will a third party emerge from disenchanted REPs

will a third party emerge from disenchanted REPs

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We have a system of plurality with single member districts. That almost always produces two large parties.

What locks our system into the two parties even more than most other countries that use plurality is that we have almost no party discipline in the US. Why would you run as a Green and split the vote and guarantee that the person on the ballot who agrees with you most loses also when you could just run in the Democratic primary?
 
DonQuixote said:
it may be a version or fusion of libertarians and former republicans
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I doubt it. Libertarianism is unworkable as a governing philosophy and most people know that.

The Republican party is by no means dead or even close to it.

Keep in mind, for most of its history the Republican party has been a party of and for plutocrats and since money is the mother's milk of politics the Republican party will live a long time, as long as they have the plutocrats.

That's the real sign in this last election that the right wing reactionaries and the religious right have over reached their influence in the party. The Plutocrats started to leave and took their money with them. So that is the key for the Republicans. If the wingnuts and religious conservatives maintain the ruling control of the Republican coalition then the plutocrats will eventually leave and either join the Democrats or start another political party.

That's still a long way from happening.
 
They will be dead if we take the "mothers milk" out of the system.

Free airtime, No lobbist money what so ever ( they can go to DC and try to get heard but they cant even hand someone a stick of fucking gum), If you have served in the government you may never get a lobbiest job and donations to a campaign can only come from an individual voter. These are just a few off the top of my head.

The republican party may survive that but it would at least be a decent party again.
 
Desh said:
They will be dead if we take the "mothers milk" out of the system.

Free airtime, No lobbist money what so ever ( they can go to DC and try to get heard but they cant even hand someone a stick of fucking gum), If you have served in the government you may never get a lobbiest job and donations to a campaign can only come from an individual voter. These are just a few off the top of my head.

The republican party may survive that but it would at least be a decent party again.
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Just like Obama is currently doing?
 
After every election it seems like somebody asks whether there will be a new party. No, I don't think so.
 
yeah people are idiots. americans have such a short attention span it's ridic. It's so retarded every 4 years when one side declares the death of the other.
 
Even if the GOP were supplanted by a third party, let's even say that was the Libertarian Party. There would be a couple of possibilities. The LP would have to change into a socially conservative party and incorporate the Evangelical, batshit looballs who think they can bring about the end of the world by making Israel the 51st state. Or, the LP would stay more or less the same, and would have to share the landscape with a smaller, socially conservative party (either the leftover GOP or otherwise).

This highly unlikely scenario couldn't last very long anyway, primarily because the Democrats would continue to dominate Congress, because of their "big tent" approach. The lack of party loyalty (strict partisanship, far more than we're used to) is, IMO, due to the fact that it's easier to gain and maintain political power with a big tent party apparatus.

The LP's (or any other, for that matter) best chance of becoming a major party would be to take a similar big tent approach, with a more nebulous conception of libertarianism.
 
Desh said:
They will be dead if we take the "mothers milk" out of the system.

Free airtime, No lobbist money what so ever ( they can go to DC and try to get heard but they cant even hand someone a stick of fucking gum), If you have served in the government you may never get a lobbiest job and donations to a campaign can only come from an individual voter. These are just a few off the top of my head.

The republican party may survive that but it would at least be a decent party again.
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Well there's the pesky little thing called "The First Ammendment" that give people with money a built in advantage in politics in this country but good luck with your approach. It is kind of niave and I don't think it will happen.
 
Kathianne said:
Just like Obama is currently doing?
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Thanks for helping to make my point. This is the first time in my living memory that a Democratic Presidential candidate raised more money than the Republicans. Part of that is because Howard Dean (who simply does not get enough credit for modernizing the Democratic party) showed the party how to used modern technology to communicate a consistent message and, more importantly, as source for mining financial contributions. For some reason the Republicans have failed to utilize this new mode but that's probably because many conservatives are elderly and technophobes. However that's only part of it. Many of the big money contributors supported Obama when they traditionaly support Republican candidates due to the disproportionate and over reaching influence of extreme right wing cultural conservatives and the religeous right.

If these big money Plutocrats continue to leave the Republican party and support Democrats, as they did with Obama, then the Republican party is indeed in peril. I have a sneaky hunch that won't happen. The plutocrats will regain influence and control of the party machinary.
 
SmarterThanYou said:
disenchanted americans won't vote a 3rd party for at least 8 more years.
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I seriously doubt it. The Republicans will sit back and hope that the Democrats shoot themselves in the foot (Won't be the first time that's happened) and if they don't, they will reform the party.

I think people are reading to much into the Obama election. Obama's election is a sign that after a dramatic shift to the right after 9/11, American is shifting back towards the center. Best indication of this is how the Republican felt pretty confident about running off us Eisenhower moderates. Now they have to woo us back.

I find the fact that some of the liberal base are all ready complaining about Obama's centrist/moderate approach is a very good sign.
 
Except after Bill Clilton when the foot shooting wasnt big enough (getting head) they just cheated their way into the office.
 
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