To the Grand Old Party.

Dear Reasonable Republicans (come out, come out, wherever you are),

I voted for John McCain in 2008.  I had always liked him and thought he was a reasonable guy.  Admittedly, I failed to recognize the crazy that is Sarah Palin.  But, John McCain is still alive right now, so I like to think that if he had been elected, psychopants Palin wouldn’t have gotten her shot at the Oval Office.  Regardless, unlike most of my fellow college students, I wasn’t swept away by chants for hope and change and hope and change and hope and change.  I felt (and still feel, to an extent) that Obama’s idealism was naïve.  Pretty speeches do not make a peaceful world, as we have seen in a Middle East that is in no better shape now after eight years of Obama than it was after eight years of Bush.  I was, however, proud and encouraged that our country could finally elect a black president.  I hoped it was a sign of healing for a polarized electorate.

But, of course, I was wrong.  Over the last eight years, we’ve watched you, Republicans, descend into paranoia and allow ideologues to hijack the party.  You strangely decided to stake your lives and honor on preventing gay people from getting married, on pretending abortion and gender-neutral bathrooms are two of the biggest threats to our national security, on blaming gun violence on anything other than guns.  By fixating on these and other similar issues, by making compromise a dirty word, and by holding up Barack Obama as the root of all evil, you have allowed people like Mary Lou Bruner to believe they are espousing Republican ideals.  If these are not Republican ideals, why don’t you say so?  How do we know your silence is not tacit approval?  Your fear of alienating people who subscribe to hateful and dangerous agendas has just about handed the Republican nomination to Donald Trump.

Do I think Obama has done a fantastic job as president?  Not particularly.  Do I think every single thing he does is wrong, perhaps even evil, and that every single thing he touches must be spat upon, cursed, and torched?  Emphatically no.  Herein lies one of my most basic frustrations with you, Republicans.  You have never been able to mount productive and rational debate of Obama’s policy (which could have benefited from honest critique) because you are petulant little boys who constantly cry wolf.  You have allowed the bogeymen of Planned Parenthood, gay marriage, and a gun-safe-raiding Barack Obama drive reason, practicality, and credibility from the party.  You can’t preach (or allow others to preach for you) anger, anti-intellectualism, anti-progress, and an oversimplified good-versus-evil view of the world, and then be surprised when that’s what your voters want.

Our democracy is starving for healthy debate.  There are real problems to solve, but they are not insurmountable.  But you, Republicans, have been unable and unwilling to contribute to the problem solving.  It is no coincidence that you now see your party imploding.

I have a suggestion.

Quit panicking and see the opportunity in the disarray.  Couldn’t this be a chance to cut the crazy and form a moderate party?  A party that is interested in governing rather than spreading an ideology?  The process wouldn’t be pretty and it would require serious humility from you, reasonable Republicans.  But in the end, you free yourselves from the crazies who have destroyed you and you marginalize them into oblivion.  You must dig deep for that last shred of integrity that must be there…somewhere.  Let Trump have the Republican nomination, let him have Ted Cruz as his VP.  Then publicly deny them your support.  Hand the election to Hillary on the condition she recognizes this new moderate party and is willing to work with it.  Swallow your pride and form an alliance with Democrats that will crush the Tea Party out of existence.  You have more in common with Democrats than with psychopants.  Do you really want to end dysfunction in Washington?  Don’t you actually want to govern?  Aren’t you tired of being so angry all the time?  Let’s make this election exciting in a good way, rather than in a terrifying way. 

Is this a pipe dream?  Perhaps.  Will you continue your cowardly ways and do as you’re told and support the eventual Republican nominee?  I know that is likely.  I’ll be voting for Hillary either way, because you’ve lost me.  But you know the way to get me back.

With regards for your health and happiness,

Claire

PS.  I’m not sure if he can count himself among your reasonable ranks, but tell Marco goodbye from the blob.  I had planned a scathing farewell, but this video gave me pause.