Politics The Elephant in the room...The GOP today

The thing is that the modern day Democrats have those old school conservative values now.

I do think that the GOP enjoyed the success of the 80's and then expected to win in 1992. The 1st Bush administration had won a war in Kuwait, the Soviet Union broke up and allowed religion in, computers were starting to take off in the home and were an improvement. But the loss lead the GOP congressional leadership to write 'The Contract With America'. Now, Dole wasn't a modern enough candidate in '96, but the GOP started to harden around a set of principles and ideas. Talk radio and word-of-mouth/political campaigns gave people the talking points to use and to try and change the minds of enough people. And by 2000 they started governing based on their principals instead of that was best for the country and all of the people. And then the Internet happened, and TV networks, talk radio, and the housing bubble burst and the recession happened. The only way to get back into power was to prevent the Democrats from doing anything successfully.

 

I might have missed a gradual change...but...

I don't recall the words liberal and conservative being used very frequently until the 1980 Presidential race. It seems to me that Reagan started the conservative and liberal labelling, which lead to an us vs them division, which has evolved or devolved into our current partisan wars.

In our current political environment moderates don't seem to stand a chance. They either follow the party line, or end up as outsiders. Freshmen and junior politicians basically have to follow the party leaders.

 

Corporations are who come in and fill the void in this country. They write the laws that benefit them. They get around the tax code. And they pit states and cities against each other for tax breaks and real taxpayer funded subsidies.

The big countries aren't communist, but Cuba and Vietnam have a version of communism. North Korea might consider themselves communist, but it is hard to say what they are. They seem to be more of a military dictatorship.

 

A thought carried over from the Trump thread...

If Trump survives, legally speaking, and decides to make a run in 2024, I wonder how the GOP would react. Much would depend on the strength of the other candidates, but Trump might represent a potential voting split the GOP wouldn't survive.

Let's hope the above turns out moot.
Or it happens depending on your politics.

 

Anonymously, most of the elected GOP members don't want him to run in 2024. It will either be a blowout in the primaries because Trump gave the voters everything they want. And Trump won't hesitate to beat down fellow GOP up and comers.