The future of the two parties

[ElectionsGuy]

I don't see the Republican party lasting too much longer in its current form (super-religious, super white, etc.).

Therefore, I think the two party system will have to split along different lines (i.e. gay marriage will be legalized and become a non-issue... other social issues will move in that direction too)...

Republican Party = Libertarian, fiscally conservative, socially libertarian live and let live.

Democratic Party = Fiscally liberal, not socialist but moving in that direction, socially still more liberal and using the government to solve social problems.

I could actually see Republicans becoming competitive in states like New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa again... and Democrats becoming competitive in Texas, Georgia, Arizona, etc.

Every post of yours has been about the republican parties failure and the democratic parties success. I'm getting pretty sick of this, the politics of each party change over time, democrats in the 60's and 70's were definitely more conservative than they are now. I've talked about this before and I'll explain it again, the republican party will not die, no political parties ever die and I'm sick of partisans from both parties getting all confident that their party will dominate simply because they win a few presidential elections.

I do see different states moving in different directions in the future, as states always have moved in different directions throughout history. Who would've predicted 70 years ago that Vermont out of all states would become perhaps the most democratic state after a long transformation in New England? The notion that republicans will have to go to the left on social issues simply because there not doing good and the trends are against them is ridiculous and unlikely (at the moment), but in return, they could go to the right on economics and fiscal issues.

Republicans shouldn't have to go to the left on any issues, they should simply make common sense arguments and maybe they'll do better than they are now. I'm also noticing that both political parties are going to their extremes (anybody who says they're not are obviously partisans) and I feel (at the moment) that only republicans are really getting the blame for being far right. I remember democrats being accused of being "far left" in the Bush years, its all just the same garbage posted over again.

Anyways, if you ask me, Yes, I would support a revival and a new version of the GOP. But that's me, that's not the GOP. And its way to early to start talking about GOP reform and shifting states until we have concrete evidence of trend affects in 2016.

[ElectionsGuy]

I see the Republicans becoming the party of the common man with the way Democrats abandoned seniors on social security and Medicare in order to concoct Obamacare. They're also becoming more and more the party of minorities and the youth which is a turn off to the elderly. It would be a reverse effect of the great depression.

Umm..

Yes?

Perhaps I'm reading you wrong but you said the GOP is the party of minorities eh?

If anything we're bottoming out in our performance among minorities.

I think he meant the democrats.

[ElectionsGuy]

I see the Republicans becoming the party of the common man with the way Democrats abandoned seniors on social security and Medicare in order to concoct Obamacare. They're also becoming more and more the party of minorities and the youth which is a turn off to the elderly. It would be a reverse effect of the great depression.

Umm..

Yes?

Perhaps I'm reading you wrong but you said the GOP is the party of minorities eh?

If anything we're bottoming out in our performance among minorities.

I think he meant the democrats.

Whoops, my mistake

No, it OK, I got confused too. He said what the republican party might be becoming and mentioned the democratic party in that sentence, and then probably said what the democratic party is becoming, so I believe it was just fast typing in which you can leave out words that make sense. And generally it makes sense that the democratic party is becoming a more minority party. If he meant the republicans, then he's probably talking about a scenario that would be improbable now but is still possible in a few decades.

[ElectionsGuy]

I think Republicans for the next ten years will continue to become more extreme, culminating in a McGovernesque loss. Then, they will probably move toward the center on social issues, and POSSIBLY a little bit on economic issues.

Pipe dream, the modern democratic party is almost as extreme.

+ Why should the republican party get more moderate while the democratic party doesn't? Because they're having problems electorally? That's basically asking them to surrender. The democratic party didn't get more moderate after losing 3 presidential elections in a row, they found a way to appeal. That's all a political party has to do. The idea that republicans will have to get more moderate because they're not doing well at the moment nationally is a fantasy, and so is the idea of the democrats having a "lock" on anything.

[ElectionsGuy]

I think Republicans for the next ten years will continue to become more extreme, culminating in a McGovernesque loss. Then, they will probably move toward the center on social issues, and POSSIBLY a little bit on economic issues.

