Have We Reached a Party Re-Alignment Tipping-Point?

[JCMach1]

Eating lunch today and seeing the news about what Romney was saying about Trump, I just had (for the first time) a very strong feeling I was watching the destruction of the Republican party and perhaps the beginning of a kind of weird new re-alignment of the parties.

Is the two-party system about to permanently dissolve (finally) due the pressures presented by being a large, modern, and diverse country?

Is it just the wheels coming off the Republican Party permanently?

Is the Democratic party as participating in this 'change'?

I don't really have a dog in this fight, I was just curious to see what other people are thinking at the moment.

[morningfog]

1. Not sure if the two party system will end, but the parties are changing.

And it may even change in name.

[JCMach1]

3. If I do have a 'theory' in this... it is that We have become much larger and more diverse as a

country...

The old old argument of big vs. small government is not the only rubric in town. So, are we fracturing into something new with people gravitating to parties focused on more individualized ideologies and agendas:

Democratic Socialists, Libertarians, Christian Republicans, Conservatives, Nationalists, Greens, Liberals, Center-Right, Moderates, etc... just to throw out a few of the possibilities...

[morningfog]

4. I'd love for that to happen. Less gridlock when coalitions

can form for specific issues.

[Adrahil]

13. In order for the two-party system to change....

WE would need to move away from election laws that reward that system. I'd love to see it, but right now, the party that splits, loses almost 100% of the time. There are exceptions, of course, but they are rare.

[Xipe Totec]

2. #cybilwar nt

[morningglory]

5. Les Moonves has stated that Trump has been a Yuuuuge boon to his network.

As a result, I believe we will see more and more of these Mad Magazine candidates who get swapped out for the real candidates at the last minute by our dark overlords.

[craigmatic]

6. We are at a re-aligning point. It is the 4th turning afterall. The last turning- the 80's

was good for republicans. Now it's democrats turn. After this election, the repubs will have to return to the center and play on a more democratic-leaning field. Trump is the end of the reagan era.

[highprincipleswork]

7. Two party system sucks, especially these two parties.

Wish we had a parliamentary system, to be honest. Even in this system, need new coalitions for this whole thing to work.

[bemildred]

8. Yes.

Long overdue actually. The Mighty Wurlitzer has finally lost control of our political discussions.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. The two-party setup is pretty well baked into our political system

Last edited Thu Mar 3, 2016, 07:21 PM - Edit history (1)

so that's not likely to go away. A parliamentary system allows for multiple parties that can form coalitions but ours doesn't; the minor parties that do exist have very little power and, the way the system works, are limited in their ability to acquire much influence. However, the two major parties are likely to realign in some yet-unforeseen way; it's happened before. Originally there were no political parties but the way the electoral system was set up it became necessary to form them in order for politicians running for office to win popular support. The Republican Party arose as an abolitionist party after the Whigs collapsed before the Civil War, and were then what we'd call liberal. The Democratic Party was mostly the party of white southerners and conservative, pro-business people.

Gradually these alliances reversed, and by the '30s the Democratic Party (mostly) represented liberal voters, Jews, African Americans, labor unions, progressive intellectuals, and populist farm groups. Opposition Republicans were split between a conservative wing and a moderate wing (e.g., Nelson Rockefeller). But there were still a lot of conservative Democrats in the South, who eventually went to the Republican side in the 70s and 80s. Evangelical Christians acquired considerable power in the Republican Party during the '80s and afterwards, and the Republicans predominate in the South, rural areas, and suburbs. African-Americans, Hispanics and white urban progressives tend to vote Democratic. But recent events may cause a different alignment, as "establishment" leaders in both parties try to figure out what to do about people who aren't drinking their Kool-Aid. The tea party movement has spawned the overt racism and xenophobia represented by Trump and his supporters, and the money guys in the suits know he's likely to bring down the GOP as they know it. Meanwhile, Hillary is starting to Feel the Bern; Sanders' supporters represent a movement that isn't going away any time soon.

I think that very soon the two parties will not look like they do now. Stay tuned. We live in interesting times.

[JCMach1]

11. Or not, the Parties themselves, in terms of power, have been eroding for decades

With voters, more and more people register as, Independent (slightly more than 1/3).

In the past, the two main parties co-opted movements and single-issue parties and re-aligned on several occasions as coalitions shifted.

I definitely saw something today, but sticking my finger in the wind I am still not quite sure what it is precisely.

[fredamae]

10. Yes-democracy is infiltrating the Dem Party.

And if they don't like it? I believe there are a lot of people who are not just ready but are highly motivated to begin anew.

[Shandris]

12. Yes and no.

I've become somewhat enamored of the concept of neurotribes, and I see a rising relevance for it in the near future. But I don't think it will be just another reshift into the red-blue duality; rather, it needs to become much more diverse and not less. Neurotribes (and, by extension, advocating for your neurotribes needs) notch in pretty nicely, as I see them. Sort of an expanded Parliamentary-type setup (obviously I'm not talking overnight!), but not built along monetary or expediency lines.

But before that can happen, all mass-controlled organs will need to be diversified, starting first and foremost with the media. Thankfully, the media itself is watching its' own slide to complete irrelevance. Couldn't happen to a more deserving group of people outside of Washington.