John Danforth Says It's Time the GOP Center Took Over

Former Senator Danforth is foreshadowing the coming earthquake in two party politics in the US. It is obvious to anyone willing to take an objective look at the Democrats that theirs is a party that is imploding. The only real question is when. What about the Republicans? Rev. Danforth is giving us a clue.

Jack Danforth wishes the Republican right would step down from its pulpit. Instead, he sees a constant flow of religion into national politics. And not just any religion, either, but the us-versus-them, my-God-is-bigger-than-your-God, velvet-fist variety of Christian evangelism.

"The Republican Party has been taken over by something that it's not," Danforth says over a suitably austere lunch of steamed vegetables in a well-appointed 40th-floor St. Louis club overlooking the Mississippi. "How do traditional Republicans put up with this? They put up with this because it's a winning combination, for now. It won't last."

Why won't it last?

"It won't stand the light of day," Danforth says in one of several conversations. "The more people think about it, the more people will resist it. People do not want a sectarian political party, including a lot of people who are traditional Republicans."

The above quotes reveal the angst of the moderates in the Republican party. They know that they can't win without the Christians, but they resent them just the same. This is the underlying tension that he's bringing to light in this interview. It is what will bring about the split once the Democrats cease to function.

The moderate Republicans were a permanent minority party before the social conservatives came along. The moderates presented themselves as liberal light, or big government for less. Just like the Democrats today they had nothing to offer, then along came the Reagan Revolution.

The social conservatives saw a leader who operated from a core of beliefs that matched their own. The party welcomed anyone they felt could bring victory at the polls only to see the old establishment Republicans pushed to the side.

Now the party is in a position of power the establishment wants their seat at the head of the table. Unfortunately for them ideology is what is driving the success and their protestations that we can't legislate morality are falling on deaf ears. The most recent orgy of spending has rattled the cage and prevented the election of establishment candidate Roy Blunt to the Majority Leader position.

At some point the moderates and the conservatives will have to part ways. When the Democrats finally commit political assisted suicide there will be a void ready to accept a true conservative party. Then the Republicans will finally wave by-by to the Religious Right and go back to being a minority party again.

See also:

Legislating Morality and Future of the Republicans and Democrats