Tell that to Donald Trump, or Ted Cruz, or the Freedom Caucus. The party officially formed in 1854.
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The Republican chaos reached new highs – or lows – last week when the designated successor to House Speaker John Boehner was forced to withdraw.
They’re different people. Bernie knows how to rev up the base. They’re seen more favorably than those who’ve held a few sort of government office. At that time, it was just 56-percent of the respondents who felt another party was needed.
Looking over the list of possible nominees doesn’t reveal an obvious solution. Once the incumbent president in those eras became unpopular, voters gave control of one or both houses of Congress to the opposition party in the next midterm election. But these were white Americans in the 19th century. Black Southerners didn’t count in the equation, since they were still mostly being blocked from voting. Today, 94% of Democrats are to the left of the median Republican, and 92% of Republicans are to the right of the median Democrat. Nixon’s new Republicans became a formidable national party, Lilly explained, but they always straddled the tension between rich and poor.
However, when we examine the Senate things are nearly flipped. On the other hand, common folks don’t worry over marginal tax rates, capital formation, or subsidies for major corporations. There is room for debate about conservative policy initiatives.
But, but, but-both sides do it, right?! That is Dixie’s euphemism for opposing racial integration. Helms won, and of course so did Bush.
2Democrats have remained very loyal to President Barack Obama. But it did not break into truly virulent, systemic frenzy until Bill Clinton got elected in 1992. But the hope that Democrats could make peace with Dixie by moderating their liberalism was a fantasy. This is a duty in which the Democratic Party has failed utterly. People began mobilizing their own rump-group politics to push back.
Whittaker Chambers could be writing today in the dismal aftermath of last week’s revolt of the party’s true believers, hardliners and assorted nutcases-who have thrown their party into turmoil once again by forcing the withdrawal of one responsible Republican leader after another from their positions in the House leadership. The Tea Party identified real problems. “Obama created the Tea Party”. Will this country have a stronger defense or just slip further into appeasement?
The point is, the grassroots anxieties were disappointed by the party establishment’s responses. But in addition to those immediate and practical political desires, many Americans, particularly independents, seem to have normative concerns about giving one party too much power. Nobody wants to buy them, which is fine because the old man is not really interested in selling. Confusion and stalemate have their political uses. Other Southern states swiftly followed with similar moves.
Compare that to the Republican wall-building, government-shutdown, destroy Planned Parenthood, investigate Benghazi and emails, fire Boehner, climate change denying, gun-toting, repeal Obamacare and gay marriage crowd that has sucked all the political oxygen out of the room. Instead of playing limp and vague, Dems can launch what Howard Dean called for in 2004: a 50-state strategy that runs on liberating issues.
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Though the Republicans’ primary has been marked by attacks – often lobbed by and at Trump – they can draw voter attention. Generally, the minority party tends to show up to vote more than the majority party.
