GOP Party going neo-Confederate?, updated 10/31/09

As readers may or may not know, I have speculated about whether neo-Confederacy is going to be mainstreamed into the Republican party.

I have a post on this topic below which refers to all my earlier posts on the topic.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2009/04/republican-party-becoming-confederate.html

In an older post I discussed a possible mechanism that would drive the Republicans into extremism and neo-Confederacy. Individual Republican elected officials would have to be concerned that if they didn't shift towards extremism, they would be confronted by and defeated by primary candidates that were shifted towards extremism. The opposing force to this would be the Republican establishment who would see this trend as marginalizing the Republican party. Political parties do come to and end. They may linger for a while, but at a certain point, they cease to be of any importance.

These opposing forces are contenting in the 23rd Congressional District in New York state. I think that this congressional election is of tremendous importance of the Republican party.

These are two blogs on what is happening there.

This article is titled, "NY-23 race first test of tea party power."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28639.html

The Republican candidate there isn't conservative enough, according to a certain faction of the Republican party, so they are backing third party Conservative Candidate Hoffman. It seems it will split conservative and Republican votes and elect a Democrat to Congress. This would be very interesting in itself as a process in which non-right wing Republicans are going to be purged from the Republican party. Another interesting development could be that there would be a Conservative Party congressional representative elected, and he will have a national platform, Congress, to speak out and be heard, and push the rest of the Republicans to the far right.

However, what really caught my attention is that the Republican party establishment is breaking ranks. In this article, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28671.html, titled, "Top Republicans jump ship in NY-23," leading national Republicans are listed who are endorsing the Conservative Party candidate against the Republican party candidate. The Republican Party establishment seems to be fracturing and its resistance crumbling.

I think that this fracture in the Republican establishment needs to be understood in the context of other developments. Earlier this year Joe Wilson shouted out "You Lie," at President Obama's presidential address.

Surprisingly neo-Confederates applaud Joe Wilson. They should compare Joe Wilson's behavior to Jefferson Davis "Farewell Address to the Senate." Even though Davis had had highly partisan struggles in the U.S. Senate and knew that likely that he would be at war with many of his fellow Senators shortly in the future his address was a model of courtesy. Address at this link. (http://jeffersondavis.rice.edu/resources.cfm?doc_id=1507). Davis at the end of his speech says:

"In the course of my service here, associated at different times with a great variety of Senators, I see now around me some with whom I have served long; there have been points of collision; but whatever of offense there has been to me, I leave here; I carry with me no hostile remembrance. Whatever offense I have given which has not been redressed, or for which satisfaction has not been demanded, I have, Senators, in this hour of our parting, to offer you my apology for any pain which, in heat of discussion, I have inflicted. I go hence unencumbered of the remembrance of any injury received, and having discharged the duty of making the only reparation in my power for any injury offered.

Mr. President, and Senators, having made the announcement which the occasion seemed to me to require, it only remains to me to bid you a final adieu."

Joe Wilson's comment has lifted him up from obscurity, made him a national conservative hero, and flooded his campaign treasury with money. I can only imagine that there are some other Republican members of Congress who regret not having shouted something during Obama's speech and yet others who plan to shout something or do something at the next presidential address to Congress. The next Obama speech could turn out to be bedlam as Republican congressional representatives shout out to fill their campaign treasuries, defeat rivals in primaries, and further their national ambitions. In fact, there may be competition to find a pretext to be the first person to shout out so as to appear to be a leader of Republicans shouters. After all if 10 or 15 or 25 Republicans shout out, the potential campaign money and national exposure, will be divided up into small slices. As the leader of the shout out, the representative might get a larger slice of the rewards.

Of course the Republican party establishment might have a counter strategy to address this insurgency and we don't yet perceive it. However, it seems that the shift to extremism is progressing at a fair pace and the 2010 elections are still a long ways away.

Some Democrats are observing this with smugness, already counting the votes that will be driven into the Democratic party by a Republican party going off to the extremes. That is a short sighted view of the matter. Having a large national extremist party could results in a very unpleasant surprise in the future.

Update:

The moderate Republican candidate has dropped out in the 23rd district in New York, leaving the Congressional election between a Democrat and a member of the Conservative Party. This is the news item at the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/nyregion/01upstate.html