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"The End of a Republican Party" from Five Thirty Eight (1 Viewer)

Thorn

Thorn

Footballguy
The End of a Republican Party

I identified with about 90% of this article.  I used to vote almost exclusively GOP, but over the last 10 years or so, I feel like they do not represent my principles (very generally: smaller government and individual sovereignty).  Now I find myself with two parties that I do not like, and tend to vote holding my nose whichever way I go, and am tempted not to vote at all.

The money quote: 

“Everybody who was reasonable seems to have gone home ... this isn’t the most artful way to say it, but it’s like, where do you go when the only people who seem to agree with you on taxes hate black people?” Howe laughed ruefully. “I think what you do is you say, ‘Well, I may lose but I can’t align myself with them.’”

Cliffs: The GOP has grown whiter, older, and less educated, while the general populace has done the opposite.  The reasons people identify as Republican are more likely to be "cultural conservatism and racial and economic grievance than a passion for small government."  Moreover, party leaders can't seem to agree on the future direction of the party.

 
PlasmaDogPlasma said:
And yet they manage to hold both houses of Congress, the majority of Governorships, and a majority of state legislatures.
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The article is pointing to the future of the party.  The demographic trends tell us there will have to be changes or they will just do worse and worse.   It will be interesting to see how they change.  Personally, I think we'll eventually see both parties moving to the left -- Democrats will have a more Socialist bend like Bernie and Republicans will be more like current mainstream Democrats. 

 
This is how my wife and I felt but it happened back in the 90's. My wife worked as PR Director for some Republican campaigns back in the 90's and I still remember being at one of the Republican caucuses in a vast sea of crazy people thinking "we don't belong here". I haven't considered myself having a political party ever since.

 
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PlasmaDogPlasma said:
And yet they manage to hold both houses of Congress, the majority of Governorships, and a majority of state legislatures.
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2010 was a perfect storm for the GOP.  The new president got off to a bit of a rocky start and the economy was still a pre-recovery mess, so that plus the usual mid-term losses for the incumbent party spelled total disaster. GOP control of the large majority of federal and state branches of government since then has been a function of that- they won seats in Dem-leaning places like Pennsylvania, Illinois and Wisconsin that have allowed them to keep the Senate, and more importantly they took over state legislatures right after the census so they were able to entrench their control of the House and the statehouses via redistricting.

Six years later Trump is poised to reverse a good bit of that ... although if someone as unpopular as Clinton wins that might mean another big day for the GOP in 2020 just in time for the next census if they can get their #### together by then.

 
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I still think the seeds of this date back to Reagan, if not before. Reagan built a coalition of a lot of things that really had no reason to be aligned (low taxes, religious nuts, big military spending, Drug War, tough on crime, etc.)

It made for an awfully big tent for Reagan at the time, but ultimately, it just started a ballooning debt (low taxes and all that other stuff don't really mix) and led to a Republican Party that just doesn't make any sense. 

 
I was a party line voter for the GOP until 2012. I then realized the nuts had taken over. In 2012 I voted Libertarian everywhere I could. If none were available, I voted green, socialist or whatever. No GOP or DFL anymore for me.

 
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PlasmaDogPlasma said:
And yet they manage to hold both houses of Congress, the majority of Governorships, and a majority of state legislatures.
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It's not one party really, it's an amalgamation of regional parties (I.e. In the south you have a more socially Conservative party, in the west more libertarianish etc

 
Party membership has been declining for both major parties....independents now make up a plurality....

 
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The problem is the Democrats have become very successful at preventing any cuts in spending and Republicans became very successful at preventing anything that looks like a tax hike.  We are in an age where pandering to extremes is winning and common sense has disappeared.  

 
Rove! said:
It's not one party really, it's an amalgamation of regional parties (I.e. In the south you have a more socially Conservative party, in the west more libertarianish etc
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True, but union Democrats in Toledo are probably a little different than hippie Democrats in San Francisco too.

 
Megaton said:
The problem is the Democrats have become very successful at preventing any cuts in spending and Republicans became very successful at preventing anything that looks like a tax hike.  We are in an age where pandering to extremes is winning and common sense has disappeared.  
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This is simplistic.  GWB passed one of the biggest entitlement increases in history.  Republicans are absolutely no better in cutting spending.

 
elbowrm said:
This is simplistic.  GWB passed one of the biggest entitlement increases in history.  Republicans are absolutely no better in cutting spending.
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:goodposting:

Right. Lets not act like the Republicans want anything to do with spending cuts. Talk <> action

 
I can't believe anyone sane votes republican and I honestly mean that in the nicest way.  You see it across the country where republicans are passing all the religious crap time and time again.  

