Jim DeMint and the end of political parties
As we wrote at the time, DeMint’s decision to walk away from the Senate — long considered the pinnacle of power and influence in American politics — was, in and of itself, a potent symbol of the broader shift away from traditional political parties and toward outside interest groups.
And, DeMint’s opinion piece represents a broader sentiment within the conservative movement, that its establishment leaders simply lack the ability to point a way out of the political wilderness. …
It’s not just on the ideas side where the center of the GOP is moving. The rise of American Crossroads/Crossroads GPS as well as Americans for Prosperity — and a slew of other conservative-minded outside groups — have made them the major financial players in campaigns. Unlike political party committees, which are limited in the sort of donations they can accept, these outside groups can take unlimited checks from individuals. (Democrats, too, rely on outside group spending but not nearly to the extent of Republicans. That may be due to the fact that one party controls the White House and the other doesn’t but only time will tell.)
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It’s time to kill the parties.
The land can NO longer afford the R/Ds. They are equally culpable in ruining the children.
Schadenfreude on January 12, 2013 at 1:56 PM
People will always get together in like minded voting blocs, but I’d like to see way more minority parties instead of 2 major parties. Having more leaders and personalities to compromise with would (hopefully) slow down the pace at which DC pumps out devastating legislation to the rest of the country.
Timin203 on January 12, 2013 at 2:09 PM
Don’t be silly. If not the R/D’s, it would be Labour and Tory, or Greens and Liberal Developmentalists, or Big Enders and Small Enders.
Parties exist because people band interests together to advance causes.
What many on the Right want is a Centre-Right Party, and they have chosen the GOP as their vehicle…if that move fails it’s not the end of a party, but merely the creation of a NEW one.
JFKY on January 12, 2013 at 2:11 PM
That doesn’t seem to be the case in Europe or Israel….
Do you see the coalition government in the UK slowing down the government? No, because the Liberal Party isn’t in favour of it…
JFKY on January 12, 2013 at 2:13 PM
is in the ear of the beholder.
Fleuries on January 12, 2013 at 2:16 PM
The Republican party, as it is now controlled by the anti-conservative RINO establishment is doomed.
It’s position of being for slightly less spending and welfare than the democrats and slightly more for national defense than the democrats is untenable and cannot compete.
Either it becomes conservative or the conservatives leave and form our own party.
wildcat72 on January 12, 2013 at 2:21 PM
Right, well clearly the majority in both countries favor socialism / progressiveness. I fear the same is true here as well. But things do move slower in coalitions then when Boehner and Obama can sit in a room and make deals and get that pushed through as legislation.
Timin203 on January 12, 2013 at 2:23 PM
The republican party will never become “conservative” especially since many many conservatives around the country are basically just pro-gun anti-abortion big government types.
The democrats didn’t get us into the spending hole on their own.
Timin203 on January 12, 2013 at 2:24 PM
They do ask, Israel…you keep thinking like a “loser.” Think like a winner, when our FDR (Sarah Palin) comes to power in 2016 with a majority in the Senate and the House do you REALLY want there to be lots of small parties obstructing the TEA Party agenda?
The answer is not NO parties or lots of small parties, but VICTORY for “our” party….
It’s like libertarians who celebrate gridlock…all they are admitting is that they have no ability to make an impact, so they hope that NOTHING is accomplished..it’s an admission of failure.
And do you really want ObamaCare repealed? Lower taxes? Smaller government? You won’t get that in a system of small parties, making governmental movement harder.
Right now the status quo is centre-left…No movement favours them because they have created what IS. And in order to change the what is, to something that YOU want you need the ability to make policy changes….In order to create a new staus quo yo must overturn the current one and your prescription makes that harder…
JFKY on January 12, 2013 at 2:31 PM
Or maybe because the Democrats get their money from mandatory union dues and illegal foreign contributions.
Yes! Register Independent/non-affiliated. Make your donations to a specific candidate not to their party. Political parties were not established at the founding of the republic but rose to meet the needs of their time. That time has passed. We don’t have to send letters by horse anymore. We don’t need smokey backroom deals or to rely on other people to read to us. This is the 21st century and those 18th century ideas can take their place in the dust bin of history.
Browncoatone on January 12, 2013 at 2:32 PM
Dude. Give me some of whatever it is you’re smoking. We’re a centER left (what are you, Canadian?!) country because that’s what people vote for. Even the “conservatives” spend like liberals and embrace big government.
And while I like Sarah Palin, I don’t think for one second she will ever be president. Sorry, dude, but time to find someone else to blindly follow.
