The following diatribe is not directed at all conservatives. I have friends who are conservatives, and from time to time, they make significant contributions to the national discussion.

The following diatribe is not directed at all Republicans, per se. From time to time, they have stood for things that are worth standing for.

The following diatribe is, however, specifically directed at those conservative Republicans who, by their silence, are enabling a radical movement to hijack and destroy their party—and perhaps the country along with it.

You know who you are.

Why, you might ask, should a card-carrying member of the vast left-wing liberal conspiracy give a flying fig about what happens to the GOP?

Well, that answer is a bit more complicated, perhaps even bordering on convoluted. With just a touch of armchair philosophy.

The partisan side of my brain dreams of triumphant election nights with happy progressives dancing in the streets to the strains of Happy Days Are Here Again, or Fleetwood Mac encouraging all and sundry to Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow.

Or even something more current, assuming there is anything worth listening to.

On the other hand, the rational side of my brain persists in pushing the pesky proposition that this country works best when there are at least two adult political parties engaged in debate over fact-based ideologies as to which is the better course for this republic of ours.

The country works best when there is respectful disagreement, with a bias in favor of building consensus. Its shouldn’t be a zero sum proposition. We need both major parties, each complementary to the other.

If you will, we need some bacon to go along with our eggs. We need some jelly to go with our peanut butter. We need some cream for our coffee.

And so do you.

While the first approach above appeals to my political instincts, the better angels of my nature lead me to conclude that the second approach is better for the ongoing civic health of our union.

In short, if the choice is between party and country, I choose country.

I wish more of you did as well. If you’re out there, I wish you were more vocal about it.

Before you grab a pen to compose vituperative Letters to the Editor about your patriotism being impugned, ask yourselves some questions.

Are you proud of the fact that a president currently leading the party of Lincoln has endorsed a Senate candidate who has been removed from the bench twice because of his unwillingness to obey the law, not to mention having been implicated in multiple sexual improprieties, including sexual assault on a 14-year-old girl?

Are you proud of a Republican National Committee that withdrew financial support from that candidate, only to reinstate it a week before the election? How about Senate leadership which fulminated about the moral fitness of this candidate to sit in the Senate, only to throw up its hands and say, “We will see how the vote goes.”

Is it worth selling your political soul to gain one vote in the Senate?

Don’t tell us what the good people of Alabama think, or how congressional leadership has rationalized its about-face. What do you think?

Are you proud that the party that once stood for fiscal responsibility and small business job creators has pushed through a tax cut that increases the deficit by 1 trillion to 1.4 trillion dollars, which mainly benefits the already wealthy, and which tosses only a few temporary crumbs to the rest of the taxpaying class—including those small businessmen of whom your party is supposedly so proud?

In your heart of hearts, are you comfortable with this?

Are you proud of the fact that your leadership, while cutting taxes on the already wealthy, is saying we must jettison insurance coverage for disadvantaged children, or take aim at cutting non-discretionary spending on programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security because we can’t afford a safety net that provides some modicum of sustenance and dignity of life to millions and millions of your fellow Americans?

You go to church on Sunday. Where do you suppose Jesus would stand on these issues?

The face of a Grand Old Party more responsive to its big donors than to its faithful, or to an angry fringe cheering as the norms that have guided this country for 228 years are, one by one, consigned to the trash heap of history, is not a pretty sight.

It is not enough to quietly lament the death of the Republican party. You must make yourselves heard, because by your silence you enable what is happening, and by being enablers, you become co-conspirators in the demise of a political institution that this country needs as an honorable, and honored, counter-balance.

Your party needs you now more than ever before.

Bacon for our eggs. Jelly for our peanut butter. Cream for our coffee.

Together.