GOP's Heavy Ideology a Mistake

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to view Barry Goldwater's acceptance speech at the 1964 Republican National Convention. Goldwater represented the conservative wing of the GOP and had defeated liberal Nelson Rockefeller to win the presidential nomination. The acceptance speech, though, was bizarre, full of ideology and divisive language. It must have made the same impact on the voters at that time that it made on me, for Goldwater lost to Lyndon Johnson in the general election by one of the biggest landslides ever.

Nowadays, I'm hearing the same kind of ideological talk emanating from the Republicans. There are ideologues on the left as well, but these are not part of the mainstream of the Democratic Party, which seems to have been transformed into the party of pragmatism.

After the 1964 debacle, the Republican Party abandoned ideology as its driving force and presented more pragmatic leaders, like Michigan Governor George Romney and former Vice-President Richard Nixon. By the 1968 election, the GOP had reinvented itself and was able to win back the presidency, largely by emphasizing issues of popular concern like law and order and ending the Vietnam War.

Today, though, the Republicans seem to be going in the opposite direction. They seem to be going out of their way to pander to the assorted right-wing extremist radio talk show hosts while alienating more moderate Republicans and their supporters. The result: a regional (mainly southern) and heavily ideological party. Should Obama falter during his first term in office, the Republican Party will not be in any sort of position to take back the White House like it did in 1968, in my opinion.