Future of the parties

[DC Al Fine]

All of these threads are usually started by Republicans because they're embarrassed by the current state of their party and want it to change.

I honestly don't see significant changes in party platforms over the next 20 years though. If Romney loses, Republicans will blame the messenger rather than the message. If he wins, the far right message will have prevailed. Either way they have no reason to become more moderate or libertarian.

Yeah, but if Romney loses, then it has no choice but to become more Libertarian.  Republicans can't afford to have anymore war mongers or social conservatives deluting the party's grass roots.

Something like this, the elections slowly realigns back to pre 1924 Calvin Coolidge election.

If the south flips to the Dems, I assume that the social conservatives are voting for the Dems as well. Who would you have going to the GOP? Soccer moms, Middle Class minorities, who?

[DC Al Fine]

Taking a guess:

Rand Paul manages to get nominated in 2016/2020 and goes down in flames while changing the conservative movement in a Goldwateresque fashion. This starts a realignment in the 2020's with lower income, more religious, blacks, and low income Hispanic vote Democrat while the wealthier, secular types vote Republican. Asians in this situation are hardcore Republicans

[DC Al Fine]

With the Republicans turning into Democrate-lite, with no true fiscal conservatives, and no true social conservatives, all that's left in the Republicans are the so called "neo-cons" interventionists and RINOs, I think it will go the way of the Whig party and another new party can rise up to take it's place.

If the fiscal conservatives, social conservatives and non-interventionist and libertarians can form an alliance, it can be a great force to be reckoned with and definitely challenge the progressive-social liberal-statists dominance.

Some tea partiers, so-cons, anti-war democrats, and Ron Paul type would not be even remotely big enough to make a winning coalition. I say this as someone who would love for that to happen... it ain't.

Plus you'd have the issue of this group being so fractious. How do you get Dennis Kucinich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul to agree on a cohesive platform?