The End Of A Republican Party

[Bob Butler 54]

(07-23-2016, 12:28 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:

(07-23-2016, 10:14 AM)Anthony Wrote:

Quote:It's more likely that the two parties will morph into new entities, shedding and adding new members until an equilibrium occurs.  I don't have the foggiest what that will be, but it won't mimic the European parties because we aren't operationally parliamentarians.  I do know that neither party is really functional, but the first to reform successfully will have the upper hand for a decade at least.

I of course maintain that this process is already well under way, with the Republicans moving away from conservatism and toward national liberalism (or even National Socialism!), and the Democrats abandoning left-liberalism in favor of neoliberalism.

Only if you discount the great important of the Sanders campaign. Bernie got more votes than The Donald, and he may push the Democrats AND the neo-liberal Democratic president's wife to the Left and most-specifically AWAY from neo-liberalism.

Seconding the importance of Sanders, what is needed is solutions to today's problems.  To win elections then not disappoint the voters when one's policy is implemented you need something that will work and be perceived of as working.  Thus, I am doubtful about answers supposing a return to an old philosophy.  If one can only anticipate what the future will be like by supposing it will resemble some point in the past, one is apt to miss something.

Sanders approach can be picked up by another progressive, but Trump to a great degree is leading a personality cult.  The Republican base is really discouraged by their Establishment.  The Democrats can still more or less stomach theirs.    I don't see the Democrats winning a filibuster proof Congress in November.  I'm seeing a Clinton 45 victory with no Congress that can back her up, thus more of the same, with Hillary as an incumbent in 2020.  As I see it, the problem isn't that the Democratic establishment isn't progressive enough, it's that they only try for what they can achieve, and they can't achieve much without a filibuster proof Congress.

While a lot of folks, partisans from both sides, and perhaps there might even be some non-partisans here, would like to see a regeneracy and some real shift in values and policy. Include me in that.  I'm just not clear on how to get there from here.