An Open Letter To All Members Of The Republican Party
Dear Republicans,
Do you see what you’ve become? Look. Look at this. This is the front page of the GOP’s website. Is this the “Grand Old Party“? Is this what you stand for? A senseless attack on one member of the opposition? Is this leadership? Is this statesmanship? Is this honor? Is this the kind of party you want leading your children into the 21st century?
You just don’t get it.
You lost.
You lost in 2008, and you have yet to figure out why — or what to do about it.
You chose to ignore the message that a majority of Americans sent you then, and you’ve ignored it ever since. You chose to misinterpret the signals America has been sending you ever since. And you’ve wildly overplayed your hand, leaving you, as David Frum said, with nothing. (Actually, David Frum said, “This time, when we went for all the marbles, we ended with none.”)
You chose to steer hard right after the 2008 elections, and you’ve been steering harder right ever since.
And yet, you ignore all the clues, all the statements, all the obvious facts that America doesn’t like you, doesn’t like your policies (if you actually have any,) doesn’t like your politics, and doesn’t like your practices.
So what are you doing?
You’re steering ever further right. Right into the Stone Age.
Your leaders, the Limbaugh-Beck-Hannity-O’Reilly-Palin Fox News Noise Machine and the DeMint-McConnell-Boehner Congressional Bigotry Machine, won’t admit to you they steered you wrong, and now, in the face of an all-out, major defeat, they are reveling in their misguidance, and declaring outright war on the president and on the Democrats. What would you expect? They are in a no-lose situation. If the Democrats succeed, they gain more attention as they stoke the fires of hate. If the Democrats fail, they gain more attention because they can say, “We told you so.” What a racket!
And yet, you still listen to them. Even though they have brought you defeat and dishonor, shame and embarrassment, and outright repulsion from the rest of America, including the independents, you are still listening. Why?
Seriously, Republicans, you need to stop. Take a deep breath, and look at reality. Not the 24/7 Fox News reality, not the GOP talking points reality, but R e a l i t y. With a capital “R.”
Here’s what’s going to happen.
Either you, Republicans, are going to wake up and realize that America will go on, with or without you, and you’ll stop your hatred of anything that doesn’t fit into your tiny little misguided world, or, we’ll simply leave you in the dust. You will have no where to turn, no one will listen, you will truly have lost everything.
Your current course will bring you to violence (it already has,) and maybe even armed conflict, and in the end, you will truly have lost everything.
You and your Tea Party cohorts are not going to “refresh the tree of liberty.” You are not going to “take back America.”
A new course — one in which you remember that you do not own the right to misinterpret the constitution, nor do you own the government, nor do you own the culture of this great land, because no one does — will bring you peace and prosperity, and a life that you can be proud to share with your family and your childrens’ families.
It’s really up to you. But you need to act fast, act now, because like it or not, that “hopey-changey thing” is working out just fine, and if you don’t change with it, well, let’s just say your status as the minority party, as the Party of No, will quickly lead to the Party of None.