Just what is up with the Republican party in the US?

[Rapscallion]

I've got to ask. Sure, I don't live over there, but when the US sneezes we tend to catch a cold in Britainlandialand.

It's the politicians that are making the news over there that scare me shitless right now. The party seems to have been taken over by religious fundamentalism, racism, and batshit insanity. I could understand their activities if they were easy to put down to simple greed and croneyism, rather like our right-wingers (not that I appreciate it, but...), but the slew of stories of their attempts to out-do each other on basic issues such as healthcare (can't afford it? die) or law (corporations are people, huh?) is without doubt some of the most extreme examples of fuckwittery that I've ever had the dubious pleasure of observing.

I run a few forums on the 'net, and the majority of the posters are from the US. I actually like most of my forumers and on many aspects we've found common ground. I don't want to see a party that is so flawed shit on them. The CS forum is full of people who are on minimum wages and are going to be the most downtrodden should the Republicans attain the presidency.

This used to be the party that combated slavery, with Lincoln as its first president (I know there are other views, but I think that's the majority opinion). How did it end up bugfuck insane like this? How did it come to the various presidential candidates trying to outdo each other in discrimination against their own compatriots (gay marriage etc) and being cheered for doing so?

Rapscallion

[HYHYBT]

If I may add a question... how can we undo it?

[lordlundar]

Well, to cover the shift, there was a time that the Republican Party WAS effectively the left and the Democrats were the right. Then the democratic policies changed to try to get more of the moderate votes. This pissed off a lot of the "Deep South" Democrats (often referred to as "Dixiecrats") and they switched sides when the Republicans told them They wouldn't change their stance. The influx of Right wingers and the goal of the Republican Party to appeal to them alienated most of their current voting base so they went to the Democrats. Lots of shifting and when the dust settled, they were essentially the same parties, just on different sides of the fence.

Now as for the "bat-shit insane" part, a large part of it boils down to Reagan. Not the man per say, but the policies. Reagan ran on a "no new taxes" platform and a few others that promoted larger military (during points where the Cold War was at it's most delicate) and more jobs, etc. Now any sane economist would tell you that this plan is impossible but the public ate it up. His first year he actually tried to enact his promises and nearly destroyed the country's economy. He then had to change his policies to fix the damage. By the time his second term finished he finally did manage to repair most of it.

Now as for why it's a problem. Because Reagan had such a commanding victory in the elections (The first one had 49 out of 50 states vote Reagan) that he's become idolized by the party and they all try to replicate the results. The problem is that none of them have the charm to try to win on the same platform but that doesn't stop them from trying. So in a combination to win over the "god fearing" bible thumpers and upholding the "Lord Almighty Reagan" it's led to a result of a bunch of zealots trying to outcrazy each other. No one in the party wants to try for the moderates because that's what caused the shift the last time, so every time they see a drop in the polls, they think it's because they lost the fanatics, so the crazy gets dialed up another notch.

Now as for how to fix it, I'm not sure it's possible. It will take either the collapse of the country while they have power or a third party rising up that's further left than the Democrats to force another party shift which will collapse the Republican party.

[Greenday]

The Republican party is out of touch with today's society. Their archaic views have no place in today's society, especially when it comes to human rights or dealing with human beings in general.

The solution? Wait for the older generation to die off. If certain issues haven't been resolved by the older generation in charge, such as gay rights or healthcare, my generation will. Each generation is getting more liberals far as human rights goes. Just look at the numbers. The Democrats contain much more of the youthful population (http://www.gallup.com/poll/118285/de...y-boomers.aspx). Starting with 18 year old, the conservative/Republican population is outnumbered 4:1. It doesn't really get much better for them until people in their late 30s or older. The gap is going to widen as my generation gets older and the oldest generation dies off.

Odds are, the Republican party will get smaller and smaller until it truly is insignificant. Then the Democrat party will break up into smaller segments.