Pipe dream, the modern democratic party is almost as extreme.

The Dems are left-wing while the Republicans are on the hard-right.  The Moderates are extinct. Its like if you are a Moderate what party should you vote for.

Right, moderate voters unfortunately have to choose between the lesser of two evils in most situations. This extreme polarization is also why many registered democrats in the south vote now vote republican, and why so many independents and republicans in New England now vote democrat. Its the older generation that lived through the 60's and saw how (in New England) extreme the republican party has gotten and (in the South) how extreme the democratic party has gotten since then. Younger generations are likely to think the same, and the states that have gone much to the right and left will likely stay that way until the next electoral alignment.

The two parties have been pretty similar since Nixon (late 60's once the civil rights movement cooled down a bit) But when it comes down to elections, its not even so much extremism. Its what I call stiff voters, voters who can't be convinced, voters who will always stick with one party. There's so many of these voters for each party now that I feel like its very hard for any party to pull off any massive landslide like Reagan or Nixon did. And of course, Barack Obama is one of our most polarizing presidents.

[ElectionsGuy]

What I meant to say and maybe should have said is the Dems are to far to the left on economic issues while the Republicans are on the extreme right. Nutty Tea Party wing and the Fox News Arm to a lesser extent drove Republicans to the extreme right after 2010. The country is in the center when it comes to economic issues not left of center(Moderate Liberalism) or on the extreme right.

I like the Dems when they had Clinton he had the right policies for the right time period.

But the Democrats are centrist to center-right on economic issues, hopper.

No, no they're not. Unless you live in a world where you are so far left of the democratic party that you call them "center-right". I'm guessing you are very far-left socialist yourself guessing from your arguments.

[ElectionsGuy]

Relative to virtually the entire civilized world, the US Democrats as a whole are very much center to center-right.

Yes, but not in America. If they want to become more socialistic and further left, then fine. But look at history of socialistic nations and tell me that they've succeeded. Socialism has always failed anywhere its tried and always will fail. The great thing about America is that we have capitalism and free enterprise, which is what this nation was built upon, and as long as we have our constitution and capitalism America will still be America (and to the right of almost all countries, of course).

Now, the republicans can really screw things up too, as well as libertarians by taking the policies way into the extreme, there has to be a limit somewhere, but it seems like all political fields are getting more polarized by the day.

[ElectionsGuy]

Yes, but not in America. If they want to become more socialistic and further left, then fine. But look at history of socialistic nations and tell me that they've succeeded. Socialism has always failed anywhere its tried and always will fail. The great thing about America is that we have capitalism and free enterprise, which is what this nation was built upon, and as long as we have our constitution and capitalism America will still be America (and to the right of almost all countries, of course).

Oh dear.  Yet another "It's either America or socialism!" false dichotomy.  So, so familiar among simple-minded right-wingers.

There are many, many ways in which the rest of the world does things better than us.  Only if you live in an opaque bubble could you not see that.

Oh Joe, I didn't mean to take it out of context in a "Murica and Freedom" way. I agree there are many ways that the foreign world does better than us. But just generally speaking about socialism when it comes to government and economics, socialism almost never does much good at all.

[ElectionsGuy]

What I meant to say and maybe should have said is the Dems are to far to the left on economic issues while the Republicans are on the extreme right. Nutty Tea Party wing and the Fox News Arm to a lesser extent drove Republicans to the extreme right after 2010. The country is in the center when it comes to economic issues not left of center(Moderate Liberalism) or on the extreme right.

I like the Dems when they had Clinton he had the right policies for the right time period.

But the Democrats are centrist to center-right on economic issues, hopper.

No, no they're not. Unless you live in a world where you are so far left of the democratic party that you call them "center-right". I'm guessing you are very far-left socialist yourself guessing from your arguments.

Dude, regarding economics socialism is left, and capitalism is right wing.  The Democrats support capitalism.

Around the world yes, the democrats are right wing. But I have a feeling the maximum polarization going on right now that many democrats won't support capitalism in the future, and republicans will be crazy nut jobs as well who don't want any government and federal abortion bans.., etc. I hope I'm wrong, but it has me worried about the future.