More defections out of Republican Party

Wrong! It was the breakdown of partisan politics. Trump is no Republican. He is a populist, sort of the opposite of a Republican.

And Clinton was the epitome of a corporatist.

Between the Republicans and Democrats there was no one representing the interests of the middle and working classes. The Democratic Trump was Sanders and there were many Trump voters who would have voted for Sanders over Trump, But the Democrats are dominated by corporate interests and so they squashed Sanders.

The corporatists like low taxes. Where do the Republicans succeed? On taxes.

The corporatists like illegal immigration. Where do the Democrats succeed? On immigration.

 

Very interesting, I haven't seen many people come out and say this.

There's probably a fair amount of truth to this if we look at areas in the Rust Belt.

 

I find this eternal evil right wingers and evil left wingers posturing just totally funny in the US.
It is also funny that I am a true conservative in my country, but by the standards of the United States I am almost a Communist. So much for the idiotic politics game in the US ...

 

Genuine conservatives have become an endangered species here in America. The extremist rightwing have been purging them from the GOP and elected offices all across the nation. They no longer even have a voice in the media.

 

Off the rails? Republicans have zero power in California, so what rails could they be on? With the Progressives in complete control, and open borders the policy they are engaged in, a Politicreature like Maienschein knows he needs to felate the Progressives if he wants the cushy job.

 

I don't agree. A Trumpist would sooner stay home than vote for Sanders, that's like saying some Sanders voters were disgusted with Hillary and so voted for Trump. A Sanders voter would sooner vote for Hitler and a Trumpist sooner vote for Stalin.

Then again before the election Trump wasn't known as the dangerous tyrant he has turned out to be. Many thought he would "rise to the office" as does often happen. So I guess it could happen.

 

Bullseye ! The GOP is a dinosaur. It clings to issues that are simply not held by the younger generation (anti abortion, anti gay, religious rightism in general).

As Goldwater predicted when he was fighting the religious right take-over of the party (a fight he lost) - the GOP is in deep trouble. The demographic time bomb has exploded and every year it hurts the GOP more.

All the left has to do is try to keep out of the way = stop with the lefty extremism stuff and PC nonsense - and get back to Classical Liberalism.

 

What country do you come from that doesn't have idiotic political games?

 

It is rather a mainstream idea.

"The impact of those votes was significant. In each of the three states that ultimately swung the election for Trump—Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania—Trump’s margin of victory over Clinton was smaller than the number of Sanders voters who gave him their vote."



https://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-trump-2016-election-654320

 

Part of the problem with your comparisons lies in the choice of 1994 as your beginning point. In that year, Republicans selected Newt Gingrinch--a radical, extremist Republican--as their leader in Congress, and he pulled the Republican Party far to the right of it's previous position. Since then, the swing to the right has continued unabated. Why not compare the change since a more balanced time, like 1960--before Goldwater started the slide toward the right?

 

I didn't pick it, Pew Research did. And according to them, both parties were a lot closer to the center. Now the Dems have lurched hard to the left while the Republicans have barely moved.

By the way, if I picked 1960, guess how far to the right the Democrats would have been. Kennedy was a socialist in his domestic policies, but on foreign affairs, "Kennedy referred to the Communist threat as 'an enemy, power[full], unrelenting and implacable who seeks to dominate the world by subversion and conspiracy.' He asserted that 'All problems are dwarfed by the necessity of the West to maintain against the Communists a balance of power.'" (https://www.gilderlehrman.org/content/jfk-containment-communism-1952) How many Democrats would condemn communism today? One third of the Democratic party of 1960 was composed of so-called Dixiecrats, southern racists who were liberal in their foreign policy but extremely conservative on social issues. Meanwhile, many of the Republican party policies of 1960 wouldn't be out of place in today's Republican party policies.

