This represents my effort to elaborate upon the reasons that Mitt Romney, GOP candidate, lost the 2012 presidential election.
There are four fundamental reasons that Mr. Romney lost the 2012 presidential election. Those four reasons, in no particular order, are a GOP voter base that is racist, elitist, sexist and religiously fanatic.
Furthermore the neo-conservative leadership is fascist in orientation and goals and promotes the elimination of American constitutional government and its replacement with a privatized, corporate [fascist] one under the complete domination and control of the wealthy elite in conjunction with the Military Industrial Complex [MIC].
First, I reiterate that the GOP lost the election because the voter base is elitist, racist, sexist, and religiously fanatic. The GOP neoconservative leadership is fascist. It does not believe in democracy or democratic government. It seeks to usurp and replace American constitutional government with corporate [fascist] rule.
Second, let me explain the dynamic occurring within the GOP that is causing the self-inflicted wounds leading to its implosion.
We have to examine the interrelationship between those distinct elements of the GOP voter base that are extremist and causing the internal disruption within the GOP.
Initially, one can observe that elitism,racism, sexism, and religious fanaticism have something in common. In the limited sense that these extremisms believe in their own inherent superiority, they hold that in common with each other.
Elitists believe they are superior based upon their wealth whether it be acquired or inherited. They mistakenly believe that their wealth “entitles” them to rule over others based singularly on their vast accumulation of material wealth.
While this might be acceptable in a society that does not adhere to democracy and democratic ideals, it is anathema to the American people in a constitutional republic. In a democracy, it is acceptable for wealthy people to have more material wealth than others but not to use that wealth to oppress or undermine the constitutional rights of others not endowed with great wealth.
That is precisely what is happening in America. The wealthy elite are using their vast wealth to undermine constitutional government and the GOP is the political expression of the wealthy elite. Without the acquired political power of the GOP, the wealthy elite would be unable to achieve their undemocratic goals.
Racists believe in their own inherent superiority based solely upon their “accident of birth” which they do not see as an accident at all. They believe they were divinely ordained to be born into a superior race and therefore by dint of that divine ordination are entitled to rule over others of different races.
The origins of such ideation are born of overwhelming feelings of inferiority that compel racists to express a determination to dominate people of color to abate those negative feelings.
Racism still exists in America both individually, culturally and institutionally and an open and frank discussion of racism in America is long overdue.
Of course, progress is being made and the election of President Obama deals a significant blow to racism in America but America is far from an egalitarian democracy with respect for the collective and individual rights of the citizenry regardless of sex, socio-economic status and race.
Sexists believe in the inherent superiority of males over females. They promote the idea that women are inferior to men and must be relegated to a subservient position to them. The justifications for such a belief are primarily based upon faux religious beliefs based upon interpretations of the Holy Bible, and other holy texts such as the Koran, etc. that allow for the subjugation of women by men.
There is a mindset within the GOP wherein males dominate and control the GOP political agenda in a very egocentric party. Oppositioin to abortion is the most blatant manifestation of the sexist orientation of the GOP but there are other manifestations of it, too. For example, the submission by the female to authoritarian rule in a patriarchal party that promotes the ascendancy of the male is obvious. The refusal of the GOP to support equal pay for women is another.
To be sure, there are exceptions to this rule within the GOP, but those exceptions proof the rule rather than dispute it.
Which brings us to religious fanaticsm. Those so imbued with such fanaticism believe in the superiority of their religious dogma and seek to impose that dogma upon everyone else in the society based upon rather specious belief in there own moral superiority.
Third, the elitism and racism within the GOP has religious overtones and that accounts for the overlap with religious fanaticism in the GOP voter base wherein on some level there is an intertwining, co-mingling and overlapping of those extremisms.
Fourth, we need to examine what is happening within the GOP that is causing its implosion as the political expression of the wealthy elite.
In a recent poll, 53% of those polled said the GOP held extremist views. Views deemed too extreme for a democratic society governed by the collective and individual constitutional rights of a free people.
Clearly, racists, sexists and religious fanatics within the GOP not imbued with great wealth have always been suspicious of the elitist leadership in the GOP. They maintained a tenuous coalition with elitism based upon the “understanding” that notwithstanding the elitist goals of the GOP [which predominate in the GOP leadership]; the extremist views of those in the party not identifiable as elitist could and would be accommodated by that GOP leadership.
In other words, the GOP voter base had their fears of being betrayed by the GOP elitist leadership mollified with assurances that the coalition formed from these extremist ideations would be accommodated once the GOP achieved political power and implemented its goals.
Obviously, the transformation of America from a constitutional republic based upon democracy into a corporate [fascist] state dominated and controlled by the wealthy elite in conjunction with the Military Industrial Complex [MIC], is an unstated goal of the GOP leadership and one that if revealed to their voter base would undermine the coalition. Therefore, it remains an unstated goal of the GOP elitist leadership.
What happened? Well, an unexpected thing occurred in America unanticipated by the GOP. In 2008, America elected its first Afro-American President. That simple fact sowed the seeds within the GOP of the unraveling of the very tenuous coalition that formed the extremist voter base within the GOP.
