As someone who has identified as a republican most of my life I say good riddance to conservatism. The conservative right wing have made republicans lame for quite some time. I love the principles of republicanism at it's heart (personal responsibility, freedom from big government, equality etc.) but their position on stem cells, gay rights and many other things. are lame, lame, lame and based purely on tired puritanical ideals. Unfortunately this turns many young, and non-religious people away that would otherwise be republicans.

I know it is a pipe dream but I hope that we can someday have a secular republican party

The most popular politicians or national leaders to the conservatives are jokes like Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee. And those two are on the far right fringe of theocratic wing of the GOP, so this may tell us something about just how crazy things have gotten over in their camp.

The Republican party and the con movement as a whole simply does not have any leaders that the majority of the public could or would accept. And because of this fact, the GOP is suffering at the hands of the wingnut lunatic teaparty types who have taken it completely over. Not that I'm complaining, though. It's pretty much a given that the Dems are safe and sound because of it.

The ONLY way for the GOP to regain anything that it has lost is to moderate its stand on issues that the public cares about. It still thinks that this country is a center-right one, but that silly idea has been blown out of the water so many times it's not worth wasting time on it. And as long as the teabaggers and the pathetic racist birthers are calling the shots...it's game over.

Well, I agree that the GOP has a lack of good candidates, and a serious lack of charisma. I don't think there is any "game over". I am just hoping for a more secular shift in the GOP. There are a lot of center right people out there and many of us read books other than the bible and we need a political home. I hope the GOP can recognize this.

How can you say the party is done? Where are the voters going? Do you actually think there is going to be one party? More importantly, is that what you really want, no opposition? As a republican, and an American, I would NEVER want there to be one party with total control, and I would never want the democratic party to tank. Two strongly opposing forces are what is beautiful about our current system. You know, yin and yang. As long as there are two strong parties there will be slow and gentle change and balance over time. A single dominating party and you end up like the USSR or worse...

Intelligent post, Ohka.

Thanks Bsharp-

I think we ought to be thankful that we disagree. As long as the debate is civil and thought provoking it is a good thing.