The Republican Race to the Bottom, and What it Says about Political Discourse

At the beginning of the Republican primary season, I confess that it was entertaining to watch the interplay between the various candidates: Ron Paul, so obviously sincere and so impractical in his views of both domestic and foreign policy; Michele Bachmann, a Sarah Palin wannabe, with only slightly more gravitas than a cream puff, Newt Gingrich, always determined to provethat he's the smartest one in the room and never ruffled even when delivering the most outrageous lie; Mitt Romney, clueless about how to connect with the common man, and doomed to be the kid who earnestly runs for student council and is never really liked, and now Rick Santorum, who is so far right in his pro-life positions that he risks alienating whatever women are still left in the Republican party.

But in the past few weeks, this contest has become downright painful, as it has devolved into a game of chicken with each candidate rushing headlong towards a cliff and trying to pull up just short of taking a position that will eradicate GOP hopes of winning the general election.

Mitt Romney continues to eke out enough support to make it likely that he will ultimately win the nomination, but most Republicans seem to want to convince themselves that he's the best man to beat Obama rather than turning into true believers.

Both Romney and Santorum continue to court the Republican “base,” those social conservatives whose appetite for turning back the clock to some mythical flag-draped American past grows ever more voracious with each sop the candidates throw their way.

It's not enough to be against abortion; you have to oppose insurance for contraception as well, even though 65% of the American public supported the President's position on Plan B coverage according to a New York Times/CBS News poll.

You can't just bully women into carrying a pregnancy to term; you have to humiliate them along the way by forcing an invasive ultrasound procedure on them. And then insult them by telling them to keep aspirin between their knees.

Supporting home schooling and charter schools doesn't cut it any more; you must label those who advocate getting students through at least community college as “snobs” and “elitists,” even if you have multiple degrees yourself.

You tell people that you would rather have let the auto industry go bankrupt (the government loaned GM $13.4 billion and $4 billion to Chrysler) even though GM and Chrysler have repaid about half of the government's largesse, unlike the banks who continue their reckless investment practices, even after they've received well over $700 billion.

And political discourse has become so toxic that moderate Republicans like Olympia Snowe declare that they have had enough, leaving Congress polarized between Democrats and the extreme wing of the Republican party, which sees compromise as failure and views every political battle as a “winner takes all” contest.

Lincoln famously warned that a “house divided against itself cannot stand,” and it feels increasingly as if we have reached the same kind of fevered animosity that fueled tensions between North and South during the Civil War. While I don't expect any state (even Texas) to secede or cane fights to break out in the Capitol, the lack of civil discourse in the House and Senate fuels public distrust in and disgust with government.

Why are Republicans so set on such a destructive course? It could be that having helped to elect Tea Party extremists, they have simply lost control of a wing of the party that no longer wants to play by party rules. Or it could be the desperate gambit of a party that sees Obama benefiting from a slow but evident economic recovery and has thrown all its weight into “wedge” issues like abortion, gay marriage, and the like in the hopes that at least social conservatives will turn out next November.

Unfortunately, for Republicans, in a world of 24/7 news coverage and “viral” videos, their words are destined to return to haunt them, just when their nominee has to try to convince the general public that he really didn't mean all of the crazy things he was willing to say to prevail in the primaries.

In the meantime, the remaining Republican candidates for president keep making me think of the proverbial image of lemmings going over a cliff. To make it to the nomination, they may well have to commit political suicide and destroy their chances of getting the American public to vote for them in November.