Colorado GOP rep declares: ‘The Republican Party is dead’

A Republican congressman from Colorado on Monday declared that the Republican Party is “dead,” arguing it “no longer has a vision for a better America.”

In an op-ed for The Denver Post, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) said the party that once had “the blood of the people” coursing “through its veins” is not pursing conservative policies.

“After eight years of assuring that unified Republican government would allow for conservative policy, our Republican Congress has accomplished little, except for passing a spending bill that shackles the aspirations of future generations with crippling debt,” Buck wrote.

{mosads}The editorial slammed the tax code, the healthcare market and government spending, with Buck saying the Republican Party needs a vision and a message to unite the nation. He also criticized special interests, echoing the anti-establishment rhetoric that came to characterize the 2016 presidential election.

“We care about the meaningful. We have a vision for the meaningful,” Buck said, speaking for Coloradans.

“If we can pass a balanced budget amendment, a responsible spending bill, and reforms of our health care system, of our tax system, of our entitlement system, and of our immigration system, then we can begin to fulfill the one-time destiny of this party, a destiny to offer hope and prosperity to the people of this great nation.”