Can we do away with political parties?
My father's Republican party was actively engaged in limited government and fiscally responsible leadership. These Republicans don't do that at all. They have abandoned their adherence to small government and traditional values, victims of pointless culture wars. Rather than focusing on crafting quality policy (or any policy at all), Republican politicians and voting citizens are focused on opposing the Democrats and defending the so-called victims of cancel culture. In order to accomplish this, they are expanding government to force adherence to cultural norms that we already left behind.
I guess if you're into the whole 'own the libs' or whatever Republicans are doing these days, then you have someone to vote for. But whatever they are doing is not conservative. Ron DeSantis is not a conservative (e.g. The state budget of Florida grew 20% in the last two years). But he knows how to 'own the libs'. I guess that's something people like now?
If we abolish political parties, the polarization will go away. We can look freshly at each politician and what they actually stand for, not what they are told to do by their party leaders. Ideology and strategy and ideas. Not whatever this is. It's corrupt and gross.
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@wildgrass saidNo.
Can we do away with political parties?
Haven't you studied English history!?
If you do away with parties, you get Party.
@wildgrass saidMaya Angelou said, "When they show you who they are, believe them the first time."
Can we do away with political parties?
My father's Republican party was actively engaged in limited government and fiscally responsible leadership. These Republicans don't do that at all. They have abandoned their adherence to small government and traditional values, victims of pointless culture wars. Rather than focusing on crafting quality policy (or any policy at all) ...[text shortened]... their party leaders. Ideology and strategy and ideas. Not whatever this is. It's corrupt and gross.
Once they are outed, their party label keeps the spotlight on them.
I don't have a problem reducing the pressure to "do better" once they step back from the edge, but until then, we have to remember who they told us they were.
@suzianne saidThe quote is 'show you' not 'tell you'
Maya Angelou said, "When they show you who they are, believe them the first time."
Once they are outed, their party label keeps the spotlight on them.
I don't have a problem reducing the pressure to "do better" once they step back from the edge, but until then, we have to remember who they told us they were.
They tell us they are conservatives. They show us they are not.
@wildgrass
Doing away with the Rep Party will not fix what’s wrong with American conservativism.
The Rep Party of today bears little resemblance to that of Ronald Reagan and Bush Sr. and none whatever to that of Nixon and Eisenhower. Bush Sr. correctly summed up Putin in three letters: KGB. Not one of those four conservative presidents would have idolized Putin the way Trump does. Makes one wonder why Trump won’t release his tax returns. Who’s he beholden to and covering up? The Rep Party of 2016 was already in serious ideological decline when it could mount no credible candidate to confound an upstart populist tv personality with no political experience whatever. Since then, the Rep Party, with a few outstanding exceptions (Cheney, Ben Sass, Romney), has been in utterly cowardly thrall to a demagogue. Mitch McConnell is an utter coward for not denouncing Trump as a fraud in the first impeachment trial and putting Pence in office when he had the chance. Pence at least understands the rule of law.
The way forward for America’s conservatives is a) ditch Trump; b) cooperate fully with judicial and Congressional processes regarding Trump’s failed coup d’etat, knowing full well that there will be significant collateral damage: some high-ranking Republicans are complicit in stalling the current investigations and were complicit in the plot to overturn the 2020 election - those people must be outed, charged, and given their day in court. Failure to do this will forever tarnish the Rep Party as the toadies of a wanna-be monarch.
@moonbus saidI am a bit confused as you admit the Republican party was in decline before trump but conservatives have a way forward by ditching the reality tv star.
@wildgrass
Doing away with the Rep Party will not fix what’s wrong with American conservativism.
The Rep Party of today bears little resemblance to that of Ronald Reagan and Bush Sr. and none whatever to that of Nixon and Eisenhower. Bush Sr. correctly summed up Putin in three letters: KGB. Not one of those four conservative presidents would have idolized Putin the way ...[text shortened]... n court. Failure to do this will forever tarnish the Rep Party as the toadies of a wanna-be monarch.
The rot was there well before trump.
@wildgrass saidYes, the rot was there before Trump, otherwise they wouldn’t have run him in 2016. He made it worse, and if the party is to get back on track, it must be seen to have disavowed him. Staying the course by backing Trump is drifting farther and farther away from what the Rep Party once stood for.
I am a bit confused as you admit the Republican party was in decline before trump but conservatives have a way forward by ditching the reality tv star.
The rot was there well before trump.
Furthermore, and nothing to do with Trump, except that Trump made this worse too, is that demographics are against the Republicans. Some of them are honest enough to admit it, but instead of broadening their appeal to a larger base, they are trying to redraw the lines in voting precincts and rewrite the voting laws (prohibiting Sunday voting, restricting mail in ballots, etc) to try to win even where they do not command majorities. What Trump made worse was that he became the poster boy for the “you will not replace us” crowd which, prior to Trump, had the decency (or the shame) not to flaunt their outright racism in public.
