As more people leave...

[mpholland]

...the asses and elephants and migrate towards independence, I wonder what will happen to the big two down the road? From what I can tell, more have actually left the democrats, but the republicans are actually feeling more pain from their people leaving.

My dream would be the demise of both parties, and a general electorate that votes their conscience, but alas, that is only a dream. I suppose it could become a three party system, but i don't see that working out too well. Maybe independents will wipe out the republicans and become the new right and the dems will continue to be the left. It would be nice to see a centered party rise up that was a bit more fiscally conservative than democrats, but still was a party of and for the people.

It seems that self-proclaimed independents are already larger than either of the other two parties, with dems in the middle and reps sucking hind tit. I wonder if those statistics will ever migrate into mainstream politics?

This seems like good, reasonable discussion fodder. What say you folks?

[icenine]

If you think about it there are really no successful democratic societies with only one political party. No matter what the name of the party is there will always be two or more.

And I think the Republicans have lost more than the Democrats....your independents, normal Republicans and regular Dems make up the Obama coalition.

[mpholland]

It is a dream...kind of like any pure political structure. People with things in common will always band together.

[4-2-7]

Libertarian is the balanced ground and growing rapidly. I would not be surprised in a huge gain in libertarian candidates and voters 2016.

Many Americans are just sick to death of the other two ass wipes.

[icenine]

I am pretty comfortable with the two party system...but then again I am a government man.

With Obama you have a guy who is fighting terrorism, deporting illegal immigrants at a very high rate AND supporting gay marriage, looking the other way on pot legalization, and socially liberal.

So maybe the future you want may be now lol

[4-2-7]

Originally Posted by icenine

I am pretty comfortable with the two party system...but then again I am a government man.

With Obama you have a guy who is fighting terrorism, deporting illegal immigrants at a very high rate AND supporting gay marriage, looking the other way on pot legalization, and socially liberal.

So maybe the future you want may be now lol

Hardy

[Rajoo]

Our political system is rigged for just the two major parties, Democratic and Republican. They will not let another party in unless all primaries become open primaries and independents can vote for either party. This is not going to happen any time soon.

[icenine]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/0...p_ref=business



ok from favoring pot de-legalization to having a strong record of fighting terrorism......Obama is co-opting both sides of the GOP.....

with health care and this who needs a Rand Paul.....

[d-ray657]

Originally Posted by mpholland

...the asses and elephants and migrate towards independence, I wonder what will happen to the big two down the road? From what I can tell, more have actually left the democrats, but the republicans are actually feeling more pain from their people leaving.

My dream would be the demise of both parties, and a general electorate that votes their conscience, but alas, that is only a dream. I suppose it could become a three party system, but i don't see that working out too well. Maybe independents will wipe out the republicans and become the new right and the dems will continue to be the left. It would be nice to see a centered party rise up that was a bit more fiscally conservative than democrats, but still was a party of and for the people.

It seems that self-proclaimed independents are already larger than either of the other two parties, with dems in the middle and reps sucking hind tit. I wonder if those statistics will ever migrate into mainstream politics?

This seems like good, reasonable discussion fodder. What say you folks?

Yes, this is reasonable discussion fodder.

I do, however, take issue with some of your premises. For your dream to become a reality, we would have to have a well-informed electorate. I don't foresee that. Indeed, I heard today that 40% of registered voters don't know who the VP is. That is hard to believe, but if it is even half true, it is scary.

Unless everyone is capable of understanding most of the issues, and understanding the stands that particular candidates/politicians take on those issues, they need some sort of identifier to give them a clue as to the candidate's inclinations. For example, we can believe, as a general rule that - at least according to the party platform - Republicans are going to be more aligned with business interests and Democrats more aligned with the interests of the middle class. I'm afraid the reality is that the big money skews both parties toward the interests of the corporate class. The Republicans are just more blatant in their fealty to their overlords.

I would love to see another part of your dream - that the "conservative" party was closer to the center - or that what used to be the center was actually the center, rather than the group of those who haven't fallen off the right edge.

Finally, I think you define independents far too narrowly. Independents can include those who think the the Democratic party is too much of a corporate party. Libertarians will be found among independents, as will radical religious folks. Also remember that the Tea Party claimed that they were independent. Certainly there are among independents disaffected voters who used to belong to one of the two major parties, but to say that the independents could in any way be considered a block of voters is misleading.

It would be interesting to see if some type of parliamentary system could occur here. That tends to lend itself to more diverse political parties. Unfortunately, that dream has no better chance than the dream for the demise of all parties.

Great thread topic though.

Regards,

D-Ray

[bobabode]

I'm a Democrat and damn proud of it. Always have been and always will be and don't really give a crap what anyone thinks about it.