Little Tent Big Tent

I posted about California’s GOP punishing some of its members for voting for tax hikes the other day. It looks like that notion is picking up steam as the RNC’s Michael Steele is now talking about punishing senators Collins, Specter and Snowe for their support of the stimulus.

(h/t AmericaBLOG)

Something we used to hear during election cycles was the size of the tent each party had. Republicans would tout a tent every bit as big as Republicans, but these actions strongly contradict such claims.

The notion that every member of a party must vote in lockstep with their party is not only bad politics, but also very un-American. I have argued in the past that our  nation is in dire need of more political parties, and this kind of behavior emphasis that need. We are a nation of over 300 million people and the most diverse nation in the history of the planet, yet we are supposed to take that melting pot and somehow simply divide it into two political beliefs.

Not that long ago the phrase “liberal Republican” was rather common. Today its hard to find a Republican that identifies themselves as such. That’s because the Republican party has been on a constant course due right. If you are a member of the party, then you must either follow course or get out. Just ask Lincoln Chafee.

On the other hand, you have Democrats expanding their tent. They welcome lots of different views, including conservative ones like the Blue Dogs. Sure some might vote against Democrats on key legislation, but the Democrats don’t turn around and punish them for that. Even if that house decided to punish their own caucus member for breaking with the ranks (something I don’t see happening), the national party sure wouldn’t do the same.

Take Joe Lieberman as an example. This is a guy who went out and supported the other guy in a presidential election. He broke with his party time after time on the key issue of Iraq, when he was still an actual Democrat, and yet he is still welcomed by his former party. It’s forgiveness and understanding that we can not simply divide our highly diverse nation into two distinct groups.

And while the Republicans continue to shrink the size of their tent, they also are shrinking the size of their caucuses. It goes into the heart of Republican thought process that they are right and everyone else is wrong. This is killing their party, but their own egos prevent them from seeing it. A perfect example of this ego happened yesterday on MSNBC when right wing documentarian John Ziegler was on talking about his documentary about the election. Ziegler proudly declared that American’s are dumb and believe that things they see on Saturday Night Live is actually news and fact. Again – he thinks he is right and everyone else is wrong.

If the Republican party can’t grow as a people and accept that everyone doesn’t agree with them 100% of the time then they have now chance of growing. Our nation is built upon a two party system, and we can continue with that system. The big question will be if the two parties are Democrats and Republicans, or will it be Democrats and someone else – perhaps Libertarians? With the current course charted by GOP leadership there is a possibility that we will see a third party out number a major party in this country.