Rusty silver linings

[BarbaraGordon]

Originally Posted by ERCougar

I actually think (hope) this election will turn some heads of those in control of the party. It's truly unbelievable that conservatives rejected someone like Romney because he believes that Jesus was Lucifer's brother.

That's my hope. This is why I believed that for the sake of the GOP, Obama had to win. The short-term loss of an administration provides the opportunity for a long-term win for the party. But in order for the long-term win to be realized, the party leadership has to realize the significance of this loss -- this party's platform is no longer structurally sound. A majority of Americans will no longer stand for or on a platform that combines divisive social issues with bellicose foreign policy and egregious fiscal mismanagement.

But on the other hand, change will be difficult. If the party drops the religiously-motivated social rhetoric, it risks losing the voting bloc that has perhaps singlehandedly kept the party viable. To end its love affair with fiscal mismanagement, it will have to stop the overindulgent defense spending and stop offering fake tax cuts; and in the case of the former, the party loses its identity (that is, its identity outside of the religious right), and with the latter, it loses its most effective selling point.

The fact that Palin -- the embodiment of compassionate-conservative religious-right politics -- is still being heralded as "the rising star" of the party, makes me wonder whether the party is really going to be willing to reform.