Timin203 on January 12, 2013 at 2:34 PM
Oh, and the ship already sailed on repealing Obamacare. And spending has gotten to the point where lower taxes won’t be a viable political or economical option. In other words, we can no longer grow our way out of this hole. And I think we all know how the american people feel about smaller government — fine for things they don’t like, but DONT TAKE AWAY MY CHECK!
So we’ll continue with small military cuts (that don’t ever happen) and minor bureaucratic tweaks (that never save money) until the dollar collapses.
Could happen in 100 years, 50 years, tomorrow, who knows? It will be sudden and devastating.
Timin203 on January 12, 2013 at 2:38 PM
Has it occurred to YOU that YOU aren’t a “conservative?” You sound funny, like Pat Buchanan who excommunicated all us “Not-Real” Conservatives and took his 80 followers off into the wilderness.
I’m not trying to pick a fight, it’s just when someone tells me that what a “conservative is and that definition doesn’t, seemingly, include a large number of conservatives…
JFKY on January 12, 2013 at 2:42 PM
Well, I’d say I fall on the libertarian end of the “conservative” spectrum. The term conservative is very nebulous — a lot of big government proponents use the language of small government and call themselves conservatives, but their actions seem to indicate that they’re all right with big government, as long as it’s forcing states not to recognize other states’ gay marriage licenses, or enforcing a country wide drug prohibition.
But as soon as the topic changes to guns, then we should keep guns, ban video games, and start a new federal program to put cops in every school (at federal tax payers expense). There’s just no logical consistency in any of those arguments.
Timin203 on January 12, 2013 at 2:47 PM
There’s also a huge group who say cut federal spending, but don’t touch MY social security check or Medicare coverage.
Well, maybe it’s not so much that people are against federal spending as it is they’re against federal money that isn’t being spent on them. As long as the check goes into their account, they’re fine with it.
Timin203 on January 12, 2013 at 2:50 PM
Then you are thinking like a loser…I know pejorative, inflammatory, fighting words….IF we cannot repeal ObamaCare there is NO turning back the clock.
If that’s TRULY your belief, well you need to drink the koolaide, or emigrate…I believe we still can repeal it and reduce spending and lower taxes.
Otherwise, what’s the point, you’re just on the road to being a whining, “Manage the decline” Conservative or one of those cranks who rail against the status quo, but can’t be bothered to change it it, because it’s hopeless.
JFKY on January 12, 2013 at 3:28 PM
Harlots on the dole, from all angles, to hell with the kids…that dollar will collapse…just a matter of when.
Schadenfreude on January 12, 2013 at 3:31 PM
I would emigrate if i thought there was somewhere better to go. But yeah, come back to me when Social Security is repealed and I’ll get my hopes up that Obamacare will be. Once it is implemented, all or most it will stay. It’s designed to be impossible to undo.
Yeah, and that’s the tough part. Because everyone else is in the same boat as us, and all of the central banks are pretending this money is real, we’re going to stay in this type of economy for an indefinite amount of time. It could be months, years, or decades before we the dollar fall. There’s no way of knowing when it could happen. And I think the time for stopping this from occurring as already passed.
Timin203 on January 12, 2013 at 3:39 PM
And that’s not a healthy attitude….because what’s the point of trying to change anything….”just a matter of time” and really that transmutes into, NOT trying to change anything because you want if to be “just a matter of time.”
Because you think that after the “cataclysm” something better will emerge…look at the USSR. It didn’t. After the matter of time, authoritarian/totalitarians may emerge, not a new set of Founding Fathers.
Your thinking yields Petain/Laval in France, Hitler in Germany, Lenin in Russia…
So you’d better hope and pray it’s NOT just a matter of time.
Lastly, glad you weren’t in charge in 1862 or 1942.
JFKY on January 12, 2013 at 3:44 PM
And Hitler had a Thousand Year Reich and Lenin had the inevitable Laws of the Dialectic, too.
The Great Society was “designed” to be many things it wasn’t…
Do you just come to these places to brood and whine?
Move on thru Depression dude…get thru to Acceptance and the rest of your life…right now you are just wallowing in Obama’s second term…you sound like a Baldwin in 2005.
Remember how 2008 meant Democratic governance for the next 20 years?
IF we listen to depressed fellows like you it will……
JFKY on January 12, 2013 at 3:47 PM
You’re right, we don’t need or want a parliament.
Mirimichi on January 12, 2013 at 3:56 PM