything those lefty socialist free-lunch liberals try to get past you in Congress, in your state legislature, in your city government, or in your country club by-laws! No, No, No! Never say Die . . .

Mr. and Mrs. Forward Voting Democrat, including you few and fabulous Independents – if they hold firm to their core beliefs, it shouldn't take long, just two years or so, for the Republican Party to completely self-destruct.

Oh, we of little faith, how frightened we were. Pledging $6 or more each time we received an Obama e-mail request for funds, we secretly feared those PACs of anonymous and not-so-anonymous billionaires who tried to buy the election and condemn us all to political hell. We doubted our friends, people like ourselves who work for a living, patriots who send their sons and daughters to war, union members who seldom have a say, would-be pensioners who can't afford to retire, students with school loans they won't repay for decades, families whose homes are underwater—literally and figuratively. Add us all up – there are more of us than there are of them. And, surprise, surprise—we won!

Already there are mumblings, threats, and warnings, and promises of retribution. Very few words of conciliation, none of congratulation, or suggestions of “how can we all get along.” Citizens of twenty states, so far, have petitioned our government to let their states secede from the union! Once upon a time, I would have welcomed and supported such a petition. Yesterday, my next-door neighbor suggested that Darrel Issa was looking to impeach the President—he didn't say why or how, or if he believed such lunacy. Months ago, the same next-door neighbor bet me dinner at my favorite restaurant that Romney would win the election. He’s a fanciful fellow—hasn’t paid up, either.

If the Tea Party stays the course and maintains any traction, they’ll help loose the next race. They may magically disappear the Republican Party. Thankfully, hopefully, there are a few moderate, centrist Republicans willing to work with moderate, centrist Democrats in order to preserve the union as we’ve come to know it.

Jac Flanders is the author of “What I Learned On The Way Down.”