How parties die

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LOL Democratic party is dying ? : D Terrorism is the main issue ? There's only a word to characterize that : ridiculous.

Look at the date of the article.

Yeah, it's still a pretty stupid article however.

[Stranger in a strange land]

The Republican party was marginalized to a fringe minority in the mid-1930s; at one point there were 17(!) Republican senators and fewer than 90 representatives. The party will come back at some point, but it remains to be seen how long it will take.

However, what would be really interesting is if a new political party (or parties) arises in the Northeast and West Coast to contest the Democrats at the local and state level in states where the Republican party is no longer electorally viable.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The Republican party was marginalized to a fringe minority in the mid-1930s; at one point there were 17(!) Republican senators and fewer than 90 representatives. The party will come back at some point, but it remains to be seen how long it will take.

However, what would be really interesting is if a new political party (or parties) arises in the Northeast and West Coast to contest the Democrats at the local and state level in states where the Republican party is no longer electorally viable.

Do you think about parties like Vermont Progressive Party ? It would be interesting : that would mean that american political center is moving toward left.

[pbrower2a]

The Republican party was marginalized to a fringe minority in the mid-1930s; at one point there were 17(!) Republican senators and fewer than 90 representatives. The party will come back at some point, but it remains to be seen how long it will take.

However, what would be really interesting is if a new political party (or parties) arises in the Northeast and West Coast to contest the Democrats at the local and state level in states where the Republican party is no longer electorally viable.

But the GOP of today has one burden that the GOP of the 1930s didn't have: a legacy of corruption and dictatorial tendencies. Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover scrupulously recognized due process and civil liberties as understood in the 1920s.  If you want a comparison of the political fortunes of the GOP, then 2006 is the equivalent of 1930... and the weakened GOP of the 1930s started its decline as a political force only after the 1929-1933 economic meltdown; the weakened GOP of late April 2009 started before the economic meltdown that began in 2007. Herbert Hoover may have been the scapegoat for the Great Depression, but he wasn't regarded as an evil man. Dubya might be reviled as an evil man for decades even if the current economic mess is reversed quickly and decisively.

The defection of Senator Arlen Specter to the Democratic Party demonstrates the ineffectiveness of the Republican Party in maintaining a presence in the northeastern quadrant of the United States. Sure, there are two Republican Senators in Maine -- and they might as well be Democrats. There is Judd Gregg, R-NH... moderate enough that Barack Obama was willing to name him to a Cabinet post.  The elderly George Voinovich and the elderly Richard Lugar, respected as they are, are probably the last elected Republican Senators from the Great Lakes region, and they come from the pre-Dubya era. Those two are among the last few moderates. Grassley in Iowa? Much the same. Still electable, but coming to the age-dictated end of the line. Collins, Snowe, Gregg, Voinovich, Specter, Lugar, Grassley -- any one of those moderates could easily bolt from the GOP over some outrage, something more likely as the GOP tends toward the Hard Right.

The GOP of the 1930s faced the whammy of economic failure and became its scapegoat. The GOP faces a triple whammy of not only economic failure for which it is a scapegoat, but also a culture of corruption during the George W. Bush Administration and a promotion of an anti-rational moralizing that has become obsolete.

The GOP is now down to 40 Senators -- and that is likely to shrink even more in 2010. Current approval ratings for Barack Obama in some states that voted against him in large numbers are close to those in some states that voted decidedly for him -- which suggests that some constituencies that voted against him (probably poor white people) are getting the message once he became President. The usual expectation that the majority party loses some House seats in midterm elections might not hold true in 2010 should Democrats make inroads in the South. If poor whites vote with poor non-whites in Congressional elections in 2010, then the GOP is in deep trouble in the South.

The GOP still has viability -- but for how long? In the 1930s it had relevance as a local alternative and a fallback against a Democrat not up to the job. In the 2010s? Good question.

We may be headed to another Era of Good Feeling -- one in which the GOP is simply a fringe party as significant in national politics as the Green Party, Reform, Natural Law, Libertarian, and even the Socialist Workers' and Prohibition Parties. To be sure, a single democratic (note the small-D) party becomes unwieldy in a nation of economic and cultural diversity. The Democratic Party would likely split as it did in the 1820s and the 1850s.

 

[Antonio the Sixth]

The Republican party was marginalized to a fringe minority in the mid-1930s; at one point there were 17(!) Republican senators and fewer than 90 representatives. The party will come back at some point, but it remains to be seen how long it will take.

However, what would be really interesting is if a new political party (or parties) arises in the Northeast and West Coast to contest the Democrats at the local and state level in states where the Republican party is no longer electorally viable.

But the GOP of today has one burden that the GOP of the 1930s didn't have: a legacy of corruption and dictatorial tendencies. Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover scrupulously recognized due process and civil liberties as understood in the 1920s.  If you want a comparison of the political fortunes of the GOP, then 2006 is the equivalent of 1930... and the weakened GOP of the 1930s started its decline as a political force only after the 1929-1933 economic meltdown; the weakened GOP of late April 2009 started before the economic meltdown that began in 2007. Herbert Hoover may have been the scapegoat for the Great Depression, but he wasn't regarded as an evil man. Dubya might be reviled as an evil man for decades even if the current economic mess is reversed quickly and decisively.

