Political polarization is a problem that has stretched across Europe and is now creeping up onto our shores. With candidates like Trump and Sanders, the American people are becoming more and more divided each day. Or at least that’s what we’re told by the media. This isn’t Trump’s fault. Trump has been hung out to dry by the GOP Establishment and Elite. They have done everything in their power to smear his campaign and end it all because he isn’t controlled by them. This is a sad day for me as someone who is a Republican, who votes Republican, and doesn’t have a candidate to vote for all because the GOP didn’t want to listen to it’s base.
The Republican Party is dead. It’s been dead since the 2010 midterm elections when a wave of self styled new Republicans took office-- the “Tea Party.” Their brand of politics, ranging from religious liberty to smaller government to abolishing the IRS, started at the grassroots level. Before anybody could bat an eye, they had effectively seized control of the Republican Party and even the House of Representatives. And this is where the GOP effectively committed suicide.
The only problem with the Tea Party gaining all of this power is that they are now caught in a Catch 22. Eric Cantor, former House Majority Leader and Republican representing Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, was eaten up by the monster that he helped create. He gained power in the House through his consistently strong conservatism. The only problem was that he thought since he helped create this, his constituents wouldn’t dare vote him out. Boy was he wrong. He lost in the primary and in the weeks following he resigned from his leadership position and then from his seat in the House. The Tea Party has created a monster and it’s only way to survive is to eat from the hand that feeds it.
Presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz is on the same boat. When running his campaign for the US Senate in Texas, he had to run on a platform that appealed to all citizens. But as soon as he got into the Senate, he became everybody’s favorite Senator to hate. He is the Tea Party poster boy, calling for a flat tax for business and private individuals, calling for abortion rights to be reconsidered, and constantly being a thorn in everybody’s backside. But now, as he slowly closes in on Trump and puts up a consistently good fight for the nomination, he has to once again go back to running much more moderately if he dreams of being President. He has to appeal to all different walks of life, and not just the Tea Party. He has to appeal to the Establishment, the Elite, and the Tea Party.
All of this added up with an unprecedented constant lead in the polls and delegates from Trump, and Cruz being the runner up, the Republican Party is in shambles. They did this to themselves. We are no longer in a two party system. Yes, we are operating a two party system, but we are running this system with three parties. The Democratic, the Republican, and the Tea Party. I’m not nervous for the party, every party must go through this form of cleansing. The Democrats went through it in the 1970’s. There is a way to unite the party, but the Republican Party has to become the party of inclusion. It has to be the party that welcomes comprehensive immigration form without sounding like a pseudo-Klan rally. It has to be the party that welcomes Conservatives no matter the religion-- Christians, Jews and Muslims. The Arab community is very Conservative along with Latino voters, all because of their strong religious connection. Use it to your advantage. Unite the people, don’t let the party die because of your insufferable egotism.
