The Republican Party has been taken over by the religious right. This is not a controversial statement when speaking to Democrats, but most Republicans would have strenously argued this point in the past. Not so much any more.

This editorial from a Kansas newspaper’s editorial board is fascinating. In it the writer explains why the paper is reversing over 100 years of supporting mostly Republican candidates.

The Republican Party has changed, and it has changed monumentally.

You almost cannot be a victorious traditional Republican candidate with mainstream values in Johnson County or in Kansas anymore, because these candidates never get on the ballot in the general election. They lose in low turnout primaries, where the far right shows up to vote in disproportionate numbers.

To win a Republican primary, the candidate must move to the right.

What does to-the-right mean?

It means anti-public education, though claiming to support it.

It means weak support of our universities, while praising them.

It means anti-stem cell research.

It means ridiculing global warming.

It means gay bashing. Not so much gay marriage, but just bashing gays.

It means immigrant bashing. I’m talking about the viciousness.

It means putting religion in public schools. Not just prayer.

It means mocking evolution and claiming it is not science.

It means denigrating even abstinence-based sex education.

Note, I did not say it means “anti-abortion,” because I do not find that position repugnant, at all. I respect that position.

But everything else adds up to priorities that have nothing to do with the Republican Party I once knew.

That’s why, in the absence of so-called traditional Republican candidates, the choice comes down to right-wing Republicans or conservative Democrats.

And now you know why we have been forced to move left.

Hat tip to mcjoan at DailyKos.

Moderates are fleeing the Republican Party and are finding a welcome home in the Democratic Party. Fiscal conservatives and libertarian conservatives tolerated the religious right for years because they helped them form a winning coalition in the GOP. Moderate Republicans went along for the ride, even if moderate Republicans stopped getting on the ballot. Hopefully this unholy alliance is coming to an end.