Great piece by not far left political scientists about the religious cult and destructive insurgent movement the GOP has become: Let’s Just Admit It: The GOP is the Problem

We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges.

“Both sides do it” or “There is plenty of blame to go around” are the traditional refuges for an American news media intent on proving its lack of bias, while political scientists prefer generality and neutrality when discussing partisan polarization. Many self-styled bipartisan groups, in their search for common ground, propose solutions that move both sides to the center, a strategy that is simply untenable when one side is so far out of reach.

It is clear that the center of gravity in the Republican Party has shifted sharply to the right. Its once-legendary moderate and center-right legislators in the House and the Senate — think Bob Michel, Mickey Edwards, John Danforth, Chuck Hagel — are virtually extinct.

According to the “intellectual right”, everyone from Glenn Beck to Rick Perry to Jim Demint to Mark Levin, America started losing its way 100 years ago. The Progressive movement of the early 20th century, with its strikes for decent working conditions, its child labor laws, direct election of senators and granting women the right to vote, is the period that began the decline of America.

What else can you say except that these “modern thinkers” are literally a century behind the times, which of course calls their modernity into question.