[bara]

I used to be a republican because my dad was... then I reached the age of reason. 9 or 10 I think, and defected to the more liberal way of thinking. I also owe this shift to my awesome sister who introduced me to the world by taking me to columbus with her for a kids/sibs weekend at her college. It was really nice to be able to get different perspectives and see the bigger world. Just a few days around a larger pool of people really helped make good decision in regards to my political choices.

My sister really is awesome and is one of my heroes.

[Daskinor]

Also the republican party has dug themselves a hole. And they see their only solution is to break out more shovels.

For fiscal Conservatives they want to spend less money, that's all well and good. But what do you do when your party spends 8 years lowering the effective tax rate to its lowest levels in the last 100 years. Then this 'Tea Party' pops up demanding even more tax cuts. And becomes very effective at getting your fellow republican congress critters voted out of office.

So what do you do, promise to cut more taxes. Take money away from as much as you can. And basically the republicans have gotten to the point where you need to attack the Military, Social Security and Medicare. Even that is political death, because old people would be hurt the most and they vote predictably and reliably.

Can't raise taxes because you will be replaced by someone who will lower them, and you can squeeze blood from rocks. So you just raise a big fuss, do nothing or divert attention to no fiscal issues.

Now we turn to the Social Conservatives. These are the people who give allot of the republicans bad names. Mainly because their ideology lends itself to the belief that they are doing gods work and therefor are always 'correct' in what they do. You can trace this phenomena back to the civil rights movement. Because you know god made a superior race and all. Its mostly a game of moving targets.

Right now the main focus is on homosexuals and abortion. The homosexual fight is for all purposes lost. 15 years ago you could easily put the idea that all gays where sexual deviants and even pedophiles into peoples heads. Now any rational person knows they are outright lies. The youngest generation feels that gays are like any other person and deserve the same rights and protections.

So now the Social Conservatives double down on Abortion. So the Conservative politicians have to double down on as well to keep their supporters happy. They still try this with homosexuals but the culture battle has swung so far the other way its risky.

Then there is the third problem with the Republican party, The media mascots. The republican supporters have built a large media echo chamber around Conservative beliefs. That its turned into big business. Problem is, they found that keeping there followers scared and/or Angry, is what keeps them tuned in. This has lead to the stretching of the truth, and or outright misinformation to feed the echo chamber.


Honestly I think the Republicans are going to lose to Obama by a large margin. The party base will blame it on not being Conservative enough. And will once again double down.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

I've got to ask. Sure, I don't live over there, but when the US sneezes we tend to catch a cold in Britainlandialand.

It's the politicians that are making the news over there that scare me shitless right now. The party seems to have been taken over by religious fundamentalism, racism, and batshit insanity. I could understand their activities if they were easy to put down to simple greed and croneyism, rather like our right-wingers (not that I appreciate it, but...), but the slew of stories of their attempts to out-do each other on basic issues such as healthcare (can't afford it? die) or law (corporations are people, huh?) is without doubt some of the most extreme examples of fuckwittery that I've ever had the dubious pleasure of observing.

I run a few forums on the 'net, and the majority of the posters are from the US. I actually like most of my forumers and on many aspects we've found common ground. I don't want to see a party that is so flawed shit on them. The CS forum is full of people who are on minimum wages and are going to be the most downtrodden should the Republicans attain the presidency.

This used to be the party that combated slavery, with Lincoln as its first president (I know there are other views, but I think that's the majority opinion). How did it end up bugfuck insane like this? How did it come to the various presidential candidates trying to outdo each other in discrimination against their own compatriots (gay marriage etc) and being cheered for doing so?

Rapscallion

The short answer to your question Raps is: because a black man is President.

I know it sounds ridiculous but the election of a Black President with a funny sounding name (compare Barack with George, Ronald, Bill and Jimmy) has stoked and rekindled the fires of racism to a level not seen since the early days of the Civil Rights movement.

