| One of the least reported stories, imo, in recent New Hampshire politics is an increasing effort among libertarians to feel at home in the NHGOP, both those upper case Libs who are gaining greater access to power under cover of one of the two dominant parties, and lower case libs already in the GOP who feel bereft at where the party has gone.
I've been contemplating a series of posts about this, but let's start with one that jumped in front my Google Alerts this morning - one gay libertarian Republican's view of Jennifer Horn's visit to the Cheshire GOP, since it illustrates beautifully the crux of the dilemma: At the gathering, numerous snide remarks were made about the 'liberal media,' lawyers, teachers, and liberals in general. "Immigration" - a complete non-issue to anybody in Cheshire County, New Hampshire - somehow emerged as an important 'issue' to address. At my table, one religious conservative insisted that gay marriage and abortion were leading us to Socialism (I can't even begin to explain the twisted logic here...) On a positive note, I would say the majority at my table was tired of being the reloigious rights bludgeon.
I stated openly that we need to stop blaming immigrants, young people, gays, and the 'liberal media' for our problems, and was cut off by Horn, who insisted that the party does not 'blame' those groups for anything. And yet, that appears to be more of a political 'talking position' (the media was present) than the reality, as understood by the millions of Independents - and Republicans - who abandonned the GOP in the last election. It's worth a full read, as a glimpse into the crisis within the NHGOP, a crisis I'm not even sure they are aware of.
And as a related question - will the libertarians, official and unofficial, eventually change the nature of the NHGOP over the long term? |
