I used to be a very proud republican. It was the party of Lincoln after all. It was supposed to be the party of morality and equality. It was supposed to be a party that realized that all men, regardless of race, color or creed (to include sexual orientation), are equal. It was supposed to be the party of small government, and keeping the government out of our businesses and bedrooms.

None of that is true anymore. Now the term Republican is synonymous with corruption. It's also become nearly synonymous with Christian Zealotry. How did this happen? How did this culture of corruption, inside a once proud party, develop and flourish? What can be done to save the party? Or is it already too far gone?

It probably has a lot to due with the fact that all the southern Democrats switched to the Republican Party because the northern liberals were making them too uppity about civil rights. But there had to be something in the Republican Party that attracted them in the first place; which probably came down to a conservative/progressive divide. To the southerners progress wasn't good if it meant giving minorities equal rights.

Thus, the Republicans inherited the conservative Bible belt. It was only a matter of time before the conservative Christians overtook the almost libertarian-like traditions of the Republican Party. Instead of the small-government Republicans switching to the Democratic Party, many of them stayed due to party loyalty (and in a process of brain washing are duped into supporting a big-government and big-business party), while some went independent.

I think it is too late. Carl Rove already blew a hole in the ship the size of Texas (pun intended).

I think you may be on to something here. It's just such a shame. Especially since the Libertarians now have such a small voice, despite having the most well thought out and reasonable perspective (in my opinion).

He pretty much called them ignorant!

“As people do better, they start voting like Republicans - unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing”---Karl Rove

I have to hope it was more than just the bigots switching.
Because that would be a LOT of bigots.

Personally, both the democrats and the republicans represent imperialism (the Iraq War) and big business. Both the democrats and republicans are stooges to big business and don't represent the American people. They are bought and paid for. Both parties have sold out to big business because of the concentration of wealth. You can have the concentration of wealth or you can have freedom. You cannot have both.