What Happened To The Republican Party?

Even Colin Powell can't take it any more.

Has the Republican Party been taken over by crooks, haters, and proto-fascists?

Let's examine each of these accusations.

1. Remember the Bush administration bailout that was supposed to rescue the economy? Well, now we know who really got bailed out. $70,000,000,000 of that bailout money will be going to pay and bonus packages for the Wall Street bank executives who got us into this mess (by gambling with other people's money). Did any of them get fired? No. Has the Bush administration backed down on deregulation, or considered re-instating the laws that have protected us from this kind of corruption since the Great Depression? No. Does Treasury Secretary Paulson have a rational plan to help out main street? No.

In China, an ex-Beijing official received the death sentence for corruption. And although I don't support it, you can bet they will have far less corruption in China.

2. One of the uglier tactics the Republican Party has been using during the presidential election is the totally unfounded claim that Obama is a Muslim. This is obviously a veiled claim that all Muslims are terrorists. This is just another form of racism. There is no way, without all this hate, that the US would have been willing to be responsible for the deaths of close to a million Iraqis – when it was primarily Saudis who were responsible for 9/11.

3. Our Constitutional Bill of Rights has been reduced to barely more than a piece of paper. Executive power has marginalized the balance of power of the legislative and judicial branches. And every law meant to protect our citizens from pollution, oppression, product irresponsibility, and corruption oversight has been under years of attack.

In an unprecedented (and previously illegal) move, the Bush administration has brought in Army troops to keep the peace in the US (crush civil disturbances). They have also set up internment camps. They have taken given themselves the power to take over command of the (formerly State controlled) National Guard. And Moreover, they have given themselves the right to declare martial law whenever they fell like. Yes, the Bush administration now has a "Pinochet option."

Most Republicans are good people with the best of intentions. So, what happened? The same thing that has happened to the Democrats, though to a lesser extent. Our system has rotted from within. Our electoral system is at the root of the problem. And both McCain and Obama are products of that electoral system. Until we get the big money out of elections and change the two party system to proportional representation, things will never really get completely fixed.