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How will that 3rd party differ from the two we have?
If the TP split off, the differences from the GOP would probably grow.
I think the best chance for a viable third party would come from the center. If so, it would be different in that it would encompass a platform with shared elements from both the Dems and GOP that would attract the most frustrated group, the virtually unrepresentative middle. One could hypothesize that this "compromise" group would attract more candidates and voters resistant to special interest influence. At least for a while.
I'd find it hard to swallow any contention that today's GOP is more liberal than Reagan's GOP. Or Nixon's for that matter. When given the opportunity, every politician and party will fill their shopping cart with pork. Just look at Reagan's term - GOP Sens and Reps were right there with Dems in porking out and raising the deficit to record levels.
Had Tea Partiers continued down the course of forming a viable 3rd party instead of screwing with the GOP they might have already achieved that goal.
As a former business owner, I don't know if Obamacare would've mattered to my business. But I do know the healthcare system is broken and has been for years. And the general electorate voted for a change by re-hiring Obama. That used to be good enough for everyone in DC. But What the TP branch of the GOP has been doing the past few weeks is simply trying to change law through nefarious means rather than win an election on merit of their own ideas. Regardless what side of the aisle one is on (or straddling), it sucks.
And it's hurting people - not to mention turning people off to the idea of more libertarian ideals if these are the bozos we're going to get.
Actually, under both Nixon and Reagan it was the Democrats who controlled the House where all appropriations originate. From 1956 to 1995 the GOP were the minority party in the House. During that forty year period the House Democrats ran nothing but record deficits, every year. It took the GOP victory in 1994 before the GOP controlled House could actually balance the budget and generate a surplus three consecutive years.
Guess what happened the very next time the Democrats were given control of the House? They went completely insane, more than tripling the already record deficits. In one year Democrats ran a deficit that was higher than the entire National Debt was in 1980, and they have been doing that now for five years.
Obviously Democrats cannot be trusted anywhere around public money.
Considering the Affordable Health Care Act was only enacted into law because of "nefarious means", it seems appropriate to kill the abomination in the same manner.
The TEA Party knows that a third party is futile. Therefore, why not start a party within a party? It is not a unique idea. The Dixiecrats did the same thing during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
I think they mean a major third party, one that can get on the ballots in all 50 states. And one that has candiates in major elections.(i.e. president, senate, Congress, Governors)
Doesn't the Libertarian Party fit that description?
they are all there...its just usually one candidate has many hats.....ie 2008 obama was the democrat AND the liberal, AND the green........as mcaain was the repub...AND the conservative...AND the RTL
Doesn't the Libertarian Party fit that description?
Hardly. Since its inception in 1971, the Libertarian Party has never received more than 1% of the popular vote. It is just as fringe as the Communist Party USA.
Hardly. Since its inception in 1971, the Libertarian Party has never received more than 1% of the popular vote. It is just as fringe as the Communist Party USA.
No, I wasn't talking percentages. I was talking about ballot access.
It is very obvious that the overwhelming majority of American people do not give a damn about fiscal issues or they would never have elected a majority of Democrats in 2006 and 2008. We still have not gotten the deficit below $1 trillion, thanks to the Democrat spending spree from 2007 through 2011. So save your empty rhetoric about "paying attention to fiscal issues", because nobody is going to buy such utter nonsense.
The TEA Party faction of the GOP may be well intentioned, but they are already too late. The perverse entitlement mentality of the American people has already assured the demise of the US.
The idea that we had large deficits in 2008 because the people elected a Democratic House and Senate is just garbage. We had the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression in 2008 that caused massive revenue drops and automatic spending on the safety net (e.g. unemployment insurance.) If it was the Democrats, there still was President Bush there to stop them.
Oh, you also said "We still have not gotten the deficit below $1 trillion." Yes, we have and it's dropping fast.
If you think the Tea Party is against entitlements, you are wrong again. They love their Social Security and Medicare. They just don't want federal money going to "those people."
they are all there...its just usually one candidate has many hats.....ie 2008 obama was the democrat AND the liberal, AND the green........as mcaain was the repub...AND the conservative...AND the RTL
No, I wasn't talking percentages. I was talking about ballot access.
I am all for making it easier for third parties to be on the ballot, but then again in Oregon any party can get on their ballots and they put the parties in alphabetical order, yet other parties hardly make up more than a couple percentages of the vote.
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