Elephant Burial Grounds

Arlen Specter, who had such great faith in the pristine magic bullet from the Warren Commission, no longer has faith in the Grand Old Party. I've had respect for the Senator over the years, but I can't help seeing him as rat fleeing a sinking ship. I don't blame him, I understand his reasoning, both philosophical and political. I also can't stop giggling about the Republican Party.

Contrary to what a lot of my friends think, I was not around for the demise of the Whig Party. I have read a lot about the times, and the situation was just so much different. The Republican Party was truly born out of the slavery issue. And it was pulled together not just by disaffected Whigs, but some of the true leaders of that party. Men like William Henry Seward, Salmon Portland Chase, and Abraham Lincoln.

The Republicans like to call themselves the party of Lincoln, which always makes me laugh. Yes he was one of the original leaders, and the first President elected as such. But if you read his first Message to Congress, the State of the Union address of the time, you will see that the Republicans quickly abandoned his ideals. And Lincoln abandoned them. He was reelected under the Union Party banner. Yes the Republican party eventually endorsed his candidacy, but he was no longer in that party.

What I'm not seeing now, but what occurred then, is leadership to new ideals. The leaders of the Republican party, such as they are with a 21% approval rating, are still welded to the Reagan ideals, low taxes, smaller government, conservative fiscal policies. Unfortunately, the only one of those they have been able to pull of are the lower taxes. And also unfortunately, those lower taxes have truly only impacted a small percentage of the population.

I believe that Mr. Specter will not be the only Republican to switch. The impact will be severe. As the party fails to accomplish anything in Washington, the money flow will fall. This is going to have repercussions at the state and local level. I think we are seeing a true sea change.

Now there is a strong possibility that a new party could form in the center. One would think that this would be the natural occurrence, with the dregs of the Republican party continuing their march further and further right, a political vacuum is bound to occur. There aren't many moderate Republicans, at least they don' t claim to be in public, but I think some may come out of the closet. And there are quite a few Blue Dog Democrats. There would seem to be enough to coalesce in the middle.

At the same time, President Obama is a pragmatist, and smarter then most politicians. I think there's a good chance he can keep a majority of Democrats, and democrats, behind his standard for the next few years.

All and all it's going to be good fun. I'm going to have to watch a lot more Fox News. At some point in the next few years I think they might even get a clue as to what is happening.