You say you wanna Revolution?
A few months back I did a podcast with Mollie Bradley-Martin who blogs at www.liberalgirlnextdoor.com.
I regularly read her blog because I'm open-minded, and because she's a good writer. I like her style.
Yesterday, she quoted the Declaration of Independence and attempted to draw a parallel between the situation faced by the colonists (absolute subjugation of their entire political heritage by the King of England) and the current political situation faced by Republicans (remaining loyal to a party that has shown how absolutely power corrupts).
I'm okay with her selective quoting of the Declaration. I mean who really wants to hear the founding fathers gripe against the King for preventing our expansion into the Western frontier? Or how he confounded proto-globalization by refusing to tolerate piracy?
I would like to just offer up a little opinion on the matter.
The problem with Mollie's analogy is that Jefferson offered people an option to their political ails -- leave the Empire. For Republicans who are disenchanted with their party, there is nowhere else to go. They certainly won't be turning out in force for the Democrats. At most, Republicans will stay home on election day. Any Democratic victory will therefore be the result of Apathy 2.0.
And should some Republicans "declare their independence", as Mollie advocates, the result would not be a stronger Democratic Party but a weaker one. Those who would leave the Republican Party are socially moderate, fiscally conservative, pro-business types. The platform of this new party would include support of gay marriage but not of universal health care. It would support a woman's right to choose, but not federal funding of clinics providing abortions.
If these GOP revolutionaries formed a new party it would siphon a large number of Democrats who are in the Blue simply because they don't consider themselves (and won't affiliate with) Republican moralists. The new political reality would be the Religious Right, the Liberal Left, and the Moderate Majority.
Mollie might not want to push so hard for a Republican Revolt if her dream is for Liberal Left America.
