[–] BoiseNTheHood 2 points 1 point 3 points (+3|-2) ago
Can we please just get rid of the antiquated concept of political parties altogether? If you can't stand on your own merits and need an organization to tell you what your opinion is on the issues, you have no business being an elected official.
[–] didntsayeeeee 0 points 4 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago
The moment you get rid of political parties, all these independent-minded new folks we have elected will start forming alliances. Because how else are you going to pass anything through a house that requires a majority vote? Pretty soon they'll be swapping support on one issue for support on another. You'll have political parties back again by the end of the week.
[–] MrMongoose 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Correct. Political parties are the natural resting point in which our system will always come to rest. The system didn't get this way by random chance. Politicians evolved by setting what does and doesn't work within the confines of the system and this is what we ended up with. The only solution would be to change the rules - which would be difficult at best.
MAYBE there could be more than two parties. That's the best case scenario, IMO.
It wouldn't shock me if the African Americans (who tend to be quite religious and surprisingly socially conservative in many ways) joined with the evangelical/culture warrior vote (all three about 13% of voters) to form a populist, socially conservative party. Replacing most of the Republican vote, but also a healthy portion (20-25%) of the Democratic vote. If they pull Latinos, Catholics that's right in the same neighborhood as either major party, and the three big groups are pretty upset at the major parties at the moment.
[–] [deleted] 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago
[–] MrMongoose 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
The thing you have to remember is that the GOP doesn't believe in government. What's their motivation for making it work? OTOH they can break shit and come back and say 'See? Government doesn't work. We told you so!'
[–] didntsayeeeee ago
It took Civil War conditions for that to happen, and much as people like to talk up the crises of the day things aren't nearly that fucked.
Ultimately the Republican Party brand has a lot of sticking power, I don't think it's going anywhere. Still, things could change under the hood.
[–] 1Sorry_SOB 9 points 24 points 33 points (+33|-9) ago (edited ago)
Beltway talking heads: "cuck, cuck, cuck".
The rise of the neo-conservatives was the beginning of the end. When "conservative" Jews started running the party, policies changed to "let's dilute the white majority so they pose no threat to us" and "Let's use the US military for the benefit of Israel and Goldman Sachs".
[–] MarcoVincenzo 1 point 3 points 4 points (+4|-1) ago
The Electoral College almost requires a two-party system, but the Whigs were replaced by the Republicans almost wholesale so it could happen again. What I'm wondering is, if it does happen, what are the Democrats going to morph into to oppose it?
[–] MrMongoose 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
It depends on what exactly they are opposing. If it's far-right social conservatism, the Dems will go more libertarian to pick up the middle. If it's the libertarian wing of the Republican party that ends up in control then Dems probably won't move too much from where they are now. Maybe have some slightly more religious candidates in some of the Bible-belt parts of the country.
[–] erowidtrance 3 points 45 points 48 points (+48|-3) ago
Good. Both parties are a pile of shit and need to go. They both work primarily for vested interests not the voters.
[–] dontdoxxmebro 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
The thing that worries me is whole grieving pile of mess we will have for the first few years after a bicameral system.
[–] Novius 0 points 4 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago
America needs a major anti-authoritarian party, that neither trusts in the efficiency of the DMV or Comcast customer service.
Ideally you would see a green party have minor success in congress maybe a senator. Maybe a Science NASA and the Texan Superconducting Super Collider Party, to make America the envy of the world again.
I would love to see a party for the economic schools in America, Thomas Paine's "Agrarian Justice" Ideals too.
I just really don't want the old "Wall St" Left vs "Rural" Right parties ever again.
[–] MrMongoose 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
There will never be a single party. If the Republicans go belly-up the Democrats will just split in to two factions.
What I'd like to see is the Republican party split in to two separate parties. The social conservatives and the libertarians. I think the libertarian party could actually be respectable and bring something useful to the political discussion of not weighed down by (what I consider to be) the dead weight of the religious right. You'd still have plenty of the family values types getting elected to Congress from the Midwest and southern states - but the presidential elections would regain some of their sanity, at least.