Rand Paul is now near the top of the GOP's list of presidential contenders. Even Ted Cruz's star is rising. 

I'm old enough to remember when there were liberal Republicans who joined with liberal Democrats to do what the nation needed, such as enacting the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, Medicare and Medicaid, and the Environmental Protection Act. But the Grand Old Party threw out its liberals and then kicked out its moderates, and is now the party of xenophobes, homophobes, mysogynists, and reactionaries -- who cling to their so-called right to own assault guns but don't give a hoot about the rights of Americans accused of crimes to have lawyers and criminal trials, who are so concerned about fetuses they deny women rights over their own bodies but don't give a damn about babies without adequate nourishment or health care, who refuse equal marriage rights but consider corporations people under the First Amendment, who don't want to close tax loopholes for the very rich but are eager to cut housing vouchers and Head Start for the poor, and who call themselves patriots and wrap themselves in the American flag but don't care enough about the well-being of their fellow Americans to want to finance good schools and adequate heath care for all.

Marco Rubio calls the GOP the "stupid party" but I think he's being too generous. It's the regressive party, dedicated to an America that no longer exists if it ever did. Some say there's no real difference between Democrats and Republicans, but that's absurd. Just open your eyes. Our democracy needs at least two robust political parties but the GOP has proven itself incapable of governing, and the rest of us must do everything in our power to consign it to the dustbin of history.

Robert Reich