I consider myself a low tax progressive which neither party represents but I see some smart people just hold their nose and vote republican but I don't understand how you can vote for party that is literally putting creationism in textbooks.

 
If trump continues on this current path, my dream is that Hillary may just say #### it and grab the center right for the new dem party for the next 30 years - Kiss the Bernie bros goodbye,  (re)embrace the TPP, and adopt more moderate tax plans along with baby steps towards entitlement reform (means testing, raise retirement age a couple of years, prescription drug price negotiation).  Leave the nuts on both wings to fend for themselves on the Internet, and ride off into the sunset with a 60% majority.

 
elbowrm said:
If trump continues on this current path, my dream is that Hillary may just say #### it and grab the center right for the new dem party for the next 30 years - Kiss the Bernie bros goodbye,  (re)embrace the TPP, and adopt more moderate tax plans along with baby steps towards entitlement reform (means testing, raise retirement age a couple of years, prescription drug price negotiation).  Leave the nuts on both wings to fend for themselves on the Internet, and ride off into the sunset with a 60% majority.
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Did you see the DEMOCRATIC convention, where all the military love, flag waving and USA! chants were going on?  That wasn't the Democrats of 20 years ago.  I think it has already started.

 
Three biggest problems with the Republican Party:

1) They're too white in a society that is becoming less white AND (more importantly) they're viewed as whites who dislike, or at best, are ambivelent towards the acceptance of non-whites in American society.

2) They'e spent the last couple of cycles eating their young politicians.  Christie/Rubio/Cruz/Walker/Jindal/Ryan.....all at one time were thought  to be the next big thing.  All have been marginalized and made a joke of as much by portions of their constituency as by the Democrats. Ryan seems to be trying.....but he might forever be a poison pill to the Trumpers. 

3)  They give much more lipservice to the crazies and fringe of their party than the Democrats.  Yes, the Democrats placate their Left......but they really do kick them to the side once the elections are over.  Look at Trump.  Now while I think he's saying/doing anything to be elected....the guy was the perfect Rockefeller Republican.  He should have simply been about business, job creation, how his years of experience will help bolster the economy and with a strong econony all the other points (social issues/terrorism/illegal immigration) will fall into place.  Instead, he's been morphed into this Populist for the Scared Yet Angry White American.  

 
Juxtatarot said:
The article is pointing to the future of the party.  The demographic trends tell us there will have to be changes or they will just do worse and worse.   It will be interesting to see how they change.  Personally, I think we'll eventually see both parties moving to the left -- Democrats will have a more Socialist bend like Bernie and Republicans will be more like current mainstream Democrats. 
Click to expand...
Meh. They said the same thing when the Democrats swept in '06:  "It's the end of the Republican Party!", "The voters reject the Republican Party - they'll never be in power again", blah, blah, blah.  Yet, just four short years later they took just about everything except the Presidency (like PDP said above) and have held on to it for the last 6 years.

The GOP will right itself like it always does.  Not this election, for sure, but the next definitely.

 
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proninja said:
You're probably right, because at the end of the day there are a lot of dumb racist white people, and it pays politically to pander to them. 

The Republican party's biggest issue seems to be demographics. Within a generation or two their most reliable constituency is going to die, and if we continue to become more educated as a populace the younger generations aren't going to buy what they are selling. 
Click to expand...
It works for the Democrats, so I don't see why it can't work for Republicans, I guess. :shrug:

 
proninja said:
My bad, I thought this thread was talking about the Republican party. And really, if someone is a dumb white racist, they're probably a Republican. Would you disagree? Try to answer without mentioning the Democrats, the Libertarians, baseball, Canadian literature, or anything else that is unrelated to what we're talking about. 
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I disagree.  Plenty of racists on the left.  The DNC emails clearly showed that.  Plus, plenty of white-people haters on the left too.

 
You know, maybe they have a point on taxes and other economic stuff but there is absolutely zero chance I will ever vote with or be on the same side as the folks the NYT showed video of at the Trump rallies. Those people are going to have to break off into a different party before I'd ever consider voting gop. 

 
elbowrm said:
This is simplistic.  GWB passed one of the biggest entitlement increases in history.  Republicans are absolutely no better in cutting spending.
Click to expand...
Was there anywhere in my post I indicated that Republicans have cut spending???? :confused:  

 
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