Is There An Antidote For Tea Party Poisoning?


I kind of feel bad for Rand Paul. Sure, he says dumb things from time to time, as Republicans tend to do, but at least he generally makes sense. He has a belief structure that’s based on the idea that the federal government should be more limited than it is, and he generally sticks to that pretty well.

I’m not saying I agree with Rand Paul on much of anything, just that when compared to his peers he’s not all that bad. The fact that he sticks to the principles he has is admirable, even if some of them aren’t so great.

Why hasn’t Rand Paul been able to compete with the likes of Trump or Bush? He doesn’t support intervention into the affairs of other countries (which I generally support, depending on circumstance), he feels that we should end the criminalization of marijuana, and he’s against the Patriot Act.

The reason Rand Paul’s campaign has slowly been falling apart is the Republican Party isn’t interested in policy above a base level of understanding. The entire party is dedicated to theater and obstinance that flies in the face of all reason and common decency. Case in point: Trump.

If you ever happen to turn on Fox News (you know, in case you need a good chuckle), what do you think you’re more likely to see: an in-depth look at how the proposed economic policies of the various presidential candidates compare, or another smear campaign on Hillary Clinton? Nine times out of ten it’s going to be the latter.

Dirty politics based on fear and/or willful ignorance is a double edged sword, and it does have a real cost to everyone involved. If you’re a trusted source of information you DO have people that listen to you, and a candidate will eventually come along that will validate the false concerns that you’ve built up. That’s why people supported Trump, and that’s why they didn’t support Rand Paul.

The Republican Party is in dire need of an intervention, for everyone’s sake. I don’t want to live in a world where people will pretend that someone like Trump is actually a reasonable politician, but we all do. They need to get their act together because another Trump will come along, and if this one doesn’t win the next one might.

Featured image provided by DonkeyHotey via Flickr under a Creative Commons Attribution License.