"The Republican Party asserts that the sovereign purpose of our foreign policy is to secure the free institutions of our nation against every peril, to hearten and fortify the love of freedom everywhere in the world, and to achieve a just peace for all of anxious humanity."
"We are unalterably committed to maintaining the security, freedom and solidarity of the Western Hemisphere."
"In the Middle East, we shall continue to support the integrity and independence of all the states of that area including Israel and the Arab States."
"To seek an end to transit and trade restrictions, blockades and boycotts."
"The future of freedom depends heavily upon America's military might and that of her allies."
"To provide the means to a better life for individual Americans and to strengthen the forces of freedom in the world, we count on the proved productivity of our free economy."
"We reject the concept of artificial growth forced by massive new federal spending and loose money policies. The only effective way to accelerate economic growth is to increase the traditional strengths of our free economy—initiative and investment, productivity and efficiency. To that end we favor: Broadly-based tax reform..."
"Except in times of war or economic adversity, expenditures should be covered by revenues. We must work persistently to reduce, not to increase, the national debt, which imposes a heavy economic burden on every citizen." (I sincerely wish the Republican party of today would actually live by this motto instead of ignoring it and acting like the jackasses in the Democratic party.)

Now check out some of these lines from the 1960 Democratic party platform (not representative, but interesting):

"When the Democratic Administration left office in 1953, the United States was the pre-eminent power in the world. Most free nations had confidence in our will and our ability to carry out our commitments to the common defense. Even those who wished us ill respected our power and influence. The Republican Administration has lost that position of pre-eminence. Over the past 7 1/2 years, our military power has steadily declined relative to that of the Russians and the Chinese and their satellites."
"We pledge our will, energies, and resources to oppose Communist aggression."
"To the rulers of the Communist World: We confidently accept your challenge to competition in every field of human effort. We recognize this contest as one between two radically different approaches to the meaning of life—our open society which places its highest value upon individual dignity, and your closed society in which the rights of men are sacrificed to the state. We believe your Communist ideology to be sterile, unsound, and doomed to failure. We believe that your children will reject the intellectual prison in which you seek to confine them, and that ultimately they will choose the eternal principles of freedom."
"But we will use all the power, resources, and energy at our command to resist the further encroachment of Communism on freedom — whether at Berlin, Formosa, or new points of pressure as yet undisclosed."
"However, we will never surrender positions which are essential to the defense of freedom, nor will we abandon peoples who are now behind the Iron Curtain through any formal approval of the status quo."
"Nor will the United States, in conformity with its treaty obligations, permit the establishment of a regime dominated by international, atheistic Communism in the Western Hemisphere." (Turned out not to be true, but it was a good thought, anyway.)
"We deeply regret that the policies and actions of the Government of Communist China have interrupted the generations of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples. We reaffirm our pledge of determined opposition to the present admission of Communist China to the United Nations."
"Over the past 7 1/2-year period, the Republicans have failed to balance the budget or reduce the national debt. Responsible fiscal policy requires surpluses in good times to more than offset the deficits which may occur in recessions, in order to reduce the national debt over the long run." (When was the last time a national level Democrat wanted to balance the budget?)
"Free competitive enterprise is the most creative and productive form of economic order that the world has seen." (When was the last time a national level Democrat defended capitalism?)
"Economic growth is the means whereby we improve the American standard of living and produce added tax resources for national security and essential public services." (When was the last time a national level Democrat didn't think the growth of government was the solution to improving standards of living and raising tax resources?)
"[The Republican Party] has stalled atomic energy development; it has sought to cripple rural electrification. It has closed the pilot plant on getting oil from shale. ... The Democratic Administration instead will foster the development of efficient regional giant power systems from all sources, including water, tidal, and nuclear power, to supply low-cost electricity to all retail electric systems, public, private, and cooperative." (When was the last time a national level Democrat supported any new power plant? As for fracking, forget it.)
"America uses half the minerals produced in the entire Free World. Yet our mining industry is in what may be the initial phase of a serious long-term depression. Sound policy requires that we strengthen the domestic mining industry without interfering with adequate supplies of needed materials at reasonable costs." (When was the last time a national level Democrat supported mining?)
"The United States became pre-eminent in the development of atomic energy under Democratic Administrations. ... In order to restore United States leadership in atomic development, the new Democratic Administration will: 1. Restore truly nonpartisan and vigorous administration of the vital atomic energy program. 2. Continue the development of the various promising experimental and prototype atomic power plants which show promise, and provide increasing support for longer-range projects at the frontiers of atomic energy application." (BAHAHAHAHA!)
"7. Provide a balanced and flexible nuclear defense capability, including the augmentation of the nuclear submarine fleet." (Wowwwwww.)
"We deplore efforts to divide the United States into regional, religious and ethnic groups." (Ohhh, how times have changed.)
"We believe, moreover, that except in periods of recession or national emergency, these needs can be met with a balanced budget, with no increase in present tax rates, and with some surplus for the gradual reduction of our national debt." (Which party is this again?)
"By these four methods we can sharply increase the Government funds available for needed services, for correction of tax inequities, and for debt or tax reduction." (I'm sorry, what? Did a Democratic party platform call for tax reduction?)
"When group interests conflict with the national interest, it will be the national interest which we serve." (Wonder when that stopped being the case.)

