GOP museum of Conservatism

California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the GOP in California.

He is a disaster.

I remember how he insulted Vice-chair Tom Del Baccaro as he had just won election as Vice-chair. He made some sort of slip about an issue that had come up during a bruising campaign that supposedly revolved around a police scuffle. I remember his hiring of an illegal alien to a high profile position at the California Republican Party, and his vapid blackberry emails from the Republican National Convention. I was thinking at the time, “what a loser, doesn’t this guy have something productive to do?” Yet all we do is just keep on losing!

If California Republicans really want to improve the party to win elections the California Republican Party (CRP) needs to change the leadership at the state and local levels. But as inviting as that idea is, it may be an impossible task.

The ultimate problem with the CRP may be that the only folks who are left to support the CRP are the people who support the extremely conservative policies of the CRP. So in a way, the CRP’s fate is sealed. Moderates/Liberals or Independents who are Republicans or are inclined to vote Republican are repulsed by the dogma of the current super conservative leadership.

These folks like the CRP or their local county central committee just the way it is. That is it. No room for anyone who is outside the lines of ideology. The results speak for themselves. The state and local parties continue to lose elections and voter registration continues to shrink.

You know what? I think it is just fine. Let the conservatives have their way. The CRP and all its local branches are a monument to a failed brand of conservatism where nothing is conservative enough.

So forget about changing the party. The cake is baked. Therefore the time has come to do something to celebrate the accomplishments of California conservatism. They should erect a Museum of Conservatism. The museum should be erected in Orange County, the citadel of right wing thought. There should be local branches or franchises in every county in California.

School children in California could have tours as part of California history. Imagine your children touring the Museum of Conservatism, with a Ronald “Ray Gun” section with a simulated Berlin wall for the kids to climb over and a simulated Missile Defense shoot down game where laser beams shoot out of Reagan’s eyes as they blast ICBM’s out of the sky.

There could be a George W. Bush tax cut monopoly type game where you could cut taxes and try to balance the federal budget via greater government spending. In Contra Costa, there could be a Contra Costa Museum of Conservatism with a wing dedicated to local conservatives. I am sure there would be a lot of folks we can all think of locally who could have their own wing or display to the “beloved” leader.

So I say, let the conservatives have the Republican Party. They have pretty much run everybody else out of the party anyway who does not toe their losing line. Now, when I run into these folks, I will be sure to give them all correct ideological questions so they feel comfortable and know that the party is in safe hands, and that even though the party will continue to lose both elections and members, there will always be a shining museum in Orange County or their local county where the fires of the faith burn brightly.