scoundrel,
Quote:
Originally Posted by scoundrel
The issue the present Republican Party is up against is that it has been taken into the control of people whose core values are religious, and socially conservative; but they need to attract electoral support from a more independent-minded population.
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Which brings up a question which I've been ruminating over for a little while now (and should maybe be its own thread). Is the Republican party dead or dying?
As I look around it seems to me they're on the edge of death. They're losing constituencies left and right to the point where the only reliable voting block they have are old white men and the Southern US.
They only had about 8% of the black vote in the last election.
About 27% of the latino vote.
About 45% of the women's vote.
The Republicans seem to be divided into two camps. The "middle" of the party which is almost nonexistent and disappearing quickly as they keep being "primaried" by their extreme right wing.
And then their extreme right wing which has no chance of winning a general election. Does anybody really think Rand Paul or Rick Santorum could get elected without stealing the election?
My guess is the Republicans will have to split. The moderates will have to either become Democrats or Independents (probably taking about half of the Republican party with them). The extreme right will hang around for a while (or maybe try and start a civil war when they realize they've been marginalized) but, as with all such movements, will eventually die out.
So the next few years will be interesting. I thought maybe they'd have a brief period of introspection when Bobby Jindahl told them they'd have to "quit being the stupid party" but its now obvious nobody listened to him. And the party's blind devotion to the gun manufacturers is probably going to cost them big time in the next election.
So, are the Republicans history?