Whither the Republican Party?

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It has bothered me that my recent posts have come down pretty hard on the Republican Party. I intended to keep my pieces about Health Policy as neutral as possible. That said, it was plain to me that no new action would be taken in this crucial area, barring a crisis, until the General Election was over in November.

As noted earlier in the Post, the issue of health care 2012 comes down to a yea or nay proposition with both of the major political parties. This is horribly unfair to the electorate. The issues of health care costs and their impact on the average American are far more complex than that. We are unable to have even a preliminary discussion about the aspirations of this country on health care delivery without the heavy hand of political rhetoric squelching it. It should not matter so much what side you are on, as much as what you are asking.

There are many sensitive issues at stake here. Foremost is the growing problem caused by America’s decision to link health insurance to employment in the 1940’s. No other country has done this to the extent we did. At the time it did not seem like a bad decision. As costs sky-rocketed, it undermined our health care delivery system.

It is irresponsible of those who can pay out-of-pocket for whatever affliction befalls them to try to silence any national discussion. Doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, pharmaceutical concerns, employers large and small, medical suppliers of hardware and software  all deserve to be heard in the debate. And this could happen apart from the general election, if political parties would allow it.

Changing the way health care coverage is managed in the US will be an enormous undertaking. Given the rapid growth of costs driven mostly by technology, the current system cannot be maintained without further significant impact on the working middle class, who bear more and more of these rising costs. We will be back to this topic soon.

A serious national debate seems out of the question.Right now the Republican Party is a captive of its right-wing. The current rhetoric centers around who best represents their fringe values. The infuriating aspect to this development is that, having been in power for most of the first decade of this century, the GOP contributed mightily to the current mess. They would like to wipe the name George W Bush out of the national memory. They would like to blame Medicare Part D, the growth of government in that period  and two unpopular wars on someone else, namely Barak Obama who was a minor player before 2008. Shame on them.

I can remember Republicans like Dwight Eisenhower, Nelson Rockefeller, Margaret Chase Smith, Hugh Scott, Everett Dirksen, Edward Brooke, Henry Cabot Lodge, John Chafee, Earl Warren and others who took conservative positions on fiscal issues but shied away from the kind of race-baiting, situational morality and slithery contortions exhibited by the two front-runners this year.

Even Barry Goldwater who started the Conservative revolution in the party would be appalled at the barnyard antics of Newt Gingrich and the spineless behavior of Mitt Romney. As much as I disagreed with the Senator from Arizona, he advanced his point of view with a sense of integrity. Much of his problems came from those who piled on, like the John Birch Society and other extremist groups. Goldwater knew enough to keep the battier elements at arm’s length.

GOP leaders of his time exhibited a sense of public obligation to their constituents that is not on display today. No matter who financed their campaigns, they felt a duty to their nation. When Richard Nixon lost the confidence of the nation in 1974, they marched up to the White House and told him it was time to go. I do not imagine any of the current leaders showing that kind of moral fiber. Mitch McConnell? Eric Cantor? They’d be inside the White House bunker with Nixon shooting flaming arrows at the rest of the world.

There are significant issues that need examination on the Democratic side as well. But the monkey wrench in the government machinery today has Republican finger prints all over it. Who are these Republican obstructionists exactly and where are they planning to take us? Inquiring, independent, minds want to know.

Tom Godfrey

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