Crist, who as recently as 2008 topped the libertarian Cato Institute's list of favorite governors, has been consigned to pariah status. Here's the significance of the Florida contest: Every state except Vermont is legally required to balance its budget.
With revenues collapsing in 2008-2009, every Republican governor in the country eventually accepted federal funds. (The two most vociferous objectors -- Alaska's Sarah Palin and South Carolina's Mark Sanford -- were either physically or mentally checking out of their jobs.)
Are all these Republican leaders, including such outstanding figures as Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Haley Barbour of Mississippi, now disqualified for future races? But if every governor accepted stimulus dollars, few states were as hard hit by the 2008 economic crisis as Florida. State revenues collapsed by 11.5 percent between 2008 and 2009. Constitutionally obliged to balance the budget, Crist raised fees and cigarette taxes -- and still faced a huge budget gap.
I find this internal war in the GOP amusing. Decent, moderate, logical GOP candidates are vilified for doing what made this country great (working across the aisle, compromising) and are brushed aside in favor of arch-conservatives who during the Bush years were rubber-stamp extremists who rejected bipartisanship and rode roughshod over anyone who didn't tow their line. And by and large (see the 2006 and 2008 elections) this course has cost the GOP seats, cost them the White House, and has led to a major decline in the GOP.
The Republicans have, by and large, strayed from what they once were...a party that preached government restraint, lower taxes, personal responsibility, individual liberty, and fiscal discipline. The Bush Administration in particular was a major deviation from those principles, and the far right of the GOP still holds sway, especially the neo-conservative movement. Now, largely, the GOP is the party of self-righteous moralists, anti-gay crusaders, Christian theocrats who want the Christian version of Sharia law imposed in the U.S., and fiscal corporate handout types.
The Democrats are far from perfect...but is it any wonder, these days, why the GOP brand is nearly worthless? Crist, for example, did what a good governor would do given a rock-and-a-hard-place situation...he did what was necessary and protected his people as best he could. Now he's paying the price in an ideological war in which his opponent had not answer to the problem other than doing whatever Crist didn't do. Rubio likely would have berated Crist for not taking the stimulus if he'd have gone that route.
Frankly, the GOP can implode as far as I'm concerned...but I do wonder (and worry) where any viable competition will come from. We're headed to a one-party setup, and not because the Democrats are power grabbing...but because the GOP is killing itself. While "good riddance" may be a great thing to say, we're set up to have opposition and balance...and the current GOP is a joke in that regard.
Technorati Tags: Politics, Republicans, Stupidity
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