Balderdash: Quote
As I've gotten older the thing that makes me a Democrat are Republicans.
Mark: The enemy of my enemy is my friend, eh? That works out nicely for both parties as neither are really our friend anymore. To me, that's the problem...neither party is afraid of public opinion specifically, because we're now compelled to vote for the lesser of two Evils. However, their was a recent disturbance in the Force that seemed to have caused Republicans to give pause, be unsure of themselves, and appear to be wandering aimlessly as a group.
IMO, the Republican party's greatest problem is that "conservative" appeal has recently changed, and the party itself fractured with the rise of the Tea Party faction. I think many of the Tea Party ideas are
not conservative at all. As we all have seen, many of their protests rallies appear radical.
That doesn't mix well with the very traditional conservatives, but has caused enough of the less traditional conservatives to have doubts the old ways still worked. Even though the Tea Party movement doesn't give claim to either of the old parties, it seems to have been based in the grass-roots conservative group, normally associated with Republicans. That group must account for enough of the Republican voters to change normal voting patterns, and prevent enough voters either from voting Republican, or cause them to vote Democatic (I need to look up that theory to see if it holds water).
I don't think "radical"ideals appeal to the main body of either Republican or Democratic voters. However, it
appears (to me at least), the Tea Party has probably taken more votes from Republicans (and skewed their ideals) than anything else in recent history. I could be totally wrong about that, but that's the impression I've gotten anyway. I think it's caused many old die-hard Republicans to either doubt their agendas, or doubt the effectiveness of their party's ability to get their agenda's implemented or passed into law.
It seemed to have caused newest Republican candidates to lose their goals during the elections since the Tea Party's rise. Did Mitt Romney seem to stammer regarding his Presidential goals and the means in which he intended to have them implemented, during the 2012 election. Was that caused by his own lack of experience, OR was he uncertain what the Republican base really wanted out of their Presidential hopeful because of the Tea Party movement? Politicians are notorious for catering (on-they-fly) to their perception of what their voters want. Perhaps Mitt Romney seemed unclear and/or uncertain to many of us (including myself) because the Republican party had fallen victim to cloudy Tea. ...heh, cloudy Tea...
Edited by Mark, 29 May 2013 - 09:45 PM.