I think many Democrats would welcome a smarter, more reasonable opposition party, but two decades of the Rush Limbaugh-Fox News echo chamber has transformed the Republican Party into something terrible. You shouldn't take my word for it: Listen, instead, to Eric Garland, a conservative whose recent blog post has torn across liberal America's Facebook feeds at the speed of sound. In an open letter to a Republican strategist, Garland explains that he is a conservative, and then he lays down the law.

How can I put this gently? My wife and I are not sensitive to your messaging, nor did we vote for the candidates you proposed for us this past Tuesday.

B-b-but, what? Aren’t we investors, hard-workin’ white folk surrounded by same in a manicured cul-de-sac, scared by a vision of economic collapse amidst the takers in a land of fewer givers? Didn’t Mitt Romney’s strong family, wealth, leadership history and chiseled chin give us the uncontrollable urge to high-five him into the White House?

No.

May I explain why not, purely for your education, such that you might be interested in winning an election on the national level at some point in the future? It bears pointing out that I should be your Low Hanging Fruit, the easy vote to get as opposed to, say, African-Americans, Latinos, or Asians – and you’re not even speaking well to me. The reasons why ought to concern you deeply.

It's a long blog post laying out the main problems with the Republican Party as it stands right now. The problem is, I don't think voices like Garland's can be heard so long as Fox News remains as popular as it is right now. He will always be cursed as a liberal and a socialist and the reason why America died on November 6, 2012. (Garland addresses this argument in the piece.)

This is a reason why I think liberals should be skeptical about MSNBC's rise in popularity. I freely admit to having a huge crush on Rachel Maddow, but when you're in a position where you only hear what you want to hear, you eventually wind up living in an alternate reality. That's a terrible thing, and it's the curse of the modern Republican Party. It can happen to the Democratic Party, too.