Many GOP’ers are identifying themselves with Brown, a socially moderate Republican, hoping his good luck will rub off onto them. Anyone following the MA race was most likely shocked and energized when Brown won the seat to replace the late Ted Kennedy (D-Mass). Brown won by running on the healthcare issue, stating that he would be the 41st vote, a “no” vote to kill the bill. And as exciting as that is, it’s important to note that he is not totally against the idea of a government run healthcare program.
30-Dec-2009
dys·func·tion (also dis·func·tion): Abnormal or impaired functioning, especially of a bodily system or social group.
Does that definition describe the Republican Party? Some people would say absolutely, and others who have a blind faith in their political party no matter what the truth is, would say no. There is no doubt that many Republicans feel that the Party’s leaders are out of touch with the voters. According to a recent Rasmussen poll, seventy-three percent (73%) of Republican voters believe their party’s congressional leaders are out of touch with the party base. As a Republican this poll should cause pause to some degree, and as a conservative this should been seen as a challenge and an opportunity to improve the party.
16-Dec-2009
In July of this year, we wrote a short blog post about the possibility of having a third party and what affect it might have on the political system. With the rise of the Tea Party movement and public figures like Sarah Palin, the idea that a new party, a Tea Party, is in need. Some are saying this because they feel that members of both the Republican and Democratic Party of today have too much in common and are nearly indistinguishable from one another. So is a new party really the answer?
13-Jul-2009
In a healthy two-party system, the major parties should be distinguishable from each other by a clearly defined platform. In today’s political arena, at times it’s hard to tell who is who unless they are wearing a donkey or elephant pin. We’ve got both political parties acting like and voting with Liberals, Socialists and Communists. Not only have we as a nation lost our way, but our political parties have lost touch with their identities as well.
Many Americans feel we already have several parties in our political system that just uses the two existing political parties’ identities as a cover to achieve political success and acceptance. And to be honest, most people don’t really know what it means to be a Democrat or a Republican anyhow, so adding more “official” parties to the political system might just cause more confusion. How is it that nearly 4 out of 10 Americans say their views have grown more conservative, yet we elected an extremely liberal Democrat as President by a large margin?
“Despite the results of the 2008 presidential election, Americans, by a 2-to-1 margin, say their political views in recent years have become more conservative rather than more liberal, 39% to 18%, with 42% saying they have not changed. While independents and Democrats most often say their views haven’t changed, more members of all three major partisan groups indicate that their views have shifted to the right rather than to the left. (Gallop, July 6, 2009, Special Report: Ideologically, Where Is the U.S. Moving?)”
Some people would argue that we need third parties more than ever to introduce new ideas into the system. I ask then, do we really need a new party to do this, or just new people in public office? If they cannot create new solutions to the problems we face, then we should remove them from that office and put someone in there that can…regardless of their party affiliation.
Many conservative Americans are frustrated because they feel that as a party the Republicans have lost direction and have forgotten who they are supposed to be. They are no longer a united party sharing the same philosophies or beliefs. For quite some time now they have been split between the far right and the moderates. This shift of values and ideas has happened because the third parties and the Democrats have started influencing the system…like a political Trojan horse they have been slowly changing the party’s ideologies and political stances from within.
The potential for a new party is there no doubt about that, the question is why is it needed? And would it even have an impact in a system that is dominated by two parties? True conservative ideas, values and philosophies can be represented by the Republican Party if they got their old identity back. Even though they have been weakened in regards to political power in Congress, now is the time for the party to pick the issues that matter to the public and really show the American people what they are all about…or they can step aside and let another party do the job.
© American Political Analysis
