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Old 03-09-2009, 09:40 AM
 
11,135 posts, read 14,160,845 times
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Does any political party survive if it remains, "as is"? Liberal politics went through a period of inflexibility and it took years for it to recover and come back into the forefront. I suspect the same thing will occur with the Republican Party as well.

Politics works in cycles much like a pendulum swinging back and forth. One party screws the pooch and the pendulum swings wildly to the other side and things are good. Then folks discover that the grass was not really greener on this side and something happens and the pendulum swings back to the other side. This constant search for some political perfection as though there is one universal Utopian brand of politics that will save everyone and the country. Just doesn't work that way and is one of the main reasons I rail against this ignorant political absolutism.
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Old 03-09-2009, 10:10 AM
 
Location: Democratic Peoples Republic of Redneckistan
11,078 posts, read 15,044,056 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TnHilltopper View Post
Does any political party survive if it remains, "as is"? Liberal politics went through a period of inflexibility and it took years for it to recover and come back into the forefront. I suspect the same thing will occur with the Republican Party as well.

Politics works in cycles much like a pendulum swinging back and forth. One party screws the pooch and the pendulum swings wildly to the other side and things are good. Then folks discover that the grass was not really greener on this side and something happens and the pendulum swings back to the other side. This constant search for some political perfection as though there is one universal Utopian brand of politics that will save everyone and the country. Just doesn't work that way and is one of the main reasons I rail against this ignorant political absolutism.
That is VERY true....during that period I felt isolated and abandoned by MY party....they turned hard left and it killed people just like me when it happened....they have since rebounded a bit towards the center and have tried to shake some of the burden of the far left wing which makes ME happy,but I don't know about other folks...we are now IMO in terra incognito as far as this current mess is concerned and there is no telling what either party is going to look like after this whole thing is through
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Old 03-09-2009, 10:19 AM
 
26,150 posts, read 48,830,601 times
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Agree that the Far Left had to decline for the DEMs to have a resurgence.

Now it is the Far Right that is declining, rightfully so, in order for the GOP to have a resurgence, someday. I don't see this happening until well after 2012.

Hopefully, both extremes will be kept to a point where they are just tiny, silly voices prancing around the edge of the stage (think Dennis Kucinich), BUT we voters keep both extremes far from the halls of power. If so, the successful party of the future will be whichever one caters to the vast middle class by following a middle of the road "what's reasonable" practicality, which seems to be in vogue as we reset our mindset during this Great Recession.
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Old 03-09-2009, 10:23 AM
 
Location: Democratic Peoples Republic of Redneckistan
11,078 posts, read 15,044,056 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike from back east View Post
Agree that the Far Left had to decline for the DEMs to have a resurgence.

Now it is the Far Right that is declining, rightfully so, in order for the GOP to have a resurgence, someday. I don't see this happening until well after 2012.

Hopefully, both extremes will be kept to a point where they are just tiny, silly voices prancing around the edge of the stage (think Dennis Kucinich), BUT we voters keep both extremes far from the halls of power. If so, the successful party of the future will be whichever one caters to the vast middle class by following a middle of the road "what's reasonable" practicality, which seems to be in vogue as we reset our mindset during this Great Recession.
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Old 03-09-2009, 10:33 AM
 
Location: New York, New York
4,906 posts, read 6,831,986 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by muleskinner View Post
Who really knows what's going to happen with the GOP in the next 4 yrs...the party is in turmoil and is now up for grabs ....either the conservatives can use this to push the rabid retards out of their party or they can continue to let morons like Rush be their voice and go farther down the sewer pipe.....TRUE Conservatives have lost their party and their voice and it started with Reagan's pandering to the neoCON nazis within the party and was finished by the Karl Rove tactics that have got them to where they are today(do you really think Palin would have been the face of conservatives in the party prior to the dumbing down of the GOP by the Reagan era?).....Are the conservatives going to take their party back or just burn what's left of it and start over?Are the true conservatives that are left going to end up voting Dem as the Dems continue to move a bit more towards the center? What do you think is going to happen as the power is being shifted within the GOP?
I hope not, I hope they get their act together and become a viable alternative instead of the america hating racist party it is today. The first step is to recognize that not everything is an extreme and the success of our country is more important than their ideology. When they make that step they will see that the enemy is the issues that are plagueing our citizenens and not the Democrats. They will then look for ways at attacking poverty, and healthcare instead of just attacking democrats.
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Old 03-09-2009, 10:51 AM
 
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
8,854 posts, read 10,422,059 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluefly View Post
Well, keep in mind that 5 years ago people were saying the same of the Democratic Party and talking about decades of Republican rule. So, politics can turn on a dime.

