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Republicans AS THEY EXIST TODAY might be done at the national level, but they'll adapt and evolve. The Republican party that elected Reagan is long gone, and the one that backed Bush just ran out of D.C. with its tail between its legs. But don't for a minute think that any of that cedes all power to the Democrats. Don't think it, and don't hope for it.

The Democratic "machine" does indeed have an off switch. It's called time and events. Time and events - some of his own making, some beyond his control - caught up to Bush and the NeoCons and cost them the seemingly insurmountable level of control they had back in 2002-2004. The same will happen to the Democrats in power today. That's a GOOD THING - you don't EVER want anything approachinig a "permanent majority"; it just leads nowhere good.

People wanted something different than what Bush and the Republicans were offering last year. In three years, or seven, they'll likely want something different again. Who knows? Maybe they'll look back with nostalgia on the good old days of Bush, the way so many seem to do with Reagan today.

The Republican party will likely change everything but their name - or, if they're fully convinced that their party is dead and gone, they'll change NOTHING about their party BUT the name, and they'll come back as The Patriot Party, or some other "all-American" kind of name. The one thing you can count on, though, is that people will want change - even from "Change". :)

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
The Republican party will likely change everything but their name - or, if they're fully convinced that their party is dead and gone, they'll change NOTHING about their party BUT the name, and they'll come back as The Patriot Party, or some other "all-American" kind of name. The one thing you can count on, though, is that people will want change - even from "Change". :)

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Originally posted by SergeantX:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
The Republican party will likely change everything but their name - or, if they're fully convinced that their party is dead and gone, they'll change NOTHING about their party BUT the name, and they'll come back as The Patriot Party, or some other "all-American" kind of name. The one thing you can count on, though, is that people will want change - even from "Change". :)

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Really, given that the Democrats and Republicans have all but written themselves into the constitution as permanent "branches", the only way real change can happen is by changing one or the other of the existing parties. This is what Ron Paul realized after his Libertarian run in '88. The cards were heavily stacked against third party candidates then, and it's only become worse since.

SergeantX

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Originally posted by RIPWash:
And you guys could dump all the looney moonbats.

Zoe: "Get it running again."
Mal: "Yeah"
Zoe: "So not running now"
Mal: "Not so much"
- Out of Gas

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Originally posted by RIPWash:

So he decides to switch, but that has the potential now to really botch things up in Congress by giving ONE side the ability to have complete rule the Hill with an iron fist (so to speak). Not good, I hope many of us can agree. But that is essentially why Republicans are upset with him right now. He's about to give the other side practical absolute control.

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Seems maybe his former party should have listened to him a bit more, maybe tried to work with him a bit. Instead, his last election run, he had to face heat from hard-right "conservative" special interest groups who tried to trash him. Could be he's still bitter about that, and about being labeled a "RINO". Maybe he decided that if his party didn't want him, he didn't really need them either.

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I dunno for sure. Are Libertarians considered more center? Are they really a viable third party?

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Libertarians certainly seem to be closer to the center than the most recent leaders of the Republican party. Are they a viable third party? I don't know. At this point, you have to ask yourself if they're a viable SECOND party - and if the Republican party is a viable third party!




Mike

Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...
Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
But a few enterprising souls could rebrand some libertarian ideals, call themselves Republicans, and overthrow the old guard from within.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Libertarians certainly seem to be closer to the center than the most recent leaders of the Republican party.

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Originally posted by bluesuncompanyman:
We often feel as though we're outside events, or rather "up" looking "down" on the left/right struggles.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
And that, my dear Sarge, is why the time is ripe for pouncing NOW. The Republican party is in disarray, and it's being re-imagined and re-imaged as we speak.

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Originally posted by bluesuncompanyman:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
But a few enterprising souls could rebrand some libertarian ideals, call themselves Republicans, and overthrow the old guard from within.

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Quite funny you would write that Kwicko, it's what I and others around me are doing right now in Indiana.

In 2010 I'm running for local office as a "republician" but I'm hardly an R in philosophy. Maybe about 55% at best. I get in hot debates all the time with R's who think I'm crazy to be so pro-market and pro-military like them and yet be pro-environment, pro-science, and pro-choice.

I like to rather think that I'm actually pro-logic. And most everyone else marches in step with the music their different media outlets play.

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