For history's sake, both the congressional and presidential GOP need to get their act together
I don't often agree with Al Hunt, but this column on the state of the Republican party in the U.S. House of Representatives seems to me to be right on target.
Unrealistic expectations combined with ideological fanaticism and a hatred of compromise seem endemic in today's GOP, and not only in Congress. It explains the irrational Trump phenomenon. It explains why the most talented and promising group of presidential candidates the party has fielded in a generation are being overshadowed by a buffoon when they could and should be debating and contending and forging a platform and an identity for possibly the most important election since the Civil War.
If the Democrats- who themselves seem to be self-destructing- retain the White House, enough retiring liberal Supreme Court justices will be replaced by new and youthful ones that disastrous decisions like Roe v. Wade, Cruzan v. Director, and Obergefell v. Hodges may be locked in for all time. On the other hand, if the Republicans win, there is an excellent chance that with very careful vetting of judicial nominees (thus avoiding the blunders Republican presidents have made in past appointments), some or all of those modern equivalents of the Dred Scott decision may be modified or even reversed, especially if the Republicans retain control of the U.S. Senate.
But for that to happen the Republican party will have to get its act in order on both the congressional and the presidential levels. This Trump nonsense needs to be put behind us. And the congressional party will need to rally behind a leadership which, while sticking up for its principles, can be seen to cooperate with the Democrats to an extent which will justify rather than alienate the voters' trust.
Unrealistic expectations combined with ideological fanaticism and a hatred of compromise seem endemic in today's GOP, and not only in Congress. It explains the irrational Trump phenomenon. It explains why the most talented and promising group of presidential candidates the party has fielded in a generation are being overshadowed by a buffoon when they could and should be debating and contending and forging a platform and an identity for possibly the most important election since the Civil War.
If the Democrats- who themselves seem to be self-destructing- retain the White House, enough retiring liberal Supreme Court justices will be replaced by new and youthful ones that disastrous decisions like Roe v. Wade, Cruzan v. Director, and Obergefell v. Hodges may be locked in for all time. On the other hand, if the Republicans win, there is an excellent chance that with very careful vetting of judicial nominees (thus avoiding the blunders Republican presidents have made in past appointments), some or all of those modern equivalents of the Dred Scott decision may be modified or even reversed, especially if the Republicans retain control of the U.S. Senate.
But for that to happen the Republican party will have to get its act in order on both the congressional and the presidential levels. This Trump nonsense needs to be put behind us. And the congressional party will need to rally behind a leadership which, while sticking up for its principles, can be seen to cooperate with the Democrats to an extent which will justify rather than alienate the voters' trust.
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