by Jacqueline Stoughton
This new set of Republican candidates have sent the reputation of the party to the lowest it’s probably ever been. With no hope of redemption for this election, hopefully the GOP can learn from their mistakes and get back to being the party they once were.
It’s been figures such as Donald Trump and Ted Cruz who have been the major catalysts into the demise of the Republican Party. Especially Trump, their outrageous comments during interviews and debates, policy proposals and negative outlook on the current state of America, have all played into the image of the GOP.
“John McCain was a conservative, but he was well within, you know, the mainstream of not just the Republican Party but without out political dialogue,” said President Barack Obama to Politico reporter Glenn Thrush during an interview for the online news sites “Off Message” podcast. “[Voters will have to judge] the degree to which the Republican rhetoric and Republican vision has moved, not just to the right, but has moved to a place that is unrecognizable.”
The way the president describes the GOP as being in an unrecognizable place is an incredibly accurate statement. In past elections, never has the GOP candidates received so much media attention due to their outlandish actions – which is why it’s shocking to most educated voters to see Trump always ahead at the polls, not to mention a terrifying future to think about.
I will be shocked if a Republican ends up winning the presidency, quite frankly I don’t see that happening at this rate. Noam Chomsky, noted MIT professor and political critic, said in a statement to the Huffington Post this week, the GOP has become extreme in their rhetoric and policies lately since they now pose a “serious danger to human survival.”
“The Republican Party has drifted off the rails,” said Chomsky. “It’s become what the respected conservative political analysis Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein call ‘a radical insurgency’ that has pretty much abandoned parliamentary politics.”
In a sense this is true when thinking about Trump’s influence over the image of the Republican Party. He has tarnished their reputation almost beyond repair. This is mainly due to his lack of political experience and knowledge. He is able to run for office not because he’s a smart and effective political leader, but solely because he has the financial means to carry out a successful campaign accompanied by a celebrity image. It should be an unwritten rule that one shouldn’t bother to waste time and money to run for public office, when you don’t actually know what you’re doing or even what to do for the entire country’s best interest.
In his Huffington Post interview, Chomsky went on to advise voters planning to participate in the upcoming election to cast their votes “strategically.” He explained using the analogy that the United States is a “business party” where the Republican and Democrat Parties are “factions” with small differences between them. The differences, he said, make “a huge difference in systems of enormous power.”
“I’ve always counseled strategic voting,” said Chomsky. “Meaning, in a swing state, or swing congressional district, or swing school board, if there is a significant enough difference to matter, vote for the better candidate – or sometimes the least bad.”
Voting for the “least bad” candidate will most likely be left to strategy votes and will have to be utilized this upcoming election season.