The Best Show on TV: The Republican Presidential Campaigns

We all owe a vote of thanks to the Republican Party for saving us from the boredom of summer reruns on TV this year. They've actually been acting like Democrats!

Those of us of a certain age will remember when the Democratic presidential nominating process was actually fun to watch. Eight or nine candidates would throw their hat into the room. Two of them, at best, would have half a brain and might actually be qualified to be President. The others were usually good for comic relief.

The real fun would come when one or two of these comedians would go to the Democratic convention with enough committed delegates to throw a monkey wrench into the process. Then the power brokers would have to adjourn to their smoke-filled rooms to sort things out and come up with a candidate that had half a prayer of winning the election. The Republican nominating process. on the other hand, was usually more like a coronation, and boring as heck.

This year, however, the Republican Party has provided us with great entertainment as it goes about self-destructing on the tube every night. (Can I still call a television a tube?) The three sane Republicans who are still left practically got down on their hands and knees to beg Governor Christie of New Jersey to run because they couldn't stomach any of the candidates. Unfortunately, Governor Christie had the good sense to turn them down. Even Republicans aren't dumb enough to board the Titanic after it has struck the iceberg.

Meanwhile, the Democratic coronation moves on. What serious candidate is going to challenge Barack Obama? For that matter, what serious candidate would want to become President when the country is in the total mess that it's in right now?

I'd be doubling over in laughter if the whole thing wasn't so sad for the country. We need a functional government and a properly-functioning two-party system, one in which both parties work together for the good of the country. This is the way that things were in the 1960s and 1970s, when moderates controlled the Republican Party and we made great progress in civil rights, equal rights for women, and environmental and consumer protection--progress that today's Republican Party would like to reverse, with the Democratic Party too weak-willed to prevent this erosion. When one party either self-destructs or takes control of all three branches of government--executive, legislative, and judicial--the country suffers.