"No matter the outcome, November's election will fundamentally change the direction of the country for a generation."

...................................................................................................................................................................
COMMENTS: 
*  Well written, and I (as a Democrat) can agree with many of your points.  The right-wing extremism is far over-the-top for the American voters to accept and is already showing backlash in all current polling of Presidential and Senatorial candidates. By almost all polling, if nothing happens with the FBI, the GOP will lose the White House AND 7-10 Senate seats, or more. This is what the GOP has sewn.
*  Do you really believe that Bernie supporters are even going to vote if Hillary is the candidate? Hillary will be lucky if half of Bernie's supporters turn out to vote for her.
   *  They will turn out because Bernie will support he[r]. They know Trump will destroy America on a temper tantrum.
*  Remember, Trump looooooves the undereducated. That's why so many Republicans will vote for him.
*  Trump- wages are too high in the US, we can't compete with the rest of the world.  Your first mistake was believing anything this ex "reality" show clown says...
*  bottom line ---- have you ever talked to a happy conservative? these losers need misery and worship failure, strange creatures indeed
...................................................................................................................................................................
Voter anger is not enough, Republicans
By Sarah Chamberlain, March 4, 2016

As a mom, I've been where millions of other parents have been. My daughter, when she was younger, used to throw a temper tantrum because she wanted juice. I asked her to be patient, but finally relented and got her a cup of juice. But then she continued to be upset because she didn't like the cup that it was in. Eventually, none of it was good enough and the cup got thrown off the table and juice was all over the floor. And then, she was even madder, with nothing to show for it.

It sounds trivial, but it's a fitting analogy as the Republican Party heads toward a perilous crossroads. Is the Republican Party going to be the forum for big ideas that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) wants it to be, in the traditions of Presidents Lincoln and Reagan, and stand for economic opportunity and a strong national defense? Or will it end up with a bigger mess that's more difficult to clean up?

Voter anger is understandable. For years now, Republican candidates have masqueraded themselves as the next candidate who is going to go to Washington and repeal ObamaCare, slash federal spending and be a check on Washington Democrats. But it's proved much easier to campaign than to govern. Campaigning is easy when you're limited to 140 characters, but hashtags and sound bites don't grow our economy and create jobs.

It's ironic that as we head into March, one of the top candidates on the Republican side has been the leading agitator on Capitol Hill. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz came to Washington vowing to make D.C. listen. As a darling of the Tea Party movement, he has now, by all accounts, been replaced as a champion of conservatives by Donald Trump, who has repeatedly pointed out that Cruz is ineffective and doesn't have the relationships with his colleagues that it takes to govern effectively. In some ways, Cruz is reaping what he's sowed.

But the anger needs to be channeled effectively by Republican primary voters if they truly want to "make America great again." We are, and have been, a center-right country. Millions of Americans agree with our agenda of economic growth, a strong national defense (that includes secured borders) and the belief that states and their local communities have the answers that can never be found inside the Beltway. But what they don't understand is that most Americans aren't political activists who can eloquently argue the points of whether or not abortion ought to be outlawed under the Fifth and 14th Amendments. Nor do they care!

Americans who have traditionally believed in the Republican Party want solutions to the issues facing our country. The further that our party goes to the right trying to out-conservative each other, the only place for voters to go is toward the center, and there they'll find their only other acceptable alternative — which today means probable Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

The Republican Party will never be the party of Lincoln with a nominee who has trouble disavowing David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan. The Republican Party will never be the party that stands for, in which Reagan did, peace through strength when the front-runner openly advocates bombing and killing the wives and children of our enemies.

Nor will the party of Lincoln and Reagan remain viable when leading candidates challenging for the nomination resort to gumming up the legislative process simply to score political points or third-grade humor and playground taunts when selling their agenda to the American people.

Americans from every walk of life are kept up at night struggling under this economy. Small-business owners worry about meeting payroll and whether they're going to provide healthcare to their employees or be forced to cut their hours. Mothers worry about the mental health crisis and the perils of addiction that are gripping their communities and can only hope their children will be kept safe. Grown children, caring for their terminally ill aging parents, pray that there might be a innovative medical breakthrough that will help increase their parents' quality of life.

There was already a lot at stake in this election. Now, with a Supreme Court vacancy, everything is at stake. No matter the outcome, November's election will fundamentally change the direction of the country for a generation.

Will our country continue down the path of the last eight years, divided, with a stagnant economy? Or can Republicans come to peace behind an agenda that will lower the nation's tax burden, keep our country safe, and make government more accountable and efficient even though we might not be in 100-percent lock step?

President Obama famously said that "elections have consequences." It might be the only thing he's ever said that I agree with. It's simply not enough to be angry.
...................................................................................................................................................................