How a minority party holds on to power.

[Tom Joad]

The Republicans have been able to hold on to more power in congress than their numbers would indicate. They do this by working the system. But inevitably the time is coming when even that won't be enough.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert...usaolp00000592

The Gallup poll reports that the number of Americans identifying as Republicans has fallen to its lowest level in the quarter century it has been tracking the number: 25 percent.

Republicans lost the last presidential popular election by almost five million votes.

The FEC reports that combining the total number of votes cast by Americans for president, House and Senate in 2012, Americans voted for the GOP 158,605,000 times and for the Democrats 176,167,000 times. In other words they cast over 17 million more Democratic votes than Republican votes in 2012.

And even though Republican gerrymandering allowed the party to maintain control of the House by a slim margin, 1.17 million more votes were cast for Democratic House candidates than for Republicans.

Right now, GOP hopes for victories do not rest on their ability to appeal democratically to the majority of voters. They hinge entirely on successful gerrymandering and voter suppression policies that reduce the turnout of ordinary Americans. That means their hopes for political success in the future rest on very, very thin ice. And -- amazingly -- they seem to be doing everything they can to make the ice that separates them from complete political marginality thinner and thinner.

continue

[bobabode]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...young/?hpid=z2

Another poll showing how poorly the GOP is doing.

[MrPots]

I was fixin' to go vote in the primaries today, until I read in todays paper that as an independent, I cannot vote. Seems the primaries are rigged such that you can only vote if you declare a party on your registration.

So much for democracy. The two parties pick a candidate and you get to pick among only their choices.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by MrPots

I was fixin' to go vote in the primaries today, until I read in todays paper that as an independent, I cannot vote. Seems the primaries are rigged such that you can only vote if you declare a party on your registration.

So much for democracy. The two parties pick a candidate and you get to pick among only their choices.

I think closed primaries should be illegal.

I don't see how it passes the constitutionality test.

[MrPots]

I'm not seeing that either, but this is Kansas and the only constitutional protections we have here is guns.

[piece-itpete]

In fairness, the primaries are specifically to pick each parties' candidate.

Pete

[MrPots]

So why are the taxpayer funded?

Politics today... not representing the people, representing the party.

[piece-itpete]

Seeing as the 2 parties control government it doesn't surprise me!

According to my dad, there used to be a box you could check at the top of the ballot to vote a straight ticket.

Pete

[nailer]

I see a parallel in the Republican's holding onto legislative power and the Slavocracy doing the same executively.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

In fairness, the primaries are specifically to pick each parties' candidate.

Pete

So fucking what?

That means that someone who doesn't feel like declaring a political when they register gets absolutely no chance for input into the process until the field has been narrowed down to two candidates. I think that's fucked up.