GOP Resolution Would Expel Moderate Republicans

A new resolution submitted to the Republican National Committee would establish a 10-item creed for party members, and expel any candidates who do not agree with at least eight of the items.

Five of the items have direct relevance to civil liberties. #2 states opposition to universal health care; #5 states opposition to citizenship for undocumented immigrants; #8 endorses the Defense of Marriage Act; #9 reinforces the Hyde Amendment and, ambiguously, Stupak-Pitts; and #10, the only arguably positive civil liberties item on the agenda, reaffirms a universal rights interpretation of the Second Amendment.

If enforced, the resolution would effectively ban Joe Lieberman from joining the Republican Party, expel most Republicans in New England's congressional delegation (including senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine), ban Arnold Schwarzenegger and Charlie Crist from running for the U.S. Senate, and limit most party gains to the Deep South. For this reason, I see passage of the resolution as unlikely.

But it would almost certainly be endorsed by the party's base--and with the growing influence of the Club for Growth, Tea Party movement, and a resurgent Religious Right, anything is possible.

Related: What's Wrong with the Republican Party? | Analysis of the Republican Liberty Caucus