08-01-2016, 03:34 PM
(08-01-2016, 01:12 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:Trump has been talking about the fading and failure that we'll be experiencing as a nation in the future unless we make certain changes now. He's right. We all see the decline that's coming. Progressives view the decline as their opportunity to rise above and impose their values. If one is willing to ignore and support ignoring, one who is judging must assume that is your goal.(08-01-2016, 10:57 AM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: Did you catch Fox News Sunday? They had an interview with H.R. Clinton then a panel. Money quote from the panel was of all people Karl Rove, pointing out that undecided GOP voters are the highest percentage since 1992. There will be many Republicans voting if not a straight Dem ticket, at least for Clinton, in November. Meanwhile: A decent number of Indy voters voting for Clinton is an inevitability at this point.
I'm afraid Faux News isn't one of my primary sources.I hadn't caught the Rove thing. Still, what you say doesn't surprise. I for one don't expect to see a lot of Republicans voting a straight Democratic ticket. I see Trump as a rogue politician who is more crashing the party on a one time basis than permanently changing it.
Still, a lot of us have been thinking that the United States needs a new political alignment. This might mean establishment parties changing positions or fading, opposition parties shifting to embrace those fleeing the sinking ship, and new parties rising to fill vacuums. In Highlander fiction there is the saying that only one immortal can remain. In American politics, there are generally two political parties that dominate.
Trump could possibly be forcing the split. He is pulling out the most devout followers of the Nixon southern strategy and Reagan's unravelling small government - low taxes - all the government tries to do fails memes. Obama has established that the government health care program can work, and that a more nuanced approach to foreign policy is an improvement on the Bush 43 era neo con preemptive serial unilateral nation building. Democratic stewardship of the economy under Clinton 42 and Obama 44 has recently clearly done better than under Bushes 41 and 43.
It even plays on the level of tone and feel. Carter spoke of the national malaise, how the United States was faltering. It was true, but saying so wasn't the sort of thing that wins popularity contests and votes. Reagan came in all optimistic and patriotic and kicked butt. Today Trump is talking about failure and fading, while the Democrats are talking change, hope and waving American flags with enthusiasm.
Yet, the Nixon - Reagan values remain strong in parts of the country. I don't expect them to lose their position in the big two quite yet.
Seems to me it's too early to say whether Tump's faction will become dominant over the Establishment Republicans and whether many Republicans who might well choose Hillary over The Donald might stick with the Democrats depending on how well Hillary does in office. Still, quite a few have been wondering about how the major parties might realign. We might possibly be seeing the beginnings of it, possibly the core of it.
If so, it might speak to the possibility of regeneracy.