It's a serious question. Vote in the poll. (At the end of the article)

It's instructive to consider where the Republican party came from.

1854: Disgusted with the lack of action from existing parties, activists in northern states form their own party.

1856: The new Republican party nominates western explorer John Fremont for president. He runs well across northern states and California, but ultimately loses to James Buchanan. The Whig party, which had elected William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor and John Tyler in the past, don't even run a candidate. Former president Millard Fillmore, candidate of the "Know Nothing" party, runs last. (I've always thought it was delightful that the Utah Mormons named their territorial capital "Fillmore" in "Millard" county in a fruitless attempt to bribe a failed politician.)

1860: The Republicans elect a president who actually stands for something: Abraham Lincoln. From this point on, Republicans dominate national politics until 1932.

In addition to confronting slavery, Republican activists in northern states took a principled stand against the rich (southern plantation owners at the time) being able to use their wealth to keep the rest of the people down.

Oh, how the worm does turn. The 1860 Republicans were the 2008 Democrats. The main thing that has changed is the methods that the rich are using to keep the rest of the people down. The Whig party - the Republicans of that age - disintegrated because they couldn't figure out what they stood for. The Democrats - who were ironically the Republicans of that age - lost the Civil War and were excluded from power as a result.

Hopefully, it won't come to war this time around. But the reasons for a major party meltdown are remarkably similar: Today's Republicans, like yesterday's Whigs and Democrats, have abandoned the people and only represent the rich.