Will the Republicans split into the Libertarian Party and Christian Party?

[HAnnA MArin County]

You would think the Republican Party has already split into these two factions with all the talk you here on the cable news channels about how the GOP is in exile and is falling apart. All it will take though is for another repeat of some big policy blunder like the 1993-1994 health care debacle or for Democrats to have a lame-duck and unpopular president like Bush in 2006 for the Republicans to come back in power. It's all an endless cycle. The United States is a multiparty system but third parties are so often shut out that they don't stand a chance. Plus, Democrats and Republicans have already established themselves as "national" parties. I think another problem is that most average people simply don't know what most third parties stand for. A college professor elegantly defined Libertarians as "the pot-smoking/sex-having Republicans." Another party that is sometimes mentioned in the media is the Green Party, and of course most everyone will assume that it's an environmentalist party. But I am digressing from my point. I don't think disgruntled Republicans will break away and join the Libertarian, Constitution or any other third-/minor party.

Obviously, the Republican Party itself is not going to split because not only would it give victory to the Democrats in all national elections, but it would also signal the end of the GOP. Republicans are losing power (and members) because the party has pushed itself so far to the right, giving into the ultraconservative ideologies of the Rush Limbaughs and Sean Hannitys of the party, and they are in turn alienating moderate and liberal Republicans, particularly those from New England, the West Coast and other blue bastions, so instead of joining the Libertarian Party or Constitution Party or another party, many of them are joining the Democrats. The GOP simply isn't a very inclusive party if you ask me. But I can see where they are coming from. I myself get frustrated with our own DINOs (conservative/Blue Dog Democrats from the South, Dixiecrats if you will, who are pretty much Republican on all issues except populist issues) so I can see where Republicans would get annoyed with their RINOs like the Sisters of Maine and other libertarian-leaning elephants. But one has to be pragmatic, I guess, because obviously a Republican from Connecticut is not going to vote like a Republican from Alabama.

As much as I hate to say it, I don't think the Democrats are growing so much because of our message/radical left-wing San Francisco values of killing babies and hugging trees, but we are a more inclusive (and diverse) party than the Republicans. Our coalition is broader and stronger and growing more so than the Republicans'. The GOP should and must allow moderates and, dare I say it, liberals, back into the party or else they will downsize from a national/major party to a regional party that dominates only in the rural white and Bible Belt regions of the South and Great Plains. I don't know but I wouldn't like to be known as a "regional party." Brings back a time period, oh, say around 1860 in American history.

[HAnnA MArin County]

The Maine senators aren't libertarian. Republicans aren't joining the Dems. They are becoming independent or libertarian. They are upset over the spending, so the solution is not joining the party of care free. Some former independents may have identify as Dem from the election cycle, but that will die down over time.

Yeah, I only said they lean libertarian because of the social issues as I believe both Susan and Olympia are pro-choice and pro-gay rights, clearly why they are often labeled as RINOs. They're certainly not libertarians, I agree, on most fiscal issues seeing as how they voted for the economic stimulus package.

Do you really think most Republicans are joining Libertarians? I'm asking wholeheartedly, not trying to be condescending. It's just that third parties don't have a big track record in the U.S. and what kind of nominee would the GOP need to nominate to win back some of these Republicans who have embraced their new libertarianism? If they are joining the Libertarian Party, I'd say they're obviously not doing so because of the social issues so you can eliminate Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin from that list. Would they be inclined to vote for someone like Mitt Romney? I'd also throw Charlie Crist in that list but seeing as how he's a moderate running for the U.S. Senate seat, yeah. Or will they really adhere to the Libertarian Party and vote for whomever the Libertarians nominate?