For over three decades, the GOP has enjoyed handsome political profits by harnessing its fortunes and its platform to the passions of religious evangelicals, henceforth described in this post as "The Theocrats." Obsessively preoccupied with what they dub "traditional values," the Theocrats have been the dominant faction in the Party of Lincoln, T.R., and Eisenhower since their ascendancy in late 1970s, elbowing aside the economic libertarians and good government reformers of earlier decades with their insistence that American society be ordered along the lines of The Old Testament (or at least, some particular remembrance of 1950s America). The energy of this faction paid great electoral dividends for Reagan (ironically our only divorced president) and The Bush Dynasty.
In their continuous genuflection to the menu of demands put forth by The Theocrats, the GOP finds itself in a philosophically schizoid condition. On one hand, Republicans tirelessly preach the virtues of economic freedom and minimal government involvement in the marketplace (while admittedly increasing the size, power, and intrusiveness of the federal government to a level of bloat that is as obscene as it is epic). The Republican economic message of the last thirty years can be condensed to seven words: when in doubt, cut taxes and deregulate.
On the other hand, the party that tells government to back away slowly from your wallet is the same party that argues for policing individuals' behavior in the name of Leviticus. They rightfully deride the government's competence to manage the marketplace, but they shrilly urge government regulation of private lives and behavior. To be governed by such a philosophic cognitive dissonance is plainly unsustainable. Ask Newt Gingrich. Or John Ensign. Or Mark Sanford. The party is buckling under the weight of its own moribund and contradictory thought.
Liberty can be defined in an eight word sentence that any preschooler can comprehend; leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone. It is infinitely more flexible in the face of human frailty and desirable in day-to-day living than societies constructed by mullahs, popes, or Puritan elders. In order to restore its status as a credible alternative to Obamanon's Second Great Society, the GOP needs to be a party that stands for liberty, not theocracy.
