Friday, November 27, 2009

Friends and enemies

BarbinMD at the Great Orange Satan revealed earlier this week that the GOP is considering establishing a purity test for prospective Republican candidates. She quotes the following:

Republican leaders are circulating a resolution listing 10 positions Republican candidates should support to demonstrate that they "espouse conservative principles and public policies" that are in opposition to "Obama’s socialist agenda." According to the resolution, any Republican candidate who broke with the party on three or more of these issues– in votes cast, public statements made or answering a questionnaire – would be penalized by being denied party funds or the party endorsement.
Why three or more issues? Apparently, King Ronaldus Magnus once said that someone who agreed with him 8 out of 10 times was his friend, not his opponent. And in GOP-land, this means that someone who only agrees with you 7 out of 10 times is in fact your opponent, and not your friend.

If the right-wing ideologues do succeed in establishing a purity test for Republican candidates, it will mark an important milestone on the GOP's road to oblivion.

2 comments:

Nich Hills said...

No, the purity test will bring the USA in line with other European and Anglosphere democracies where there are enforceable platforms and caucus-solidarity. In short, candidates will do as it says on the party tin and voters can vote with greater confidence that they'll know what they're getting.

It's a development I'd expect Democrats to welcome as it should result in less craven congresswomen and men.

Johnny Pez said...

The Republican Party already has caucus solidarity. That's actually a bad thing in American politics because the two major parties are really coalitions (a side effect of the electoral college), and when one party starts voting as a bloc all the time it means that that party has become so monolithic that all its members naturally march in lockstep.

The GOP got this way by shrinking, shedding moderates until now practically the entire party is made up of far-right conservatives. The purity test will shrink the GOP even further until they become so irrelevant that even the national media will stop paying attention to them.