After the 2008 presidential election, the racists felt utterly betrayed by their GOP leadership. They felt so betrayed that they formed the Tea Party Movement.
Originally, in the minds of the racists who represent the leadership of the Tea Party, it was intended to be a separate and distinct party. A party in the mode of the Dixiecrat Party formed in 1948 by southern racist and US Senator Strom Thurmond [google Dixiecrat Party].
Or, more likely, a party in the mode of the Segregationist Party created in 1968, by Alabama Governor George Wallace who ran as an Independent in 1968 for POTUS, under the banner of the Segregationist Party.
It was only after Wallace failed in his bid to achieve the presidency [winning 13.5% of the popular vote], that hard core racists realized their only hope of achieving political power was the GOP.
However, there was a difference with the Tea Party. It was a cash strapped party without any hope of achieving its primary political goal: the removal of President Obama from office. The Tea Party needed money.
This opened the door to the infamous Koch brothers. The initial funding to found the Tea Party Movement came from the infamous Koch Brothers [quintessential elitists] who managed to convince the Tea Party leadership [many of whom themselves are elitist/racist] that the political structure existed within the GOP to accommodate it and the Tea Party could achieve its goals by running in GOP primaries and forcing candidates to adhere to Tea Party ideology in order to win election to office.
This allowed the elitist leadership to retain control over the GOP and kept the coalition intact albeit fractured by the election of Barack Obama to the presidency.
Of course, the racists within the GOP believed the 2008 election was a complete aberration and never dreamed in their wildest imaginations that President Obama could ever be reelected to office in 2012.
Bolstered by their victories in the 2010 congressional elections in which the GOP regained control of the US House of Representatives, the Tea Party believed it was positioned to reclaim not only the presidency in 2012, but both houses of congress, too.
Fifth, we then must examine what happened? Well, for one thing, many, many women within the GOP who remained in the party despite considerable concerns over the overt sexism in the GOP began taking a very hard look at their party.
Women in general have always perceived the GOP to be sexist in orientation and goals but with the extreme legislation [such as trans-vaginal “probes”] directed at women’s reproductive rights, it became manifestly obvious that the GOP had become extreme with its efforts to control the lives of women.
Therefore, because of sexism, the coalition experienced another fracturing that undermined its political power.
The interrelationship between racism and religious fanaticism is so complex as to defy any simple explanation and would require an entire treatise to explain.
However, clearly, such a relationship exists and its roots can be found in slavery. Slavery occasioned the development of a radical and faux Christian religion to account for the ownership of human beings while asserting ones alleged Christian faith.
It is abundantly clear to anyone not directly involved in the internal dynamics of the GOP political apparatus that the elements that seemingly bring the extremist ideations together are superficial at best and extremely destructive at worst.
The differences in the four major extremisms in the GOP are constantly working at cross purposes to each other and after the eight year debacle of the Bush II presidency in which the goal of the wealthy elite to undermine the financial stability of America came to fruition that coalition began to fracture.
It was a tenuous coalition at best, and it depended upon a thriving economy that kept the economic disparities of those who held differing and conflicting extremist ideologies at bay.
With the economic collapse of the financial structure, it became obvious to many in the GOP that the neoconservative [fascist] leadership of the GOP was not interested in anything other than the implementation of the fascist Reagan Revolution and all other ideologies/extremisms would be sacrificed upon the altar of GREED [Get Rich Eviscerating Everything Democratic] that forms the essence of the goal of the wealthy elite to dominate and control America.
The leadership of the GOP immediately recognized it had a very big problem. They had to hold the coalition together no matter what. And they devised a plan that, in their arrogance, they believed would allow them to put one of their own, “Mitt Romney”, charter member of the wealthy elite, in the white house thus allowing for the completion of the Reagan Revolution.
Sixth, as we explore this issue, we must keep in mind that the wealthy elite are not stupid. They always “hedge their bets” and they position themselves to remain in control of the American economy no matter who is President.
We all know what happened. The racists, the religious fanatics and the sexists were all very suspicious of Mr. Romney. He not only represented the wealthy elite, he represented what the religious fanatics in the GOP considered a “satanic cult”.
Mormonism has never been accepted within the ranks of the GOP religious movement as a valid Christian religion. This did not trouble the racist element so much except that the modern day Mormon Church has abandoned, at least ostensibly, its racist roots. This troubled them greatly but they believed their GOP leadership when they were told Mitt really was one of them. They believed that about Ronald Reagan, too.
GOP presidential candidates spend an inordinate amount of time convincing the racist base of their bona fides as dye in the wool racists who can be counted upon to preserve, protect and promote racism in America.
Of course, the sexists within the GOP had no real problem with Mitt Romney. After all, the Mormon Church is a very patriarchal religion in which the dominance of the male is clearly established. They may have even perceived a resurgence of polygamy which is something completely compatible with sexism so long as it is limited to multiple wives.
Imagine a religion in which multiple spouses were limited to the woman having multiple husbands. That would truly be antithetical to the GOP.
Therefore, this GOP coalition held their collective noses and prepared to vote for Mitt Romney in the sure and certain belief, reinforced repeatedly by their neoconservative leadership that he was assured of victory.
