Over the years, the Republican party has devolved and retreated back to a violent and embellished group that has little less interest in effectively governing a nation than it does in maintaining its own political theater. Why?
It pays.
Conservatives have built a political/media infinite loop. Now the party lifts up to its highest ranks the politicians most ready to say the most outlandish and inviable things. You see it everyday on the 24-hour news cycle. A politician does or says something extreme and then the outlets turn around and discuss the politician’s actions for days. It hits a fever pitch when the likes of a Rush Limbaugh say something provocative and then the media puts those statements on repeat. The process has created Palins and Boehners and even the most moderate of Republicans can start to feel the sting. The most extreme members of the party are the ones willing to get out their checkbooks and pay.
But breaking off from reality in order to maintain a political show that pays has painful effects on the party’s power to govern.
Look at Paul Ryan’s budget plan. It has been thoroughly debunked. The idea that it helps the poor: bunk. The idea that it will fix the economy: bunk. It’s just a continuation of trickle-down economics with the added GOP bonus of cutting programs that help the poor (or in GOP terms “consolidating” them).
But moderate Republicans aren’t even heard anymore. Today, the only voices that are heard from the GOP come from the Tea Party. It’s truly a nightmare that they’ve created for themselves. Now they have to sleep in the bed they’ve made though.
Only the loudest voices with the least interest in actual governing who will say and do anything get any attention in the GOP anymore. That’s a recipe for disaster.