AS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY EATS ITSELF

A Commentary by Lloyd C. Daniel

April 2016

As the Republican Party continues to eat itself, the motion of history is proving to be unstoppable.  Whatever happens, time will move on. But the question remains, “What will become of the ultra-right wing members and supporters of the Republicans and their Tea Party, who are now being dragged, kicking and screaming into this century?”

Many of them will whine and mourn the loss of unearned and therefore unfair advantage, as did most Southern Democrats, (they called them Dixiecrats) and other unhappy, fearful and pitiful folks lamented the smashing of the Confederacy, the end of slavery, Reconstruction, the death of Old Jeff Davis, women winning the right to vote, the gains made by both genders as a result of the modern civil rights, Black, Latino and labor power movements and the numerous successful international movements for independence and national liberation, etc.

But eventually, as has been the case in other eras, most of them, after a period of stiff, sometimes violent, resistance will decide to ride that multi-polar, many-hued, train of world realignment into a somewhat more balanced, sustainable and just future.

But what of the others?  Over time, as their numbers dwindle, nearing the end of empire, they and their super rich funders, will find themselves faced with the choice of either riding on that train, as “way better off than most” than most of their fellow travelers or packed into a tiny RICH WHITE MEN ONLY caboose, tended to by the spirits of  long gone  Robert E. Lee, Clarence “Uncle Ruckus” Thomas and a handful of battered and sad Nazi porters humming Wagner, as they all cross over the River Jordan; confused, frustrated, angry, bitter, and unreconstructed.

Editor’s Note:  Rep. Lloyd C. Daniel is an educator, poet and former member of Missouri’s House of Representatives.  To read, listen to and watch more of his work, logon to his website at  www.localhost:8000