Letters to the Editor
-
Step 1: Disavow Neoconservatism
The Republican Party has gotten itself stuck in a blind alley and hasn't had the sense or the leadership to recognize where it went wrong and reverse course. The error was in allowing itself to be hijacked by the neocons, whose promotion of military aggression, intrusive, authoritarian big government, globalism, and runaway deficits is 180 degrees away from the positions espoused by Republicans a half century ago.
The Republican Party has been the party of Big Business since its inception, but this alliance only became toxic to the interests of the United States when Big Business started going transnational. President Eisenhower, the last Republican president to adhere to an ethical code, warned of this change in his Farewell Address with its famous caution about the rising "military-industrial complex".
Republicans need to reexamine their history and the meaning of being a conservative. The philosophy of neoconism is not home grown, but a cancerous import from Europe. It needs to be recognized as such and eradicated before Republicans can once again become a positive force in American politics.
For the health of the Republican Party and the nation the grassroots party organizations need to call for a housecleaning at the top, including ousting Bush, Cheney, Rove, and the rest of their gang from membership. A revitalized Republican Party based on the values of diplomacy, liberty, and economy could once again provide a needed critique in the progress of the American nation.