There have been several recent stories in the news about the Republican party’s relationship with its spokespersons. Of special note to this writer today was a story about a somewhat disturbing anecdote concerning one Limbaugh, a well-known host who regularly dispenses what he claims to be a conservative viewpoint.

This viewpoint in this case was one that, apparently, indicated that one could not be a conservative unless one espoused a doctrine that torture was permissible in order to keep the United States safe.

As Limbaugh has no official standing with the Republican party (being, at least ostensibly, the more conservative of the two well-known parties in American politics) this commentary should have little to no effect on the political climate.

However, Limbaugh has, over the course of his career, amassed sufficient following that his influence is widely felt throughout the conservative arena. Whether or not it was intended, he has, to some small extent, become a voice of leadership for the Republican party–or at least gives the appearance thereof; appearances are often as important as reality in these cases.

It is also a current strategy of the Democratic party to encourage these appearances of leadership on Mr. Limbaugh’s part, as it is politically convenient for them to encourage the appearance of buffoonery and unreasonableness that his comments foment. The more that the Republican party is shown to be allied with Limbaugh–even going to the point of publically apologizing to him–the more they are shown to be politically obstructionist and unable to work within the paradigm of a Democratically-controlled government. This in turn leads to a lessened influence of the Republican party as people see that they have little use, and an enlarged influence for the Democratic party.

This is ultimately harmful to the nation.

An effective opposition party is required for the continued health of any political system. When only one party has a say in the process, without any checks on their proposals nor balancing commentary to prevent ill-advised ideas from becoming policy, the government becomes less of a democracy and more of a dictatorship.

The conservatives of this country are a valuable and necessary resource to prevent excesses by the liberal movement. The concepts traditionally espoused by the conservatives–those of family values, smaller government, and accountability–are absolutely essential to the proper functioning of the nation. Without them, the government grows to an unmanageable behemoth.

This trope of Limbaugh’s relevancy to the Republican party is hazardous to the continued health of the political process as it stands today. Further, those ideas put forth by the conservative media as mainstream conservative opinions (while, in truth, being fringe opinions given currency by charismatic hosts) are hazardous as well.

Conservative America needs to dissociate itself from the fringe elements who are still stuck in the corrupted, heady, intoxicated fervor of the last presidency, and create for themselves a proper identity, freed of the toxic ideology that is currently passed off as conservative. Only then can they form the Loyal Opposition that is so desperately needed by our current government.

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