The right wing and Republican Party has seized on this and used the fear of a possibly Muslim/possibly not born in America scary black man to energize their base in an attempt to get the White House back. They call it "Patriotism" but its really thinly veiled racism.

The other thing is that the GOP has done an excellent job of alienating all voter blocs except for evangelical Christians, so they push ahead with the war on women, creationism, anti-abortion stuff to appeal to them.

[HYHYBT]

Sounds right, to an extent, but there are problems: first, although it's gotten louder, they've been like that since before Obama came along... and second, if they've alienated most voter blocs, why do they keep getting elected?

[Fire_on_High]

The short answer to your question Raps is: because a black man is President.

Baloney. Herman Cain ring any bells? Colin Powell? Both have been discussed and the general consensus is either would have made a fine president.

We oppose his policy, not his skin.

[BlaqueKatt]

if they've alienated most voter blocs, why do they keep getting elected?

Voter apathy, many democrats think "oh candidate blowhard can't possibly win, so I won't bother doing anything like voting, besides it's not the presidential election, it's only for governor/mayor/congress/senate."

We oppose his policy, not his skin.

that may be true for you, but one person's feelings =/= every party member's stance, remember former front runner of the republican race, Rick Santorum was openly cheered when he started to call Obama the n word-or am I mistaken? does the n word now apply to policies and not skin color?, and the "birthers", I'm sure they concocted the conspiracy because of his policies* and not his skin color.

*considering they started before the election and not AFTER his policies were enacted.

[MadMike]

I've always said that both parties are equally horrible, and I've often condemned people who seem to think their party could do no wrong, and the opposite party could do no right. But lately, the people calling themselves republicans are scaring the hell out of me. I voted for Obama last time around, and I would have considered voting against him this time, if it wasn't for the fact that all the people who were running against him were bat-shit crazy. Romney's probably the least crazy of the bunch, but the more I hear about him, the less I like about him, so chances are I'm voting for Obama again.

It's sad to see Lincoln's party self-destructing the way it is. I have to wonder if during my lifetime, I'll see the Republicans go the way of the Whigs.

[Greenday]

The short answer to your question Raps is: because a black man is President.

Baloney. Herman Cain ring any bells? Colin Powell? Both have been discussed and the general consensus is either would have made a fine president.

We oppose his policy, not his skin.

Herman Cain was a joke candidate and was never meant to be taken seriously.

Don't the Republicans hate Powell these days?

[Rapscallion]

I've always said that both parties are equally horrible, and I've often condemned people who seem to think their party could do no wrong, and the opposite party could do no right. But lately, the people calling themselves republicans are scaring the hell out of me. I voted for Obama last time around, and I would have considered voting against him this time, if it wasn't for the fact that all the people who were running against him were bat-shit crazy. Romney's probably the least crazy of the bunch, but the more I hear about him, the less I like about him, so chances are I'm voting for Obama again.

Sounds like the decision is based on the least worst option, right? From the perspective over here, he's not a bad president, but I get the feeling that he's very much bouyed by the sheer vileness of most of his opposition.

I think what really does it for me is that everything is so negative about the campaigning, but the Republicans seem to be the most dedicated to bile and vitriol rather than anything constructive or even debating. Even the Obama camp is negative in campaigning, though the guy himself comes across as being far more constructive.

That said, when your opposition is leaving open such huge gaps in their armour in the way that the Republicans are, then it's hard not to give them a slap now and then.

Rapscallion

[Jaden]

I was pretty damn sure I was going to be voting Republican this election cycle. Then I saw the candidates. The Republicans have the most piss-poor showing of unelectable people they've had in years, maybe ever.

So I'm currently undecided. There's a very real chance I'll be voting for Obama, but I don't know yet. Either way, like Raps said, it's pretty much a matter of choosing the person I dislike the least.

[AdminAssistant]

I don't like everything that Obama has done, but I'll be voting for him. I mean, the other options are Romney, who would ruin our economy in a matter of weeks, and Paul, who has abhorrent social policies.