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I have read the new book by E.J. Dionne Jr., “Why the Right Went Wrong,” sub-titled “Conservatism – From Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond.” It is a remarkable account that covers the descent of a once noble political party into the doldrums of lost principle and purpose.
Dionne came out of a moderate (Eisenhower) Republican family, his story a testimony to how vastly the political landscape has changed. Now a left-of-center commentator, he hasn’t landed all that far from his roots; it is the Republican Party that has lost its anchor.
A respectable and balancing two-party system is no longer in place. Slogans such as “make America great again” offer little meaning or solace. To the contrary. Even close to home, there are opportunists willing to scrap any remnant of the GOP’s dignified past and support Donald J. Trump’s candidacy.
To whom am I referring? U.S. Reps. Tom Marino and Lou Barletta have been among the first members of Congress to jump on the Trump bandwagon. This kind of self-aggrandizement is on display for all to see.
Six years ago they became members of the House of Representatives at the same time that Pat Toomey became a U.S. senator. For each of them (as part of the first wave of the Tea Party), the first goal has been the obstruction of Barack Obama’s presidency. The second (which Marino and Barletta have pretty much admitted) has been retaining their House seats.
As to obstruction, Toomey is in lockstep with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as to denying Merrick Garland a hearing to be the next Supreme Court justice. A description applied to Czar Nicholas II (attributed to Leon Trotsky) was that you have “a man whose stupid, stubborn complacency (after a while) came to seem almost a virtue.” This fits not only McConnell, but Toomey, Barletta and Marino as well. How else do you explain their continued presence in Congress?
Richard J. Yost
South Abington Township
Lackawanna County