Dear Fellow Laderians,

What’s going on with the Republican Party?

Within the span of one week, two major Republican office holders – South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and U.S. Senator John Ensign – both top contenders for the Republican Party’s nomination for President of the United States in three years, derailed their political ambitions by admitting they had violated their marriage vowels. 

Don’t get me wrong, I believe these issues are personal matters between the husband and wife and, of course, the Democrats have their own list of unconscionable cads, the mother of all philanders being Democrat John Edwards, who cheated on his wife and fathered a child while his widely-admired wife is fighting to survive bone cancer.

But the Republicans, who have built their franchise in modern times on the issue of “Family Values,” have led with their chins with a list of recent reprobates, including Senator Larry Craig; Senator David Vitter; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; and former Congressman Mark Foley, to name a few.

The Party has been relentless in its fight against same-sex marriage under the specious argument that it would destroy the institution of marriage, although no one has yet to explain to me how. But what could be more destructive to a marriage – hetero or same-sex – than infidelity to one’s spouse.

Talk about hypocrisy! Every reasonable person should realized by now that the Republican Party has no claim to “Family Values.”

To make matters worse, the Republican Party has been taken hostage by the far right Neocons like Rush Limbaugh, who wants President Obama to fail (and presumably the rest of the country with him); a Maryland county party chairwoman who likens the President to Adolf Hitler; and Dick Cheney who, in an unprecedented attack by a former Vice President, says to anyone who will listen that President Obama is making the country unsafe to terrorism, conveniently overlooking the fact that “9-11” occurred on his watch.

I’m old enough to remember when the Republican Party was full of great leaders such as Mitt Romney’s father George, Pennsylvania Governor Bill Scranton, U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen, and others – reasonable-thinking moderate conservatives who put their country before their party in making the important decisions. Now days, it’s all about the money and power!

Moderate conservative Republicans who can think for themselves and engage in honest debate over the real issues need to rescue their party from the far right as the Democrats did under Bill Clinton with the far left. We need a strong two-party system, if for no other reason than to keep the country from swinging too far to the extremes either way.

If not, the Democrats are going to have their way for a long time, starting with next year’s elections, thanks to the crumbling of the current Republican Party leadership!

Jim Schmitt, Editor and Publisher