How Palin Destroyed the Republican Party

This post might be a bit premature as the official tally has yet to come in. Nevertheless, with a strong 10 point lead over McCain in the latest Gallup poll, I think it is pretty safe to say Obama will likely come out on top. If I am wrong, well this post will clearly be irrelevant. Nevertheless, the past 8 years have put the Republican party in a bit of a bind. Since 1980, the Republican Party has been the party of Ronald Reagan. Following the Watergate scandal, Reagan helped re-legitimize the party, by forging an unholy alliance between Middle American and big business. The Wall St. Republicans were willing to concede social issues to Middle Americans, while the Middle Americans were willing to concede economic issues to the Wall St. Republicans. It must be remembered that as recently as 20 years ago, liberal bastions such as Connecticut and New Jersey were voting Republican in national elections. In many ways, George W. Bush was a natural heir to the party's thrown, with a foot in Connecticut big business and a foot in Texas Born-Again Christianity and Conservatism. In effect, Bush's ascension to power within the Republican ranks was the logical conclusion of Reagan's Unholy Alliance. However, as Bush's presidency floundered between unnecessary wars, growing deficits and more recently, the economic crisis, Bush in many ways tore down the legitimacy of Reagan's ideology, the heart and soul of the Republican Party.

As a result, the Republicans currently find themselves at a crossroads. Despite having the presidency and majorities in the House and Senate as recently as 2004, all of the party insiders from that era seem to have the equivalent of political leprosy. The party's views on foreign policy and economics have been discredited and there seems to be no one ready to step into a leadership position. This was most notable during the primary season, given the lack of quality Republican candidates. Mitt Romney was accused of being a Mormon robot and failed to so well in any of the primaries. Rudy Guliani is well, Rudy Guliani, a New York Paleocon, hated by liberals and Middle Americans alike. Ron Paul was probably the most interesting candidate, although slightly insane, he appealed to Wall St., libertarians and for some reason younger Republicans. At the end of the day McCain, a strong contender in 2000, who had since sold his soul to get elected, was chosen. However, aside from Ron Paul, who will probably always be relegated to the roll of something of a circus freak in national politics, the only contender who seems to have a future on the national stage is Mike Huckabee from Arkansas.

Arguably, Huckabee and Palin are going to be left as the two strongest leaders of the Republican party out of this election, however both pose the greatest threat to the integrity of the Republican party. For years, the Republican Party secured victory after victory by getting poor whites to vote against their interests with big business money. However, in the last election cycle there has been a marked change. Obama secured an enormous fund raising advantage, partially through small donors, but largely through big businesses like Goldman Sachs, turning against the Republicans. It has been documented that Wall St. the historic Republican stronghold is likely to vote for Obama 2 to 1 in this election, even with the relative centrist, pro-free market McCain at the helm. Huckabee and Palin represent a sharp departure from this.

Huckabee and Palin are not Republicans in the broader sense. Rather, they are purely Republicans based on social issues, military and Middle-American nationalism. Despite large support amongst individual voters, Huckabee had a miserable time raising money throughout the primaries, as the wealthier faction of the party turned on his more populist economic principles. Palin on the other hand came off as a joke and an offense to the more educated and centrist factions in the party. While both enjoy large support in the conservative, Born-again Christian base, that is not enough to win outside of the Southern and Plains States. In the end, this direction will only serve to alienate more Centrist voters, especially considering the majority of Americans already have an unfavorable opinion of Palin. At the end of the day, the Bush presidency has discredited the central tenants of the Republican party. As a result, the party has been left without any centrist rising stars from this cycle and threatens stear in a more anlienating direction, thus breaking up Reagan's unholy alliance between Wall St. and Middle America.