"Republicans and their allied donors, media outlets, interest groups and fellow travelers have been yanking on the threads of democracy and civil society for the past quarter-century; that’s a long time, and the unraveling is considerable. You can measure it in the triumph of lies and disinformation, in the mainstreaming of racism and white supremacy, in the erosion of institutions and norms of government, and in the dehumanizing of opponents and stoking of violence. In the process, Republicans became Destructionists: They destroyed truth, they destroyed decency, they destroyed patriotism, they destroyed national unity, they destroyed racial progress, they destroyed their own party, and they are well on their way to destroying the world’s oldest democracy." -- Dana Milbank, in an extended essay in today's Washington Post, tracing the devolution of the Republican/ Seditionist Party to "the rise of [Newt] Gingrich and his shock troops [who] set the nation on a course toward the ruinous politics of today." We think Milbank is far too near- sighted in his historical analysis (think: the laissez-faire fetishists of the 1920's, the "America First" movement of the 1930's, Nixon and the "Southern strategy," everything Reagan, etc.). But the essay is worth reading for an overview of "recent" (i.e., last 25 years) Republican perfidy and destruction.
