Interesting WP Article

[beawr]

Good Morning Campers,

Take a look at this article and tell me what YOU think.

I think the guy has a valid observation. The article says a lot about why the wingnuts have taken control of both parties.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58554-2003Dec12.html

[NJCher]

1. ths is a must-read for DU-ers!

So much of what you see going on here at DU was predicted by Coase 70 years ago!

Fascinating article and goes into my "saved" file.

BTW, what did you think about the point of the third party candidate?

It will be interesting to see how the repukes (and certain Dems, too), seek to subvert the people.


Cher

[beawr]

4. It's a matter of Time

I think that some third party candidate will win, probably some sort of Celebrity in the manner of Arnold Schwartzenegger, or Jesse Ventura. I believe that Third parties are already deciding elections. Wallace in '68 swung the Presidency to Nixon in the South. I think Clinton would have lost without Perot siphoning votes, and let's not even talk about Nader. Now, these efforts can get done far more quickly. Balkanization is here, we had better learn some discipline, like our Republican friends, if we want a voice.

[ithacan]

2. good analysis but wrong about "Christian right"

he says this:

Second, the evangelical right will become a separate political party in the near future, and will hold its own conventions and primaries.

Sorry, too late for that. The "christian" right already has its own political party. It's called the Republican Party. They control it lock, stock and barrel. Every one of the leaders of the GOP in Congress are christian right people. The entire agenda of the GOP is the "christian" right's agenda.

For the scary details of this fact, see: http://www.theocracywatch.org/

This does provide an opening for us though, because lots of republicans have no idea that their party has been taken over by this fringe group.

We don't necessarily need to get them to vote Dem; more important is to get them not to vote at all. Once they realize their party is run by looney "christians", they will not vote and that's just as well.

[beawr]

3. This is why I like Clark

I think there's many Republicans that given an opportunity to vote for a Centrist (and while I think Dean IS a centrist he doesn't play that way) will switch. But as long as we are perceived as lefties, the great middle will lean right.

[ithacan]

6. disagree: key is to get republicans to NOT vote

first, I tend to like Clark so this is not about him.

I disagree with the premise that the Dems should change their policy, shift to the right, to attract these votes. We absolutely should NOT be doing that.

What we SHOULD do is get those republicans to stay home. Get them to realize what their party has become. They will not want to support that, and they don't want to support a truly progressive Democratic party, so they will stay home. That is the key.

This is what the Republicans have been doing all along; remember the campaigns they ran in black neighborhoods to try to make Dems seem anti-black? The goal was not to get blacks to vote R, but to get them not to vote at all.

That should be a major part of the strategy.

The Democrats have the popular vote no problem. The key to winning is not to become more conservative, but to be true to progressive values, to be proud, to draw sharp contrasts with the right.

[beawr]

7. Well.........

Of course, I am not what many would term "truly" progressive.........

[0007]

10. That's in front - so why waste your time?

[beawr]

13. I guess you're right, so bye bye

[beawr]

8. Also....

If our Republican friends have taught us anything it is that it is FAR more important to get in office than it is to say what it is you are going to do there. Morally repugnant, but effective.

I find it difficult to imagine that we can get Republicans to stay at home. I am thinking about white suburban males primarily (I forget the currently hip nickname for them), but they tend Republican and they do indeed vote.

Here in the great state of Maryland, the Republicans have tried such tricks as handing out fliers misstating the dates of elections and hinting that voters will be screened for criminal records at the polls. These tactics have worked.

[hippywife]

11. One of these days

the people you want to get to stay home need to see that they vote against their very own interests when they vote Republican. After decades of decidedly different results, they still perceive that aligning themselves with the wealthy will rub off on them one day.

I still find it totally amazing that they continue to spurn the party that brought about every kind of needed social reform. They don't seem to mind taking advantage of the reforms the Dems have brought about just so long as their tax dollars aren't going to pay for them.

Maybe one of these days when they've voted Republican so much that we're back to debtors prisons, with no safety net for health or old age and they are living in hovels again, this time with indoor plumbing, they'll figure it out.

[beawr]

12. Absolutely

Naturally, when they win the lottery. I think it's mostly racial and the mega rich are taking full advantage.

[gristy]

5. Interesting article

Thanks for posting it.

[Catfish]

9. Very interesting

Thanks for the link. It's going to take the party structures some time to understand this phenomena. Let's see which party uses the alliances with the splinter groups and which resists. It does seem inevitable that the far wings will have more power on the margin.

[Dover]

14. So does this mean we'll vote for the "PERSON" rather than the Party?

Of course we already do that to a large extent, but it sure would allow candidates to be released from a lot of party baggage.

Kerry and other insiders have been irritated that the field of candidates is so diverse and watered down. But that epitomizes the change described in the article...and the results seem to be profoundly democratic if it levels the playing field.

One thing that wasn't mentioned as a possible means of suppressing this change would be control of the internet...which is being debated right now.