So what happened to the GOP?

[TGregg]

Once upon a time, one of the major parties was for smaller government, term limits. . . wait, let me quote from the Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_with_America :

Government reform

On the first day of their majority, the Republicans promised to hold floor votes on eight reforms of government operations:

* require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply to Congress;
* select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
* cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
* limit the terms of all committee chairs;
* ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
* require committee meetings to be open to the public;
* require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
* and implement a zero base-line budgeting process for the annual Federal Budget.

But that's not the GOP of today. Bush `43 wandered well away from this, but every once in a while he'd make a slight move towards conservatism. Then "Maverick" McCain would stop him. So now McCain is the GOP nominee.

Quote from mrman500:

I used to think that Republicans were the good guys...now I don't think that there are any good guys.

Some think that's because our country has drifted left so the GOP has to follow lest we be reduced to a single party system. And there's certainly evidence to support that theory. Obama is the most liberal candidate ever put forward by either party. McCain is at least 45% democrat - he even considered switching parties. Could you imagine the outcry if somebody had said they wanted to "spread the wealth" 50 years ago? That candidate would have gone down faster than a female intern wearing knee pads in the Clinton Oval Office.

Just wondered if there were any less gloomy theories for the decline of the republican party. Cuz this one (which I support so far) doesn't show them coming back, and it bodes very poorly for this country over the long run. By extension, it also brings bad things to the entire world. I don't mean just during an Obama administration. McCain could win and (hopefully) slow it some, but the socialistic march into twilight is coming. Unless I am wrong, that is.

 

[Lucrum]

Quote from TGregg:



1)That candidate would have gone down faster than a female intern wearing knee pads in the Clinton Oval Office.



2) Cuz this one (which I support so far) doesn't show them coming back, and it bodes very poorly for this country over the long run.

1)
That's funny!

2)Long run? Now aren't you the optimistic lad. Do we even have an "long" run left in front of us?

 

[TGregg]

Quote from Lucrum:

2)Long run? Now aren't you the optimistic lad. Do we even have an "long" run left in front of us?

Mebbe I should have said very long run. We're not going to be living in caves on January 22nd, no matter how hard the left tries to achieve it. This country will still be here even after an Obama Whitehouse leads a democrat congress to the treasury. No worries, the republicans that are still around will also have both trotters in the trough.

East Germany went to hell right quick, but they were already war ravaged and subject to a much higher concentration of left wing ideals than even Obama has the cheek to put forward. Socialist Europe has managed to squeak by for many years. Problem is, how much of the squeaking was due to a capitalist engine? Some, at least. A lot? Couldn't tell you. Hopefully not.

I see a mostly stagnant economy for many years as more and more people stand in line for handouts and production bears an every increasing burden. It'll be a bit like the markets, meaning that it won't be a straight line but an identifiable trend. I'm optimistic in the sense that I'll be able to live out a reasonably decent life. Don't have any kids, so no big worries about how it will suck to be downstream of my generation. We had an obligation to hand over the country at least as good as we received, and we blew it. But we were set up for failure, and it may well be that (eventually) socialism would indeed win. Kinison was wrong, it really is "The wave of the future".

 

[ZZZzzzzzzz]

What, no republicans blaming Clinton for all their problems?

Oh the horror...

The republicans will have to be introspective and examine their own shit for a change?

Could that really happen?

No way...

 

[BlindLemonBoosh]

Quote from TGregg:

We're not going to be living in caves on January 22nd, no matter how hard the left tries to achieve it.

The left is trying to put the American populace into caves? You fellas sure have some interesting theories...

 

[fhl]

Obama, unlike Clinton, won't have a worldwide wave of previously communist nations beginning international trade, a free trade agreement in our own hemisphere, a huge, though deceptive peace dividend, a republican congress to drag him kicking and screaming into a welfare reform and cap gains tax cut.

Obama will be Clinton w/o all the offsets that created prosperity. Like Art Laffer recently wrote in a wsj op-ed, it will be the End Of Prosperity. :eek:

 

[bigdavediode]

Quote from fhl:

Obama, unlike Clinton, won't have a worldwide wave of previously communist nations beginning international trade, a free trade agreement in our own hemisphere, a huge, though deceptive peace dividend, a republican congress to drag him kicking and screaming into a welfare reform and cap gains tax cut.

Luckily there won't be a Republican congress! Phew! That's a close call, because any more debt and the country is OVER.

Obama will be Clinton w/o all the offsets that created prosperity. Like Art Laffer recently wrote in a wsj op-ed, it will be the End Of Prosperity.

No more peace, either?

 

[WaveStrider]

That list of government reforms is a worthy goal for any party - Republican, Democrat, or Independent.

The problem is that they get used in whole or in part all the time as talking points until a group gets power - then it is all out the window.

The ideals of strengthening the country with reforms turn into a narcissistic focus to keep power, which opens the door for corrupting influence peddling to work it's way in.

The GOP is, to quote Lincoln, "a house divided against itself." The "base" supports a Palin/fundamentalist approach while others support the likes of what Goldwater and Buckley stood for ("elitist" and "arugula eaters" by comparison).

But the Democrats should not be smug - the power that they hope to gain has the same affect on everyone. No exceptions.

The GOP will be back when it has it's house in order - or earlier if Democrats win and power has it's usual affect.