Professor Tom Nichols of the Naval War College is disturbed, as am I, that the GOP is fast losing its ability to function as a governing party in counterbalance to the Democrats – and then points out something I missed. From WaPo:
Democrats should not celebrate these trends: If the GOP ceases to be a sensible opposition party, if it can no longer provide the constraining influence of a governing alternative, the Democratic Party will be overtaken by extremists as well. And if both parties become captured by their fringes, America will hurl itself between far right and far left, like a dysfunctional parliament instead of a system of divided powers that has been a model of stability for nearly 2 1 / 2 centuries. A boat can be tossed from side to side only so many times before it is swamped.
It’s very true. The folks who joined the Republican Party and then proceeded to RINO out all the moderate members, as I’ve discussed numerous times, have done a severe disservice to the country. This country doesn’t benefit from zealous ideologues in either party, but from adults who are aware of the awesome responsibility which they have won, their own fallibility, and the importance of being able to compromise, and even learn from, the “other side.”
Because we’re all Americans here.