I just don't know how you separate fiscal conservativism from social conservatism anymore. People seem to think they are one in the same.
Things inevitably change, but not so sure about the "turn on a dime part", since the GOP already had alot of the signs of its demise even during the Bush years, but they just hadn't hit the election cycle yet.

Agreed re: the dilemma of "fiscal" vs "social" conservatism, which would be difficult enough for the GOP to sort out. But I think the big problem (which Obama has already identified) is the power of all the talking heads now like Rush, Hannity, Coulter, etc., who really have no loyalty to anything except their own survival and ratings.
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Old 03-09-2009, 11:07 AM
 
Location: Southeast
4,301 posts, read 7,018,956 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike from back east View Post
Agree that the Far Left had to decline for the DEMs to have a resurgence.
I think you bring up an interesting point. Back around the turn of the century (1900), there was a strict division in the Progressive/Liberal divide. You had Progressives who might be equated with modern Liberals, and you had die hard Liberals and Socialists who were rejected by Progressives for being too extreme.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike from back east View Post
Now it is the Far Right that is declining, rightfully so, in order for the GOP to have a resurgence, someday. I don't see this happening until well after 2012.
Political parties have a tendency to bounce back, given the right circumstances. Conservatives were largely supressed after the Great Depression/New Deal. And while there were obviously Republican presidents (Nixon, for example) they leaned more to the Left. Historians argue that Reagan brought back Conservatism, but in reality he did not.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike from back east View Post
Hopefully, both extremes will be kept to a point where they are just tiny, silly voices prancing around the edge of the stage (think Dennis Kucinich), BUT we voters keep both extremes far from the halls of power. If so, the successful party of the future will be whichever one caters to the vast middle class by following a middle of the road "what's reasonable" practicality, which seems to be in vogue as we reset our mindset during this Great Recession.
The problem is the radicals/extremist are usually well established in the parties themselves. For the most part, these types are usually supressed, but every so often one slips through the cracks (Cheney for example). Of course, few radicals will ever show their true ideology until after they have been elected.

Time will tell, these next several months are going to be key factors in the future of our two parties.
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Old 03-09-2009, 11:09 AM
 
9,878 posts, read 10,789,739 times
Reputation: 3108
Quote:
Originally Posted by muleskinner View Post
Who really knows what's going to happen with the GOP in the next 4 yrs...the party is in turmoil and is now up for grabs ....either the conservatives can use this to push the rabid retards out of their party or they can continue to let morons like Rush be their voice and go farther down the sewer pipe.....TRUE Conservatives have lost their party and their voice and it started with Reagan's pandering to the neoCON nazis within the party and was finished by the Karl Rove tactics that have got them to where they are today(do you really think Palin would have been the face of conservatives in the party prior to the dumbing down of the GOP by the Reagan era?).....Are the conservatives going to take their party back or just burn what's left of it and start over?Are the true conservatives that are left going to end up voting Dem as the Dems continue to move a bit more towards the center? What do you think is going to happen as the power is being shifted within the GOP?
Humorous post, I always like to ask your type, who do you consider a conservative today?
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Old 03-09-2009, 11:11 AM
 
Location: North America
19,784 posts, read 15,064,674 times
Reputation: 8527
The sooner the GOP can refrain from the knee-jerk responses that have been their forte, the sooner they will begin to rebuild their party. Most of the country is closer to centrist than either party wants to admit. The party that speaks to the centrist voter base will get the majority.
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Old 03-09-2009, 11:21 AM
 
Location: Londonderry, NH
41,478 posts, read 59,618,268 times
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Obama is considerably further right than I would prefer. I suppose that makes him a centrist. Good because a centrist is better than a neocon fascist or a theocratic tyranny.

If the GOP is to survive I can only hope it is the GOP of Theodore Roosevelt.

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