What Happened to the Rational Right?

I just finished watching Keith Olbermann and part of the Rachel Madow show and what struck me once again is how utterly insane and detached from objective reality the base of the Republican Party has become. From the birthers to the town hall opponents of health care reform, any semblance of rational thought and a grasp of objective facts was entirely absent. I especially like the idiots - that's about the only term that fits the level of ignorance displayed - who whine about "death panels" as insurance companies in effect are already acting as death panels as as much as 39% of health insurance are denied by one large California insurer. As a former Republican, I continue to be shocked by how ignorant and insane the main stream members of the Party have become. William F. Buckley (pictured above) must be rolling over in his grave. Leading the charge of conservative insanity are Faux News - Glenn Beck in particular - and WingNutDaily. I seriously wonder what mind altering drugs these folk are taking because they are simply batshit crazy. Here are some highlights from a recent column written by a disgusted conservative (a dying breed) that looks at the intellectual suicide of the GOP:
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Over the last few days, Jon Henke has laid out the case for the Right more strongly disavowing outfits like WorldNetDaily that actively peddle Birther nonsense. To the extent the mainstream Right has weighed in, it has been to urge Jon to ignore WND and move on, in the interests avoiding an intra-movement civil war. Some have even tried to subtly distance Jon from the conservative movement, saying his views don't represent those of most conservatives. Many on the Right have made the calculation that however distasteful their views, a public fight with the Birthers just isn't worth it.

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The Birthers are the latest in a long line of paranoid conspiracy believers of the left and right who happen to attach themselves to notions that simply are not true. Descended from the 9/11 Truthers, the LaRouchies, the North American Union buffs, and way back when, the John Birch Society, the Birthers are hardly a new breed in American politics. Each and every time they have appeared, mainstream conservatives from William F. Buckley to Ronald Reagan have risen to reject these influences -- and I expect that will be the case once again here.
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But there is another subtext that makes Jon's appeal more urgent. As a pretty down-the-line conservative, I don't believe I am alone in noting with disappointment the trivialization, excessive sloganeering, and pettiness that has overtaken the movement of late. . . . In founding National Review, Buckley made a point of casting out the conspiracy nuts and the cranks of his day because he saw them as a fundamental threat to a conservatism that was just emerging as a political force. In doing so, he was able to define conservatism for a generation.

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What is interesting about Buckley (and that is so different today) was his ability to align intellectual firepower and a faster march to the Right. Buckley was a man of class and erudition who happened to be more conservative than virtually all of his peers. That's the key point. To the extent we think of intellectuals today, we deride them as creatures of the Left.

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The automatic problem that arises when someone who is not a William F. Buckley (and none of us here pretend to be) is that you're instantly tagged a RINO for calling out something that is objectively and demonstrably false. The space between fact and fiction is confused as a litmus test between right and left. But what if the WNDers are not the true conservatives in this argument? What if the actual test of conservatism was not how fervently you oppose Obama, or where you went to school, or where you pray, but how firmly your conservatism is rooted in First Principles and not personalities or conspiracy?

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.This is why there is a unique urgency now to cast out the obscurantists and the conspiracy nuts We don't have a Buckley anymore. Our intellectual giants have died off and not being replaced. And preventing the lowest common denominator from filling the void is a constant daily struggle. In a movement and a party that has largely defined itself outside centers of higher learning in recent years (for good or ill) I believe the time is ripe for a return to Buckleyite elite conservatism.

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I totally agree that intellectuals are needed if the Republican Party is to escape becoming a Southern party made up of racists, Christo-facists and the ignorant. However, given the dynamics of the Party's base and the near cult of anti-knowledge, I do not know how any intellectual who has not undergone a lobotomy will be able to rise in the GOP. The lowest common denominator is now in control and elected officials - even U.S. Senators - are afraid to take on the rabble of the Party base. Hence it becomes an ever increasing downward spiral.