A Message from Ed Kilgore, James Vega and J.P.Green
Dear Readers:
The GOP is not engaged in a struggle between moderates and extremists. The entire Republican Party has been infiltrated and transformed by advocates of an extremist political philosophy who now hold it captive. Denying this reality does a profound disservice to democracy.
As negotiations regarding the basic operation of the federal government reach a critical stage, the mainstream media is once again desperately revising its definition of what constitutes a Republican “moderate” in order to maintain the fiction that the GOP still has both moderate and extremist wings. This fits the unwritten rule of mainstream journalism that powerful conservative political and economic elites and establishments must always be described as basically “moderate” or “reasonable” in some sense or other while right-wing or conservative “extremism” must always be portrayed as a disreputable fringe aberration.
But this is deeply and fundamentally false. Today’s GOP is not engaged in a struggle between moderates and extremists. The entire Republican Party has been infiltrated and transformed by the advocates of an extremist political philosophy who for all practical purposes now hold it captive.
It is profoundly dangerous to refuse to recognize and confront this simple reality. For the last five years The Democratic Strategist has been tracking this profoundly disturbing trend and has repeatedly called attention to the fundamental changes that have been occurring.
During the last five years we have argued the following:
1. That the core ideology of modern GOP extremism is the ethos of “politics as warfare” and the view of opponents as literal enemies. This perspective, which has gained major traction within the GOP, represents a fundamental change from a traditional conservative and Republican view of American political institutions as designed and intended to foster negotiation and compromise.
2. That the current “extremism” of the GOP is not confined to extreme positions on issues. It also rejects and undermines basic democratic norms of behavior and democratic institutions and embraces tactics used by European extremist parties.
3. That GOP extremism is not confined to a “fringe” of the GOP, a small minority of officeholders or only to the party’s grass-roots base. On the contrary, it is now supported by major elements of the conservative political and economic establishment and is as financially and organizationally powerful as the traditional Republican “establishment” of previous years. The fact that the GOP leadership in the House of Representatives now regularly and systematically capitulates to extremist demands dramatically illustrates the degree to which the entire party is now effectively controlled by the “extremists”.
4. That the mainstream media has played a deeply destructive role in minimizing and even denying the facts about the rise of Republican extremism. Over the last four years the media have evolved from first consistently asserting a spurious “false equivalency” between the two political parties to more recently demonstrating a willingness to continually redefine the term “GOP moderate” so that the extremist leader or extremist position of two years ago suddenly becomes the more “moderate” leader or position today.
Listed below are some of the major TDS Strategy Memos we have published during the last five years about republican extremism. They can be read separately by clicking on the title of each individual memo or downloaded as a single collection by clicking HERE.
——————————————————————————–
1. April 30, 2009
What is Right-Wing Extremism?
——————————————————————————–
2. November 30, 2010
Beyond “sabotage” The central issue about the growing political extremism of the Republican Party is that it is undermining fundamental American standards of ethical political conduct and behavior.
——————————————————————————–
3. Oct 26, 2011
Wake Up Commentators: The most dangerous group of “right-wing extremists today is not the grass-roots tea party. It is the financial and ideological leaders of the Republican coalition who have embraced the extremist philosophy of “politics as warfare.”
——————————————————————————–
4. Nov 12, 2012
It’s time to face a harsh reality: The GOP no longer behaves like a traditional American political Party. It has become an extremist party. Moderates and sensible conservatives need to firmly reject and condemn this deeply disturbing and dangerous trend.
——————————————————————————–
5. February 7, 2013
The Real GOP Split isn’t between tea party extremists and establishment moderates. It’s between extremists who want to restore the Bush strategy of running parallel covert and overt agendas vs. extremists who want to openly assert a radical right wing agenda.
——————————————————————————–
6. May 2, 2013
Democrats: it’s time to change how we deal with mainstream political commentators. It’s not just false equivalence any more. They are in deep denial about the reality of the GOP’s dangerous extremism and are increasingly displaying symptoms that resemble Stockholm Syndrome.
——————————————————————————–
These are two recent commentaries by Ed Kilgore in his Washington Monthly Political Animal column:
7. July 22, 2013
Yes, this is a different GOP
——————————————————————————–
8. August 5, 2013
The Fiscal Con
We believe you will find this collection quite useful and important.
Sincerely Yours,
Ed Kilgore
James Vega
J.P.Green
