There is been a lot of ink spilled about a so-called "battle for the soul" of the Democratic party. While I'm sure that's interesting, what I am more interested in is the battle for the soul of the Republican party. This is a battle that was waged and won (lost) years ago, but like all such battles, victory is only temporary. I vaguely remember a time when the Republican party was the party of prudence, of responsibility, and of caution. This new Republican party is none of those things. It got hijacked by the extreme right-wing branch, the branch that believes in money, social Darwinism, and a fire-and-brimstone flavor of fundamentalist Christianity. The battle for the soul of the Republican party was lost beginning with Newt Gingrich's "Republican Revolution," and fully lost with the ascendancy of George W. Bush over John McCain. The current battle within the Democratic party, effectively over now, pales in comparison with the battle that moderate Republicans lost. While my preference would be for George W. Bush to lose the general election in 2004, it is far more important for the moderate Republicans to take back their own party from the right-wing radicals who currently run the show. Only then can true progress be made.