Not Your Grandpa's GOP

Once upon a time, not that long ago, the Republican party fancied themselves to be the smart set -- elite, educated, well-to-do, the people that others aspired to be like.  For the GOP of the William Buckley generation, this was partly true and partly delusion.  In practice and policy, they were too selfish and greedy for mass appeal.  But they stood on their principles and refused to pander to the lowest common denominator.  Their ideological purity culminated in the Barry Goldwater candidacy.  Goldwater gave no quarter and spoke his mind without reservation.  Good for him.  He had no use for "political preachers."  Good for him again.  He was also a belligerent, war-mongering, paranoiac who was utterly routed in the general election.

Goldwater was firmly convinced he was right, and was convinced the public was with him.  He was humorless, rigid, terribly conservative, and did not suffer fools gladly.  The combination made him a lousy national candidate, a guaranteed loser.  The public was not with him, not even close.  Oops! Miscalculation.  Time to pander!

Ever since then, the GOP has worked to broaden their appeal to whoever might have them, no matter what -- Nixon's Southern Strategy, Reagan's "government is the problem" bullshit, Dubya's anti-Muslim, anti-gay fear-mongering, and lie-based war-making.  They've sold out to a collection of uncohesive, unlikable factions.  It works occasionally in mid-term elections, but even that won't last too much longer.

Their deal-with-the-devil has produced clusters of mostly old, mostly white people who don't necessarily get along with each other -- evangelical moralists, racists, gun nuts, anti-abortion nuts, anti-union nuts, militarists, libertarians, anti-tax/anti-government Tea Baggers -- but they've all been persuaded to vote Republican.  The old money/billionaire/corporate interests are still the core, the real base.  The money is the only thing that really counts, and the un-monied dumb-asses recruited to the GOP will never figure that out.

Today, it's not your grandpa's GOP.  It's much worse.