In the discussion of the general structural problems plaguing the GOP, old friend Kevin McLeod @ The Blue Collar Scholar commented earlier this year:
There’s an alternative strategy the GOP can adopt without surrendering ties to its primary sponsors in the business world. Simply this; embrace secular Republicans. They can campaign on the traditional themes of fiscal conservatism, law and order, national security, but do it on a rational basis.
Secular Republicans can do business without the embarrassing baggage of religious conservatives; the treatment of women and minorities as second-class citizens, the ignorant dismissal of science, the insular arrogance that demands their way or the highway.
Sounds logical. However, the deeply religious conservative faction is currently the dominant force in Iowa – the site of the first and one of the most important primaries in the nation. Until their fingers can be pried off the levers of that particular power-piece, I think it’ll be well-nigh impossible for the religious element of the party to be demoted to the secondary status where it really belongs in a secular democracy.
The modern GOP leadership doesn’t want democracy. It wants mob rule. If you’re not a member of a faith-based club, you can’t hold office. Extending that viewpoint beyond the GOP extinguishes democracy. Empowering a mob can be good for business as long as it does business’ bidding; the day may come when it doesn’t.
I’m not so sure. History is replete with mob rule’s often chaotic behavior – one day you’re on top, the next you’re crushed under the hay wagon’s wheels.
