Death By Compromise

If the Republican base had turned out, the GOP would have won five Senate seats and twenty-five House seats. But Republicans didn't give them a reason to bother.

by Rod D. Martin
November 6, 1998

Last year, after "moderate" Republicans were whipped like dogs in off-year elections, I warned that if Republicans acted like Democrats, Americans would vote for real ones. This week they proved it.

The question is whether the GOP will figure it out in time.

Republicans still suffer from the belief that they are an ideological minority; yet the exact opposite is true. Americans generally, and Republicans specifically, have been moving dramatically right for two decades. Like Jesus, they want candidates who are either hot or cold: the lukewarm get spewed out of their mouths. While reporters wring their hands about the polarization of politics, the greatest complaint we hear from the masses continues to be that there isn't enough difference between the two parties, that they are sick of voting for "Republicrats." And when Republicans move left, supposedly to gain the center, they actually abandon the majority they created.

A short history lesson makes this c…