So now tell me again which party has lurched towards the extreme?

 

Reagan did not support amnesty for illegals, he went along with amnesty for illegals in exchange for future improvements in border security, which were never forthcoming. Trump has made the same error in caving in on the wall. Reagan himself said it was a mistake.

 

You may want to consult Reagan's politics starting when he was governor. Republicans would never vote for Reagan today.

 

And got fed up with them.

 

Another Republican who has basically defected is Mia Love [former congresswoman from Utah]. Watching her on CNN, like Kasich, criticize Trump endlessly.

 

Reagan started off as a pro-union Democrat and moved progressively further and further to the right. I was already to Reagan's right even when he was president, but since we haven't had anyone better since then, he's grown in my estimation over the years.

 

They have, there is no longer the Birch Bayh, Rockefeller, Dirksken, Richardson, Brooke, Javitz wing of the party, fiscal conservative and socially 'liberal'. Kasich is the closest thing left.

 

We have of course too ... never told we haven't .. but such extreme as in the USA with this lefties vs. righties and this witch hunt and fear against everything what has the term "social" inside, because this si communist is no where else given!

 

Yes, that's why Reagan is still held up as an icon for by most Republicans, because they were fed up with him.

No, the fact is Reagan was a TRUE Republican, the last of a dying breed. I may not agree with all of his policies, but at least he was willing to work with people. Unlike the ones who run the party now, who consider anyone who doesn't agree with them to enemies out to destroy the coujntry.

 

What I am a bit surprised by is the number of Californian Republicans on this forum. So inconsistent with their actual number in California and many other Western states. It's like this forum is their last stand to vent their frustration/ rage against the citizens of the state they live in.

 

Republicans can do whatever they want...but I would never vote for any of them...I don't care if they pretend to be Democrats. Anyone who supported the republican party in the last 18 years isn't worthy of the support of any decent American.

And anyone that supported trump...at any time...is completely beyond any hope of redemption. Mia Love isn't fit to join the Democratic party...she needs to stay with the filth.

 

A great point, and (obviously) spot on.

Another example is the Exponential Overrepresentation of Hard-Core Trump Supporters at PF.
(When compared to his level of support in the real world).

As a Great Philosopher once said:

And really, when you think about it, how many of the "Hard Core RW" even post at PF?

Maybe 20? Tops?

That means that roughly 1 out of every 3 Million people who voted for Trump have enough time on their hands to sit here 24/7 beating the Trump Drum.

1 out of every 3 Million people is really a rather insignificant amount.
___________

However, even given that metric (above) the pro-Trump crowd in exponentially overrepresented at PF.

 

The real #WalkAway

 

Democrats would not have taken back Congress w/out former Republicans and these newly elected representatives appear to be committed to the Democratic agenda [ie. Medicare-for-All]. It's difficult for hard core Republicans to understand that pragmatic leaders in the GOP agree with Democrats. Remember as governor of Massachusetts, Romney signed health care legislation that was copied by Obama. Another example is global warming accepted by several Republicans leaders.

There is a purging of sorts. Voters in LA county, faced with the choice of a former Republican [now independent] incumbent sheriff [recommended by the LA Times and the Democratic mayor] and a basically unknown deputy who made a point of emphasising that he is a Democrat, broke historic non-partisanship and elected the inexperienced deputy.

I don't think that Mia Love and other Republican regulars on CNN are necessarily leaving the GOP. But they most assuredly want Trump taken out of office. A growing number of Senate conservatives continue to oppose Trump by passing bills critical of the president's policy positions and will certainly not allow another shutdown.

 

When you consider that BLOTUS supporters are primarily retired less educated white males who else has the time to spend here at PF?

That would account for their over-representation here in PF.

I suspect that if you checked out other political forums they would show a similar over-representation of this demographic.

What is worth noting is how many ex-Republicans participate in this forum too. There are probably almost as many of them as there are those on the left. Those ex-Republicans tend to be better educated and more articulate IMO.