Showdown at the GOP Corral

Elephant getting restless.. Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

I had a decent blog topic for today, but current events have pushed that one out. Today I’d like to talk about current political events since they’ve taken some unusual turns..

Grand Old Party

In my long memory, the GOP never seemed much like the party of Lincoln.. black Americans have voted Democrat since at least the days of Franklin Roosevelt. Wealthy people and business men seemed to have the biggest lock on the Republican Party. Up until the mid-1960’s, the GOP was the gathering place of WASPy, protestant, middle-to-upper crust men. These were men most concerned about inheritance tax, capital gains and interest rates. These were pallid, fiduciary men -- not heated by the fires of race and religion. These pallid men I dub the GOP “patrician elite”.

LBJ SENDS RED MEAT THE GOP WAY

In 1965, LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act. While signing, he said as an aside, “There goes the South”. And he was right. Starting with the 1968 Presidential election, the “red meat” Southerners migrated over to the GOP, in droves. The migration was complete by 1972 when George McGovern’s liberal campaign suffered a huge, humiliating defeat. The GOP had acquired the Angry Southerner. While not adhering so much to Southern issues, the GOP Elite loved having the extra votes. What could they to do accommodate their newest party members and make them feel welcomed?

RED MEAT REPUBLICANS

Red meat Republicans and the Elite share a lot of similar views, but with entirely different emphasis. These are major care-abouts for the largely blue collar, lower middle class red meats:

1. Abortion / Planned Parenthood
2. Gay marriage / Gays in the military
3. Freedom of Religious Expression / Freedom to post the 10 Commandments
4. NRA / Right to bear arms including machine guns
5. Immigration
6. Low taxes

On this whole list, the only ones that grip the heart of a Yale Man are items 5 and 6. The others, not so much. On number 5, the red meats and elite are in direct conflict with each other.

THROW THEM A BONE

For 40 years, the elite have played on the emotions of the red meat.. Beware of gun-confiscating, lesbian, secular humanists! Listen to Jerry Falwell! Phony liberal bogeymen were summoned forth through all the years to scare blue collar people to the polls. Downplay anything that might be an actual conflict.. The fact that Walmart Stores and Gemcraft homes love the cheap labor of Mexican immigrants was kept hushed and subdued – like the drinking habits of a favorite uncle.

Truth be – Elite Republicans align more with Democrats in many ways. They think abortion is sad and regrettable, not necessarily immoral. They don’t celebrate in a Gay Pride event but avail themselves of gay catering and gay style sense. They worship in the Episcopal Church, but refrain from public proselyting – perceived as an exercise in tasteless yelling. The Elite might shoot skeet or fish, but they don’t have firearms as a major life factor or concern.

FRANKENSTEIN, ARISE!

This game has worked extremely well since 1972. In 2004, Howard Dean marveled at how a certain demographic (red meat) is primarily concerned with “Guns, Gays and God”. In so many ways, across so many days this strategy worked .. until international terrorism raised its ugly head. Suddenly the red meat contingent has a bone to pick with one of the bones it was thrown. They have a serious problem with immigration policy and are lining up behind the likes of Trump and Cruz. Trump and Cruz are the anti-Elite and frightening specters to anyone from the GOP Old Guard.

GOP CIVIL WAR

In truth, the GOP is two very different groups – it’s an awkward marriage of convenience. Bubba doesn’t care about derivatives or capital gains. He cares about the Three G’s above. Reginald from Yale doesn’t get any major upset from God, gays or guns. But he becomes excitable if we start talking about Visa expirations and deportation of illegals. What happens to the nanny, the yard crew and the H1B staff at the office? This blog author doesn’t know how it ends. It may be Credence Clearwater's Bad Moon Arisin’ – a storm of epic proportions yet to play out. This is what happens when you play with fire – it’s only remarkable that a fuse in this case took 50 years to ignite.

© 2015 Snillor Productions