The Republican Party is Dead

In the wake of Donald Trump's victory in the South Carolina primary last night, and Jeb Bush's withdrawing from the Presidential race; It is clear that Republican Party as it existed from 1860 to 1992 has died. I offer this brief look back on what has now been lost forever.

I remember that January day in 1989, when the newly sworn in President of the United States chose to begin his Administration this way:

"We meet on democracy's front porch. A good place to talk as neighbors and as friends. For this is a day when our nation is made whole, when our differences, for a moment, are suspended. And my first act as President is a prayer. I ask you to bow your heads.

Heavenly Father, we bow our heads and thank You for Your love. Accept our thanks for the peace that yields this day and the shared faith that makes its continuance likely. Make us strong to do Your work, willing to heed and hear Your will, and write on our hearts these words: "Use power to help people." For we are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve people. Help us remember, Lord. Amen."

It was the last time the Leader of the Republican Party understood what the Presidency really is.  It is  Servant Leadership.   It is an obligation to use the power of the American government to better lives of its citizens, and be an example to the rest of the world.    We now live in a time where the Republican party is looking for leadership from a blustering oaf who talks about how rich he is, and how big  ego is.  

Long gone are the days when the Republican Party was led by people  who believed things like this...

"My friends, we are not the sum of our possessions. They are not the measure of our lives. In our hearts we know what matters. We cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank account. We must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be a loyal friend; a loving parent; a citizen who leaves his home, his neighborhood, and town better than he found it. 

And what do we want the men and women who work with us to say when we're no longer there? That we were more driven to succeed than anyone around us? Or that we stopped to ask if a sick child had gotten better and stayed a moment there to trade a word of friendship?"

We live in a time where all the Republican Party wears  mindless, blind opposition to everything the current President has sought to do, as some bizarre badge of honor. 

Unlike the days when the  Republican Party was led by someone  who knew in his heart that America is only successful when we work together...

"To my friends, and, yes, I do mean friends -- in the loyal opposition and, yes, I mean loyal -- I put out my hand. I am putting out my hand to you, Mr. Speaker. I am putting out my hand to you, Mr. Majority Leader. For this is the thing: This is the age of the offered hand. And we can't turn back clocks, and I don't want to. But when our fathers were young, Mr. Speaker, our differences ended at the water's edge. And we don't wish to turn back time, but when our mothers were young, Mr. Majority Leader, the Congress and the Executive were capable of working together to produce a budget on which this nation could live. 

Let us negotiate soon and hard. But in the end, let us produce. The American people await action. They didn't send us here to bicker. They ask us to rise above the merely partisan."

We live in a time where the Republican front runners stumble over themselves to assure their base voters that they hate people who are different from them, just as much as they do.  Where campaign promises are not to expand the American Dream but rather to build walls, shred civil rights and marginalize minorities for political gain.    

Gone forever  now,  are the days when the Republican Party embraced the essence of the American experience "E Pluribus Unum" - Out of Many, One,

"A President is neither prince nor pope, and I don't seek a window on men's souls. In fact, I yearn for a greater tolerance, and easygoingness about each other's attitudes and way of life."

I had hopes that after 2012 the Republican Party would seek to turn away from the full speed rush off the cliffs of stupidity, bigotry and extremism, they have been on since 1992. Apparently that hope was in vain.

The Republican Party is dead. It is time to bury it because the stench is starting to contaminate all of American Politics.