For them, the message was reinforced over and over again, ad nauseam, that the 2008 election had been a complete aberration. The American people did not realize what they had done and after “re-education” they would come to their senses.
From their narrow viewpoint, the only reason Barack Hussein Obama became president was the abominable behavior of Bush II [the war criminal] as POTUS. The American electorate had been fooled into voting for an Afro-American male for POTUS in retaliation for the economic collapse of America attributed to the Republican Party under the leadership of Bush/Cheney.
I will defer discussion over the fact that BushII, is a self-avowed war criminal and Dick Cheney his co-conspirator for another diary.
After all, the Tea Party had come to the fore in America, and they, with the help of GOP TV [otherwise known as Fox News], had invested considerable time and money in “educating” the American electorate in the “error of its ways” and genuinely believed that there was no possible way that President Obama could be reelected to office.
They believed they had revealed President Obama to be “illegitimate” by dint of his “real” birthplace; secretly a “Muslim Jihadist”, and a communist/socialist/Islamo-fascist “plant” dedicated to the destruction of American democracy.
In their collective mind, they had destroyed the credibility of President Obama and “educated” the voters about his “sinister” goals. They never imagined in the bubble of their “worldview” that they had instead destroyed their own credibility with the American people.
The GOP leadership, relying upon neo-conservative “pundits” like Karl Rove, et al, had convinced their voter base that Mitt Romney would win in a landslide. The GOP leadership was determined to keep the coalition of extremisms forming the core, voter base of the GOP together. That was the belief. Of course, the reality turned out quite differently. The rejection of those extremist ideations by the American voter is manifestly obvious and the disintegration of the GOP is taking place before our very eyes.
Whether or not this represents a good thing for America remains to be seen. I hope that it is a good thing. Personally, anything that undermines the ability of elitism, racism, sexism and religious fanaticism to influence our constitutional republic under the auspices of a neoconservative [fascist] GOP leadership is a good thing.
For American constitutional democracy to prevail, expand and flourish, fascism must be eradicated from the political landscape. The GOP must return to its genuine conservative values [values that include a belief in democracy and democratic ideals and goals]. This must be done sans the extremist coalition and neoconservative leadership that dominates and controls the party apparatus.
Frankly, I do not see that happening. The only other solution is the emergence of a new and different national political party, along the lines of a workers’ party, formed from a coalition of those who form the 99% of Americans currently being exploited but not represented by both the Democrats and GOP.
If such a party were to evolve from the destruction of the GOP, many currently identifiable as Democratic voters would migrate to such a party and give it the credibility and numbers needed to establish itself as a viable national political party.
In my mind, the new third party would be a compilation of progressive, independent and former democratic and GOP voters who, having come to their senses, recognize the need for a party that genuinely represents those democratic principles and ideals expressed in the preamble to the US Constitution.
Those ideals were originally intended to establish an egalitarian democracy expressed as a constitutional republic.
Therein lays a core problem with the formation of the United States of America.
After the revolution, the “founding fathers” betrayed the revolution. There is no longer any doubt about this singular fact. It is manifestly obvious that the “founding fathers” established for themselves a constitutional republic. They did this to preserve for themselves all of the power and control over the new nation.
They retained for themselves as white, propertied males, all of the power in the United States of America. They deliberately and knowing retained for white, propertied males, the right to vote; the right to hold public office; the right to serve on juries; the right to enter into contracts.
However, the most egregious thing they did to undermine the principles set forth in the preamble to the US Constitution was codifying slavery [the buying, selling, trading and trafficking in African human beings] into law in the original US Constitution.
That singular act demonstrated their hypocrisy in claiming that the principal reason for seeking “freedom” from the onerous rule of Great Britain was to establish a genuine democratic state.
No nation that codified slavery into law within its constitution can truly be said to be founded upon democratic ideals and principles.
I make note here that many of the Founding Fathers, avoided service in the War of Independence by offering up their plantation slaves as surrogates to fight in the war in their stead. This was done with the promise that after the war, those slaves who served in the war would win their freedom.
That was an egregious lie. The slaves who fought in the War of Independence were not freed after their service as soldiers in support of the revolution. It completely laid bare the lie of any belief in democracy. To be sure, the founding fathers wanted their freedom, but they had no intention of extending that freedom to anyone else, particularly their very profitable property: Slaves.
They wanted the freedom to dominate and control the economic future of the newly formed United States of America to enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else in the society.
Frankly, although much has changed in America, essentially the racism that dominated the politics of the country remain. Initiallly, the racists found a home in the Democratic Party until enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Then, beginning in 1968 with GOP candidate Richard M. Nixon and his implementation of the "Southern Strategy", racists migrated to the GOP and have been there ever since still dominating the political discourse by imposing their racist ideation upon the GOP.
However, the historic election of Barack Hussein Obama changed that dynamic and clearly the demographics in America are changing dramatically with the diminishment of racist ideation becoming manifestly obvious.
Clearly, the American electorate perceived the GOP to be an extremist party and that extremism coupled with an extraordinarily weak candidate led to the defeat of GOP candidate Mitt Romney in 2012.