GOP faceing "Ice Age" according to conservative pundit

jason_els

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Mike Murphy, diehard Republican strategist proclaims that the Republican party faces a very difficult future. Read on with glee or dismay (or denial).

For Republicans, the Ice Age Cometh - TIME



[btw, the thread title has "facing" misspelled, but I don't know how to correct it]

If you go to edit and then press the advanced edit button, you can correct the title. :biggrin1:
 

HazelGod

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Any political party is only useful in its ability to marshal the collective power of a great number of like-minded individuals toward a common purpose.

The GOP is suffering an identity crisis right now, with its various factions unsure of how to resolve their differences...if such a thing is even feasible.

Personally, I would like to see our body politic evolve beyond the constraints of such dinosaurs. Parties in their present incarnation might have made sense 200 years ago in a disconnected agrarian society where education was relatively scarce and communications all used paper.

In an age where millions of people can follow simultaneously the every development of an event as it unfolds on TV, express their opinions instantaneously using SMS messages from their mobile phones, and then discuss the implications with each other via blogs and forums...do we still need these antiquated constructs?
 

jason_els

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That's a great op-ed piece and one that I think is very relevant for the GOP. Retrenchment will result in an effective self-burial if they continue on the road they're on now. His comparison to the Whig party is very apt and I hope the Republicans will learn from it.
 

jason_els

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Any political party is only useful in its ability to marshal the collective power of a great number of like-minded individuals toward a common purpose.

The GOP is suffering an identity crisis right now, with its various factions unsure of how to resolve their differences...if such a thing is even feasible.

Personally, I would like to see our body politic evolve beyond the constraints of such dinosaurs. Parties in their present incarnation might have made sense 200 years ago in a disconnected agrarian society where education was relatively scarce and communications all used paper.

In an age where millions of people can follow simultaneously the every development of an event as it unfolds on TV, express their opinions instantaneously using SMS messages from their mobile phones, and then discuss the implications with each other via blogs and forums...do we still need these antiquated constructs?

Problem is, people are still largely single-issue voters. Our communications may have improved, but the way of thinking that leads us to vote the way we do has not. On top of that, the US federal system is First Past the Post and Winner Take All. Both of these systems virtually guarantee a third party has little to no hope outside of smaller, more local elections.

I'd love to see more plurality in our political system and frequently wish it was more parliamentary in its power structure so that it could accommodate smaller parties, but that would require a serious revision of the Constitution and I don't think anyone else is advocating it. The Republicans do have to change before there's a massive schism and a large number break away to form the party which will build on the GOP's ashes. Perhaps the beneficiaries will be the Libertarians or the Conservatives, I don't know. Ron Paul's strong showing in the last election has given libertarians a major boost and I wouldn't be surprised if they become the torch holders of the current Republican party while disaffected Republicans who don't like the libertarianism will join Right to Life or something else entirely.
 

EboniGoddess

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The republican party is facing a hard time. Michael Steele says he's trying new strategies to attract minorities but it sure isn't working. Most minorities are in the lower or middle class so for him to go on D.L. Hugley's show and downtalk our public education systems to make the republicans look better did more damage than good.
 

vince

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Political fortunes come and go. Both American parties have had good times and bad times in the past and I doubt that under the system in place, that that will change.

It's isn't unique to the U.S. either. In Canada, in 1993, the Progressive Conservatives went from a majority government of ten years with 151 seats in the House, to 2 seats. Everyone said that they were finished and that after Mulroney, they deserved it. Guess what? They recombined with the western splinter Reform party and now form the Government of Canada again. In the UK, the Labour Party was flying high ten years ago and look at them now. They are in disarray and will likely go down in the next election.

I think predicting the death of the Republicans is foolish and has little grounding in history. They could reform or change their name, but in the end you'd still have a left wing party and a right wing party, both competing for the centre. But it's interesting reading and I suppose it does sell papers.
 
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deleted15807

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How can it be with anything other than absolute glee to watch the party implode? The last 8 years we have gone from one disaster to the next. And all the while cheered on by an endless parade of willing enablers. And McCain's pick of Palin was simply the coup de grace of any thought that the Republicans actually cared about anything other than winning. I hope they walk the desert for 30 years.
 
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EboniGoddess

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as far as I can tell there has been a huge spike in people claiming the democratic party (but this was expected because of the bush-hating in this country) but I expect them to get down to a normal increase but the independent party is rising...fast. The only decrease is in the republican party.
 

houtx48

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thanks w for single handedly destroying the gop. how ever if there were a viable alternative to the democrats it would be worth looking into.
 

faceking

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you're pathetic... you tried to tag me and failed

Tags conservative, faceing, gop, ice age, pundit

it's FACEKING

anyways...(relax, I know it's from the title)

~60M of the 130M votes cast amidst a partly line with a president with low rating via his own constituents because of his liberal policies... doesn't ring true of "ice age", much less squat. nice try... take out al the ACORN bullshit and it's more like 65M of 125M... but neither...you can't bus in votes when the city is broke, I've always said...

unfortunately, i don't care about party lines... i never imagined how bad Obama would fuck up an already dire situation... god save us all.
 
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houtx48

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and ye shall reap what you sow. as long as they have the nutzzzy they have doing to talking the further down the drain they going to go. newt, senile chaney and Viagra Russ what the hell do they expect?
 

cruztbone

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Obama is saving us from the brink , and the fact that the index of leading economic indicators reported today was up 1.2% is proof. Repugnantcans want to makeover the last 8 years as a prelude to a return to the middle ages. A hybrid economic solution of capitalism and socialism is our only hope, at this point.