The Party of Contradictions

Tonight, I was listening to NPR's On Point and they were interviewing some GOP strategists who referred to their party's "Three-legged stool" aka "The Big Tent" and how it had become a 4-legged stool. As they enumerated the legs (the different groups that the GOP needs for a majority), it became absurdly clear how contradictory the groups were.

Group 1) Fiscal Conservatives: People who want smaller government, lower taxes, "more economic opportunity".

Group 2) Libertarians: People who want the government to stay out of their business and ensure greater individual liberty.

Group 3) Social Conservatives: People who feel the government should enforce "traditional" values.

Group 4) Neo-Conservatives: People who think that defense of our country is of paramount importance, requiring preemptive action and a strong military.

They pair up pretty nicely, don't they? Social Conservatives want the government to tell people whose relationships are legitimate and whose are not. They also seem to want lawmakers to make medical decisions for others. Meanwhile, the libertarians want the government to stay out of their business and ensure their freedom to make their own decisions. And, yes, the strategist even referred to both of these
groups in the same breath. Next we have Neo-Conservatives who want the military to be larger and larger and have a Hobbes-ian Leviathan to surveil and protect while the Fiscal Conservatives want a smaller government with lower taxes and less spending. How do the Neo-Conservatives plan on paying for all of that military hardware and funding their new Department of Mental Thought Police Homeland Security Liberty Freedom Department?

Thus the GOP tries to be everything for everyone. In action, as we've seen, they talk about "personal responsibility" but happily intercede on medical issues and bailout companies that have made excessively poor investment decisions. They are penny-wise and pound-foolish as they cut thousands or millions in funding for programs that help people while pouring billions into military hardware and war. Talk of liberty and freedom is followed by laws that invade Americans' personal decisions.

It's should amaze no one that they are being shown the door by so many voters.