Re: thoughts on the future of political parties
Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 8:40 pm
I think we need to stop thinking in terms of the old fashioned terms of Left & Right. There are more complexities to modern politics than that.
For example within the overall umbrella of the GOP you have as I see it basically 3 broad groupings.
1. What I would call the "Patrician Conservatives" today many would call these the RINOs. They like Globalism (it suits their business needs) along with weak border control. They probably would throw the 1st and 2nd amendments under the bus if it suited their own interests. Also though they may speak platitiudes about supporting small business they will work to rig the system against small business such as supporting heavy regulation that large companies can easily manage but which cripples the small guy. So this group is no fan of socialism but they are quite happy with big government.
2. "Traditional Conservatives" Strong believers in individualism and an originalist interpretation of the constitution. I guess most people in the Forum would fall into this group. Naturally big supporters of both 1st and 2nd amendments, believers in family values and fiscal responsibility. "clinging to their God and their Guns".
3. "Secular Libertarians" This group will of course despise Number 1 but will probably agree with and support Number 2 on many things. Where they will part company is on issues like Abortion, Gay Marriage and Recreational Drugs. While they have no religious faith of their own, they will defend the right of those who do to practice their faith. They also believe in minimalist government, hence they do not believe goverment has any right to tell you what dangerous drugs you may choose or not choose to put in your body. Naturally this group will be strong supporters of both the 1st and 2nd amendments even if they choose to live a lifestyle that group 2 might disapprove of.
Now among the Democrats I think their seem to be 3 groups
A. The Establishment - need I say more we all know the Clintons embody this. A purely self seeking hypocritical group whose entire existence has been one decades long Con trick played on the less well off and less well educated. Though Group A and Group 1 have different sets of financial backers their absolute disregard for any principles of morality means that they might as well be in the same political party.
B. The Old Union Guys. These were the traditional economic leftists they worked to get the best package for their little bit of the economy. They probably have little or no interest in racism or feminism (their fathers were probably racist and sexist). They do care about having a job and being well paid and have a deep distrust of the globalist "öpen borders" that groups A and 1 are such fans of.
C. The Left Cost Snowflakes. We all know who these are and of course they are not only found in California but in almost every large urban area. They are ruled by emotion and will always play the victim card to demand that the rest of us admit our guilt for everything that they claim is wrong with the world. They demand socialism and they demand it for yesterday they are an all consuming cancer of grievances. It does not matter how often laws are changed to accommodate this or that grievance, they will never be satisfied because without a grievance to protest about they have no purpose, so there must always be some new injustice to be trampled. Eventually of course they start to consume their own kind.
The problem for the Dems today is that while Group A has historically maintained control by offering crumbs to Groups B & C the patience of those two groups has broken. So we now see Group A under siege by Group C. Meanwhile group B has been largely left on the sidelines, not helped by the fact that some of them supported Trump.
So if you want a future party model. then perhaps:
A party made up by Groups 1 & A (it will have a lot of money but may not get so many voters)
A party made up by Groups 2 & 3 with a variable proportion of B (the more B's that can be brought in the better)
A party made up by Group C and the remaining elements of B who cannot bring themselves to vote for anything else (this too will get a fair bit of money, It will certainly be the loudest and will always claim to be bigger than it is) It will have a strong regional presence but lack national clout. The more it is encouraged to demand more & more the quiker it is likely to self distruct.
For example within the overall umbrella of the GOP you have as I see it basically 3 broad groupings.
1. What I would call the "Patrician Conservatives" today many would call these the RINOs. They like Globalism (it suits their business needs) along with weak border control. They probably would throw the 1st and 2nd amendments under the bus if it suited their own interests. Also though they may speak platitiudes about supporting small business they will work to rig the system against small business such as supporting heavy regulation that large companies can easily manage but which cripples the small guy. So this group is no fan of socialism but they are quite happy with big government.
2. "Traditional Conservatives" Strong believers in individualism and an originalist interpretation of the constitution. I guess most people in the Forum would fall into this group. Naturally big supporters of both 1st and 2nd amendments, believers in family values and fiscal responsibility. "clinging to their God and their Guns".
3. "Secular Libertarians" This group will of course despise Number 1 but will probably agree with and support Number 2 on many things. Where they will part company is on issues like Abortion, Gay Marriage and Recreational Drugs. While they have no religious faith of their own, they will defend the right of those who do to practice their faith. They also believe in minimalist government, hence they do not believe goverment has any right to tell you what dangerous drugs you may choose or not choose to put in your body. Naturally this group will be strong supporters of both the 1st and 2nd amendments even if they choose to live a lifestyle that group 2 might disapprove of.
Now among the Democrats I think their seem to be 3 groups
A. The Establishment - need I say more we all know the Clintons embody this. A purely self seeking hypocritical group whose entire existence has been one decades long Con trick played on the less well off and less well educated. Though Group A and Group 1 have different sets of financial backers their absolute disregard for any principles of morality means that they might as well be in the same political party.
B. The Old Union Guys. These were the traditional economic leftists they worked to get the best package for their little bit of the economy. They probably have little or no interest in racism or feminism (their fathers were probably racist and sexist). They do care about having a job and being well paid and have a deep distrust of the globalist "öpen borders" that groups A and 1 are such fans of.
C. The Left Cost Snowflakes. We all know who these are and of course they are not only found in California but in almost every large urban area. They are ruled by emotion and will always play the victim card to demand that the rest of us admit our guilt for everything that they claim is wrong with the world. They demand socialism and they demand it for yesterday they are an all consuming cancer of grievances. It does not matter how often laws are changed to accommodate this or that grievance, they will never be satisfied because without a grievance to protest about they have no purpose, so there must always be some new injustice to be trampled. Eventually of course they start to consume their own kind.
The problem for the Dems today is that while Group A has historically maintained control by offering crumbs to Groups B & C the patience of those two groups has broken. So we now see Group A under siege by Group C. Meanwhile group B has been largely left on the sidelines, not helped by the fact that some of them supported Trump.
So if you want a future party model. then perhaps:
A party made up by Groups 1 & A (it will have a lot of money but may not get so many voters)
A party made up by Groups 2 & 3 with a variable proportion of B (the more B's that can be brought in the better)
A party made up by Group C and the remaining elements of B who cannot bring themselves to vote for anything else (this too will get a fair bit of money, It will certainly be the loudest and will always claim to be bigger than it is) It will have a strong regional presence but lack national clout. The more it is encouraged to demand more & more the quiker it is likely to self distruct.