General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Is Republicanism a mental illness? [View all]Bucky
(55,334 posts)It's not an ideology. It's a serious misnomer as so many of those who belong to the Republican Party clearly lack any commitment to an actual republican form of government--free elections, rule of law, equality of citizenship, adherence to the US Constitution, belief in the civic virtues, commitment to basic civil and political rights--as is stipulated by the Constitution.
But the mental illness is not political conservatism. There's plenty of conservatives before Adam Kinzinger who were offensively conservative but still put the country and the rule of law first. They dominated the House and Senate Republican caucuses when Nixon was facing impeachment. They might've pushed for Sammy Davis Jr to run for Senate (and did support Edward Brooks), but they never would have self lobotomized enough to nominate a Herschel Walker. They would take the consult of Henry Luce or William Buckley, but wouldn't have blindly followed their dictates or kissed the ring like modern Republicans do with Rupert Murdoch.
The disease is the tribalism, or rather the reductive tribalism. That is, the substitution of paranoia for tribal identity, becoming addicts to the same Fear of the Other they've been peddling to the masses in lieu of real policy since before 9/11. So it's not even tribalism. Our tribe is the United States. If they were being tribal, they'd act fanatically in the interests of the United States, even if that meant betraying American values like republicanism. But instead they just obsessively, psychotically, turn on whoever they think threatens their power, demonizing them, threatening them, like the creatures churning in Dante's Inferno, a constant moshpit of posturing and backstabbing in a rush for camera time and Twitter shares and Rupert blessings.
In a word, the worst parts of today's Republican Party has become a coven of nihilism. Power for power's sake. Hatred for the satisfaction of the oxytocins it releases in the bloodstream. It's the party of irresponsibility. The party of screaming toddlers.