Great
right-wing divide
Jeb
Sprague
Is
the political right in our country divided?
Now more then ever it seems that the Republican
Party in the United States has become polarized.
The war in Iraq has highlighted the heavy
sway that Neo-Conservatism holds over the
Bush White House. Neo-Conservatives
are in support of unilateral militarism
abroad and see the United Nations and international
treaties on human rights, workers rights
and the environment as blocking U.S. corporate
hegemony worldwide. It is not surprising
that President Bush and Vice President Cheney
are friendly to this philosophy since they
are tied inextricably to the wealthiest
corporations in the country.
The
other primary tenet of the Republican Party,
the religious right, sees its primary concern
as halting social progress by placing biblical
standards over American society. Both
of these philosophies have drifted the Republican
Party further and further away from mainstream
Americans. Republicans who pushed for a
leaner and meaner military now face a protracted
guerilla war in Iraq. The Bush Administration
after basically thumbing its nose at the
United Nations has now had to ask for U.N.
aid.
In
recent years the debate over universal health
care and increased minimum wage have both
found a higher amount of support from Americans.
The Republican Party with its fringe interest
groups has had to take an increasingly unpopular
hard-line stance against such issues as:
abortion, the environment, universal health
care, higher minimum wage, gun control,
a balanced budget and cooperation with the
United Nations. This has caused a power
struggle within Republican ranks, which
can be seen in the current conflict between
Schwarzenegger and McClintock. This ongoing
tendency of hostility between the Republican
ranks has reached its highest point of degree
inside the administration of the Bush White
House. Secretary of Defense Colin Powell,
a more moderate conservative, and Attorney
General John Ashcroft, a fundamentalist
religious fanatic, emblemize the polar opposites
of this conflict.
The
Bush campaign in 2000 had both the Clinton-Lewinsky
scandal and a lackluster Al Gore to its
advantage. With the next election approaching
the Bush White House may find itself in
deep water. The Bush Administration will
face a worsening economy hemmed in by a
growing deficit, tax cuts for the rich,
and a long-term occupation of Iraq with
casualties mounting daily. Where will Americans
stand?
Jeb
Sprague is a graduate student of history
at Cal State Long Beach.
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