The defection of Senator Arlen Specter to the Democratic Party demonstrates the ineffectiveness of the Republican Party in maintaining a presence in the northeastern quadrant of the United States. Sure, there are two Republican Senators in Maine -- and they might as well be Democrats. There is Judd Gregg, R-NH... moderate enough that Barack Obama was willing to name him to a Cabinet post.  The elderly George Voinovich and the elderly Richard Lugar, respected as they are, are probably the last elected Republican Senators from the Great Lakes region, and they come from the pre-Dubya era. Those two are among the last few moderates. Grassley in Iowa? Much the same. Still electable, but coming to the age-dictated end of the line. Collins, Snowe, Gregg, Voinovich, Specter, Lugar, Grassley -- any one of those moderates could easily bolt from the GOP over some outrage, something more likely as the GOP tends toward the Hard Right.

The GOP of the 1930s faced the whammy of economic failure and became its scapegoat. The GOP faces a triple whammy of not only economic failure for which it is a scapegoat, but also a culture of corruption during the George W. Bush Administration and a promotion of an anti-rational moralizing that has become obsolete.

The GOP is now down to 40 Senators -- and that is likely to shrink even more in 2010. Current approval ratings for Barack Obama in some states that voted against him in large numbers are close to those in some states that voted decidedly for him -- which suggests that some constituencies that voted against him (probably poor white people) are getting the message once he became President. The usual expectation that the majority party loses some House seats in midterm elections might not hold true in 2010 should Democrats make inroads in the South. If poor whites vote with poor non-whites in Congressional elections in 2010, then the GOP is in deep trouble in the South.

The GOP still has viability -- but for how long? In the 1930s it had relevance as a local alternative and a fallback against a Democrat not up to the job. In the 2010s? Good question.

We may be headed to another Era of Good Feeling -- one in which the GOP is simply a fringe party as significant in national politics as the Green Party, Reform, Natural Law, Libertarian, and even the Socialist Workers' and Prohibition Parties. To be sure, a single democratic (note the small-D) party becomes unwieldy in a nation of economic and cultural diversity. The Democratic Party would likely split as it did in the 1820s and the 1850s.

 

What you say about GOP is right, but I think there's also the possibility of jeust an ideological change inside the GOP. If it has the intelligence of withdrawing on its medieval social views and its "laisser-faire" ideology adapting itself for the 21th Century, he will certainly survive. I excpect to appear soon a movement of "New republicans", as we had new democrats after the failings of Reagan years. These people will defend a "modernization" of the party, and will rapidly grow. Probably one of them will run in 2020 or 2024, and then he will win the election after a long democratic dominacy. Republican party will change, not die.

[??????????]

Becoming a liberal lite party is not the way to go.

[Franzl]

Becoming a liberal lite party is not the way to go.

Depends, doesn't it? Not saying you're at a point yet where that's necessary....but that's something we'll see over the next several years.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Becoming a liberal lite party is not the way to go.

Sure ? Becoming a conservative lite party permitted democrats to take the white house for 8 years...

[pbrower2a]

Becoming a liberal lite party is not the way to go.

Conservatism without corruption, superstition, militarism, and cadre-like leadership would be viable.

That is much to ask of the current GOP, which must purge itself of its vices before it becomes irrelevant.

[??????????]

Superstition? Is that your insult on Christianity?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Superstition? Is that your insult on Christianity?

There is a difference between believing in God and wanting to impose your own values to the whole society and cursing everyone who don't agree with them.

[??????????]

Superstition? Is that your insult on Christianity?

There is a difference between believing in God and wanting to impose your own values to the whole society and cursing everyone who don't agree with them.

Yes, you're right. But that has nothing to do with "superstition".

[Franzl]

Superstition? Is that your insult on Christianity?

There is a difference between believing in God and wanting to impose your own values to the whole society and cursing everyone who don't agree with them.

Yes, you're right. But that has nothing to do with "superstition".

That's a subjective opinion. For an atheist, any religious belief is certainly "superstition"....much like atheists are "sinners" in the eyes of many Christians.

Now his usage of "superstition" was meant to provoke, and I therefore disapprove of it.

[??????????]

Superstition? Is that your insult on Christianity?

There is a difference between believing in God and wanting to impose your own values to the whole society and cursing everyone who don't agree with them.

Yes, you're right. But that has nothing to do with "superstition".

That's a subjective opinion. For an atheist, any religious belief is certainly "superstition"....much like atheists are "sinners" in the eyes of many Christians.

Now his usage of "superstition" was meant to provoke, and I therefore disapprove of it.

Fundies are just as silly as atheists IMHO. I consider myself a fairly moderate Christian.

[pbrower2a]

Superstition? Is that your insult on Christianity?

 Ritual and doctrine are not themselves superstition.

[??????????]

Superstition? Is that your insult on Christianity?

 Ritual and doctrine are not themselves superstition.

But they are acts which are based of a "superstition" as an agn/ath might say.

[Psychic Octopus]

Oh, the irony.

[Хahar 🤔]

Avoda is done. Good riddance.

[k-onmmunist]

Labour will soon be going the way of the dinosaurs, I predict.

[DS0816]

[quote author=Northeast Representative Antonio V


… that would mean that american political center is moving toward left.
[/quote]

This isn't a center-right country?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj9iIPTrn1I

[Хahar 🤔]

Labour will soon be going the way of the dinosaurs, I predict.

Your prediction is wrong.