Sizing Up the Real Problem; The Republicans

THE DAILY KOS is a left wing online publication to which I subscribe, but rarely read. The headlines are enough for me to get the point. An interesting one caught my attention. "Is the country really divided, or is it the republicans versus everyone else"? I probably should have read the actual article, but the headline in itself was revealing. So, without knowing what the article said, I gave the matter some thought. Form the beginning Donald Trump, who lost the presidential election by three million votes, has had an approval rating never any better than the high thirties to low forties, and is at about thirty five percent now, its lowest yet. Some honeymoon. The TEA party, the very epicenter of the modern right wing agenda, emerged in 2010 and peaked soon thereafter. We no longer hear much if anything from it, s it was never anything more than a minority faction within a minority party. The Republican party itself has become nothing other than the conservative Christian white party. For proof of this, notice the make up of the congregation at the next national party convention. Lilly white, little or no color. its focus is far too narrow to attract a diversified membership; Americans seem to realize that there is a realistic limit to tax cutting for the wealthy. Over the past generation church membership has declined from eighty five to seventy one percent; the chief source of new republicans is drying up. One half of the millennials self identify as 'non religious", which bodes not well for the future of the faith. As for the issues, survey after survey reveal that a solid majority of Americans favor the progressive point of view, and lean, if only moderately, to the left. America by a small but consistent margin is pro choice, if unfavorably inclined towards the choice to abort. One can be both pro choice and pro life, quite obviously. roe v. Wade shall remain the law of the land, or we the people shall protest much and secret slaughter many unborn. America favors socialism by a wide margin, including public school, public fire and police departments, and entitlement programs, but only so long as they are aren't described with the poisonous word "socialism". To prove this, as around; how many people want to keep social security, medicare, medicaid, and even Obamacare? A vast majority is how many. Most Americana accept the reality of man made climate change and God made evolution, and want church and state kept apart by James Madison's "impenetrable wall". Moderate, independent American in particular lean more left than right, the secular moderate left is far more popular than the extreme religious right. In a rapidly secularizing, scientific world, the religious right is ever more out of touch with the mainstream. One can hope that it will keep moving in that direction; we'll find out, soon enough.