It has for a long time been a party with a significant internal conflict. The Republican party is composed of three primary components: free market libertarians who are the supporters of industry and finance; social conservatives that put more emphasis on social values than economic issues; and libertarians who simply want less government. It has been a sometimes awkward, sometimes conflicting, but politically solid coalition. In the midst of the financial bailout legislation this coalition has crumbled as has any clout President Bush may have once possessed.


The Republican party is split with the Wall Street faction arguing that a bailout is crucial to keeping the economy from collapse and the social conservatives primarily in the nation's South who simply don't want to spend the money saving Wall Street. A fascinating scenario is playing out with the financial wing basically shaking the Southern Republicans and trying to get them to understand how dire the circumstances are. The financial wing had always been able to count on the Southern Republicans to toe the party line but that support has dissolved. It appears President Bush spent all his credibility getting them to blindly support him in Iraq. Now they are abandoning him and choosing to let the economy crumble rather than give in. It is clear from comments made by Southern Republicans in the media that they have no idea how what is happening on Wall Street. America is about to plunge down a very dark hole and they seem willing to let it fall.

The financial bailout is ridiculous, expensive, and problematic. But it is also essential if the United States wants to continue with an economy that is somewhat functional. The Republican party has been the driving force is pushing the economic system to this point. Now a portion of that party appears to be giving up on it. Its as if they have been driving a bus toward a cliff and some are jumping off the bus and taking the brake cables with them.

The scenario is reminiscent of the panic of the 1890s. The southern conservatives (then Democrats) followed William Jennings Bryan and his anti-finance, anti-big business platform. The difference then was that the party makeups were between the parties rather than within the same party as it is today. The Republican party of the 1890s held an electoral majority and the Bryan Democrats were not able to wield enough influence to enact change. Today those same Bryan Democrats are now Republicans and it appears they do have enough influence. When the Bus they helped drive goes over the cliff they'll realized that the United States is ONE economy and they'll find they are strapped in, going down with everyone else. Unfortunately, it is too late to give them a course on macro economics. They've been too busy fighting gay marriage to get a grasp on the other part of their party; the part that actually steers the bus.