With the eclipse of the Democratic Party over the years, observers have long noted that the closest thing Moore County has to a healthy two-party system has been the Morgan and Little factions of the local GOP. Now the question becomes: How many Republican parties are there? John Dempsey, president of Sandhills Community College, joked at a recent function that the county has more GOP factions than Democrats.

Part of the problem may be that the Republican umbrella has to be broad enough, especially at the local level, to take in a wide variety of elements. They include longtime, moderate party members like those in the camp of former Gov. Jim Holshouser; Democratic retreads who have switched parties out of convenience; newcomers from outside, often from the North, who come with their own traditions; philosophical conservatives whose views tend to be thoughtful and academic in nature; and the group that seems to have gained ascendancy here in recent years: the social conservatives and fundamentalist Christians who inhabit what has come to be called “the Christian right.”

It comes as no surprise that disputes and resentments and rivalries would develop under such a diverse tent. But a little healthy debate is one thing; total meltdown is another — especially one that is so embarrassingly public.

Some local Democrats, no doubt, are drinking to each other’s health with the old toast “Confusion to the enemy.” But it is not in the public interest for the political organization that supposedly represents most of the registered voters of Moore County to be caught up in such demoralizing and counterproductive turmoil.