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"Rebellion brewing" in GOP base

MattusMaximus

Intellectual Gladiator
MattusMaximus
Joined
Jan 26, 2006
Messages
15,948
From Politico, yet more evidence that the Republican party continues to crack up...

In GOP base, a 'rebellion brewing'
A quick tour through the week’s headlines suggests the Republican Party is beginning to come to terms with the last election and that consensus is emerging among GOP elites that the party needs to move away from discordant social issues.

There was Sen. John McCain's daughter and his campaign manager who last week demanded that their fellow Republicans embrace same-sex marriage. Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman – the most devoted modernizer among the party's 2012 hopefuls – won approving words from New York Times columnist Frank Rich for his call to downplay divisive values issues. The party’s top elected leaders in Congress, meanwhile, spooked by being attacked as the “party of no,” were recasting themselves as a constructive, respectful opposition to a popular president.

But outside Washington, the reality is very different. Rank-and-file Republicans remain, by all indications, staunchly conservative, and they appear to have no desire to moderate their views. GOP activists and operatives say they hear intense anger at the White House and at the party’s own leaders on familiar issues – taxes, homosexuality, and immigration. Within the party, conservative groups have grown stronger absent the emergence of any organized moderate faction. ...
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Long story short, expect the Republican party to "purge the unbelievers" from its ranks, and in the meantime it will go even further to the right. I predict more craziness as the GOP eats its own.

And to think that at one time I supported the Republican party :rolleyes:
 
Republicans cannot hold true to social-conservative values...and still try to run the country. America wants to progress.
 
parky76 said:
Republicans cannot hold true to social-conservative values...and still try to run the country. America wants to progress.
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Maybe some day they will find a way to turn a buck for the investor class by doing something progressive. Until then, they just stamp their feet and scream "NO. MY MONEY! WAAH!"
 
parky76 said:
Republicans cannot hold true to social-conservative values...and still try to run the country. America wants to progress.
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QFT

You're either a conservative, or you're not. I don't understand this notion of "updating conservatism". Isn't that a contradiction in terms?
 
Gangularis said:
QFT

You're either a conservative, or you're not. I don't understand this notion of "updating conservatism". Isn't that a contradiction in terms?
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I think the point might be that if you wish to survive for any chance a fiscal conservatism, you better give up on moral conservatism/religious conservatism. I personally am fine with republickers trying to hold onto all three, just as I am fine with Catholic Church trying to hang conservative. Kills 'em off faster!!
 
The Republican Party is going through some changes. They've done it before. THe Democratic Party has gone through some changes in the past as well. This normally happens when the party has started to lose some traction. They have to reinvent themselves. But they've both done it before and they will both do it again.

If the GOP finds an issue to rally around, they will be back and they will be strong again. This is just how politics works. And it is good to have more than one strong party. Frankly, I'd rather have more than two, but anybody who thinks that an unfettered Democratic rule would be good should be careful about what they wish for. And I say this as a person who usually votes Democrat.

It's the "power corrupts" thing.
 
The GOP is going through massive break-up while keeping the same platform and the same people...

Yeah :rolleyes: .
 
We may well need an opposition party, but not the GOP. They have become a carcinoma.

Let them, strike their tents and head off to join the Libertarians or some whackadoodle Likud-like gang.

If the Democrats can't get it together to repair the country after eight years, maybe they can come back in their new identities.

Right now, I don't give a rat's for them. They have done too much harm as they are.

Time to punch the reset button.
 
applecorped said:
One party rules!!!!!!!!!!:rolleyes: Short term memory loss rocks!!
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Actually, I am not an advocate of single-party rule. The problem is that with the GOP going off the rails like this, single-party rule is going to be the default since the only viable alternative now is the Democrats. If the Republican Party can get some semblance of sanity back into its ranks, as opposed to this hardcore right-wing whackadoodle stuff, then more people would support them and we'd get some balance in the system.

Of course, perhaps this will lead to the rise of another major party or parties - which would be fine with me.
 
The open rejoicing about the collapse of the GOP and the coming of de facto one party rule scares the hell out of me. A democracy without a viable opposition party is no democracy at all.
 
dudalb said:
The open rejoicing about the collapse of the GOP and the coming of de facto one party rule scares the hell out of me. A democracy without a viable opposition party is no democracy at all.
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Well I think this is par for the course for democracy. I mean up here in Canada the libs and the conservatives swapped power for decades - each with extended stays as the de facto "one party" in "one party rule". You guys have your own histories of times when one party controlled all three arms of elected government and the Republic did not whither and die in those times.

After getting kicked out the opposition stays in the wilderness and eventually they make a comeback. Sometimes these periods are necessary after the outgoing party makes an exceedingly bad mess of things. It takes time for the old guard to modify their approach and admit defeat, even after stinging electoral defeats.

Its not as if the Republicans are completely out for the count - they're just in disarray and still get quoted for the papers and still sit on committess and still have reps in congress.

I am not an American, but if I were - I would be happy for the Dems to be controlling all three arms of government even up to 2012.

Remember too: each of your parties represents a huge swath of the electorate (less and less accurate by the day for the Repugnants I grant) - but within the Democratic party you have a much broader range of voices than you would have with parties in say, continental Europe or even us up here in Canada.

Your two party system ensures that. So in this sense, even "one party" rule is multi-party rule.
 
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Tricky said:
The Republican Party is going through some changes. They've done it before. THe Democratic Party has gone through some changes in the past as well. This normally happens when the party has started to lose some traction. They have to reinvent themselves. But they've both done it before and they will both do it again.

If the GOP finds an issue to rally around, they will be back and they will be strong again. This is just how politics works. And it is good to have more than one strong party. Frankly, I'd rather have more than two, but anybody who thinks that an unfettered Democratic rule would be good should be careful about what they wish for. And I say this as a person who usually votes Democrat.

It's the "power corrupts" thing.
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I agree 100%.

And locally I see first-hand what happens when you have one-party rule, and it ain't pretty. I'm pretty sure Mattus would agree.
 
dudalb said:
The open rejoicing about the collapse of the GOP and the coming of de facto one party rule scares the hell out of me. A democracy without a viable opposition party is no democracy at all.
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This assumes that no other party will form or step in to fill the gap. It's happened before.

Any Democratic Republicans here? Federalists? Whigs? The two party system did not collapse along with the collapse of any of these parties, and it won't collapse when the Republicans implode either. I'd personally like to see a more sensible, reality based conservative party in opposition to the Democrats, and let the wing nuts, religious foamers at the mouth and shameless media whores let keep the Republican party they've turned into a shameful mockery of what it once was.
 
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