America's Republican Party Is Self Destructing

Is New York’s Special Election Fractionalizing Ronald Reagan’s GOP?

Nov 3, 2009

Republican Dede Scozzafava's challenges did not come from her Democratic opponent Bill Owens but from neocons within her own party supporting conservative Doug Hoffman.

The actions of right-wing Republicans in New York’s 23rd District signal that the GOP is struggling over the future direction of the political party. One faction believes in strict ideological doctrines that do not allow dissent, while another segment of the party argues for inclusion of moderates that adhere to the GOP outline. In either case the feuding protagonists cite data from the father of modern conservatism, former President Ronald Reagan that purports to support their position.

Strict Tea Party Conservatism

Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava began to feel the pressure from strict conservatives immediately after her nomination by the County GOP chairs. The Washington Times reported on Oct. 16, 2009, “Mr. Hoffman is tapping the anger of the tea party activists…by casting doubt over the conservative credentials of the pro-choice Mrs. Scozzafava.” Conservatives on the right, from former presidential candidate Fred Thompson, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey and radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh to financier Steve Forbes and Dick Cheney among others, rejected the moderate Republican Scozzafava in favor of the strict conservative Hoffman.

In 1975, California Governor Ronald Reagan said, “…I’m impatient with those Republicans who…[say] we must broaden the base of our party, when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.” Former Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin used Reagan’s words to support her contention that only true conservatives, unwavering from fundamentals, are the real difference. On her October 22 Facebook page she wrote, “The Republican Party today has decided to choose a candidate who more than blurs the lines…. and there is no real difference between the Democrat and the Republican in this race.”

The Big Tent Policy

In 1980, then presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan espoused the virtues of a “big tent” policy of politics that began the Reagan Revolution. Considered charismatic, charming, persuasive and patriotic, Reagan was able to redirect a large segment of American society toward his Republican ideology. “Someone who agrees with the party on four out of five issues is 80 percent a friend, not 20 percent an enemy,” Reagan said.

The Reagan Democrats, conservative Democrats, along with conservative immigrants formed the backbone of the Teflon President’s Big Tent. These moderate Republicans gave Reagan his landslide victories along with the Republican Revolution later espoused by Georgian Congressman Newt Gingrich. However, in today’s NY case, the former House Speaker cautioned against a purge of party moderates. "I think we are going to get into a very difficult environment around the country if suddenly conservative leaders decide they are going to anoint people without regard to local primaries…," Gingrich told the New York Times on Sunday.

The GOP Civil War

Backers of Conservative candidate Hoffman in NY argued that the Republicans have to hold firm to their core values. “I don’t like the direction my country is going in…,” argued former conservative presidential candidate Fred Thompson at a Hoffman rally. “They’re trying to change my country.” At the same time Vice President Joe Biden said in a speech earlier Monday, “They may not have any room for moderate views in the Republican Party…but let me assure you, we have room,”

Future of the GOP

With the loss of moderate Republican Arlen Specter of PA to the Democrats earlier this year the U.S. Senate has only two moderate Republicans left, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe both from Maine. Katherine Skiba of US News and World Report stated on June1 2009, that “Collins was bombarded with…e-mails…from mostly angry out-of-staters who condemned her ‘in very personal terms,’… [she blames] the anti-Collins campaign…on a fellow GOP senator.”

As conservative columnist George Will said on Sunday’s ABC’s This Week, 40% of Americans call themselves conservative; Monday’s Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll presented data that only “…17% of Americans self-identify as Republicans.” Collins continued, "We're not going to win presidential elections if we become increasingly a party of white, Southern men" – about 17% of the US population.

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