The way forward in the long term is for the Rep Party to ditch Trump, assist in the prosecution of those who tried to overturn the 2020 election, and broaden its voter base.
@moonbus saidI disagree about your path forward. Widening their base? What does that mean, specifically? If they want to be treated like a serious party interested in solving problems, they need a party platform (remember when those were a thing?) and a clear set of goals for promoting limited government and fiscal responsibility.
Yes, the rot was there before Trump, otherwise they wouldn’t have run him in 2016. He made it worse, and if the party is to get back on track, it must be seen to have disavowed him. Staying the course by backing Trump is drifting farther and farther away from what the Rep Party once stood for.
Furthermore, and nothing to do with Trump, except that Trump made this worse too ...[text shortened]... ist in the prosecution of those who tried to overturn the 2020 election, and broaden its voter base.
I agree with you on the Trump stuff. Tariffs and farm payouts and rapidly accelerating federal spending plans and trillion dollar deficits are not limited government. For all his blustering and blundering, Trump governed like a liberal. Of course the Republican diehards won't admit that.
@wildgrass
Shortly after I voted for Obama, who promised to completely fix the corrupt health care system and end useless wars, I realized that both parties are corrupt to the core. They're nothing but salespeople for the war industry, big pharma and big banks. Big business runs the government instead of the other way around.
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@wildgrass saidWell said.....That's my main complaint.
Can we do away with political parties?
My father's Republican party was actively engaged in limited government and fiscally responsible leadership. These Republicans don't do that at all. They have abandoned their adherence to small government and traditional values, victims of pointless culture wars. Rather than focusing on crafting quality policy (or any policy at all) ...[text shortened]... their party leaders. Ideology and strategy and ideas. Not whatever this is. It's corrupt and gross.
Since we were kids at the playground we have learned of sharing and compromise, after all, good men may differ.
These Republicans have absolutely no agenda, AT ALL, except to oppose the ideas put forth by 'the loyal opposition.'
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@wildgrass saidBroadening their base?....Being more inclusive.
I disagree about your path forward. Widening their base? What does that mean, specifically? If they want to be treated like a serious party interested in solving problems, they need a party platform (remember when those were a thing?) and a clear set of goals for promoting limited government and fiscal responsibility.
I agree with you on the Trump stuff. Tariffs and farm ...[text shortened]... g and blundering, Trump governed like a liberal. Of course the Republican diehards won't admit that.
@earl-of-trumps saidWhat have they done? They seem to go along with the military spending and most all other spending done by Republicans.
my solution was simple, join the libertarian party :-)
Philosophically, there's a big difference. Functionally, there's no difference.
@wildgrass saidWhat was fundamentally wrong about Trump was less his policies (erratic though they were, remember the steel Tarif which backfired?), than the toxic personality cult he created about and around himself. No party can govern effectively with a child in charge throwing tantrums whenever he doesn’t get his way. Sheesh, grabbing the steering wheel of a moving secret service vehicle, wake up, people. The man was a menace to traffic safety if not world stability.
I disagree about your path forward. Widening their base? What does that mean, specifically? If they want to be treated like a serious party interested in solving problems, they need a party platform (remember when those were a thing?) and a clear set of goals for promoting limited government and fiscal responsibility.
I agree with you on the Trump stuff. Tariffs and farm ...[text shortened]... g and blundering, Trump governed like a liberal. Of course the Republican diehards won't admit that.
Republicans traditionally appealed to WASP working hetero-males, and old money CEOs (who not surprisingly tend also to be WASPish males). The young, the educated, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, women, non-heterosexuals, tend to vote Democrat. Do the math; Republican strategists are. The traditional Rep voter base has been steadily loosing ground for decades. That’s why state Rep lawmakers are busy rewriting voting laws to make it harder to turn out the non-Rep voter base. It’s not about ballot security at all; it’s about trying to hang on in more and more precincts where their once unassailable majority is disappearing. It’s a stupid strategy, apart from being outright unfair. When White males aren’t in fact in the majority any more, there is no good reason why they should still be in power. It’s just plain apartheid with a different name.
https://www.pewresearch.org/topic/politics-policy/us-elections-voters/voters-voting/voter-demographics/
The proper way forward, in the cause of good governance, is for the Rep party to wake up to the changed demographic situation in America and appeal to it instead of trying to deny and repress it. If the Rep Party implodes, America will be hobbled by a single party state. Not good for anybody. They will get their platform cues by listening to the needs of people outside their traditional WASP base. If they don’t, they’re political dinosaurs well on the way to extinction.