Would you rather see the GOP totally implode or make a shift to the left?

[alwysdrunk]

This whole Dawson possibly winning the party chair rally has me thinking. It's fun to root against your rival, but then again there are other considerations. Dawson becoming chair would be a disaster for the GOP.

Thing is, this is a two party system. The one good thing a two party system provides is stability. It cuts down on the politics, no need to worry about forming coalition governments and things like that. The last time we had more than two real parties the union split in half. I think it's in the best interest of american people to have two functioning major parties.

I had assumed Steele would win all along. That over the next two years or so people like Rush Limbaugh will start to lose their influence and the mistakes of the Bush years would start to be recognized. No more "with us or with the terrorists", no more denying global warming. Basically, the start of a slow but steady shift to the left. This past week, that's not looking like that is what's going on.

I'm really undecided on how I feel about this. What does DU think? Would you rather see the GOP become a regional party and the Democrats running the country with 65%-70% majorities? Or for the GOP recognize where the American people's hearts and minds are, drop the racism and theocracy and divisiveness, stop selling us out to banks and corporations and become a true and honest major political party?

[ShortnFiery]

1. Implode.

Hands down!

[Milspec]

84. IMPLODE!

Massively. Splinter into a few minority parities

[w4rma]

2. Both. (nt)

[leftstreet]

3. Shift left

Somebody's gotta do it.

[Solomon]

121. That would be imploding for them.

[shraby]

4. Im

plode

[lapfog_1]

5. Actually, in the dark of night...

I wish we could colonize Mars with about 20 million republicans.

[jkirch]

41. Mars ain't far enough away.

[Hugabear]

63. Send them all to the Sun

Tell them that you'll send them at night, so they won't get burned.

[lapfog_1]

66. And they have to take the ashes of Ronnie Raygun with them

so when they land, Ronnie can finally contribute something to the universe.

E = MC2 indeed.

[KansDem]

6. Totally implode...

We already have "the left."

[BrklynLiberal]

7. Implode.

I would not mind if there were 3-4 parties from which we could choose our elected officials...and all 4 parties should be very much to the left of what is now the repuke party.

I am not so sure that the process of forming coalitions is always a bad thing. It does give at least some voice to each position.

[hamsterjill]

8. Implode

And I want it to be public and I want it to be painful.

I'm sorry, but after eight years of Bush and his b/s, I do not have warm, fuzzy feelings for those people.

[alwysdrunk]

13. I'm asking what would be better for the country

I know exactly how you feel. I basically felt the say way until I saw Limbaugh becoming the main voice of the party and a segregationist almost becoming chair. I don't know about a single party running everything for decades. I might vote for democrats but I still don't really trust politicians enough to give all the power to a few leaders.

[CTyankee]

27. I share your concern but really we know what is happening here.

The Republican Party as we have seen it morph into a distortion will through a kind of natural selection become extinct at the national level. New voters don't go into the Republican Party. The Party is losing its members rapidly. It is the party of the unsane and they are rapidly becoming irrelevant.

We will have a new ascendancy of the Democratic Party, which has remade itself remarkably when it needed to. I would hope for a continuation of the diversity of our party. It is the only way it can remain healthy. The Republican model is shrunken and old. IT is simply going to extinction. The only question as you have said is maintaining our own sense of balance and resisting power lust. I truly don't know if we can, but I know we sure as hell have to to try.

[alwysdrunk]

35. I don't think we can. I don't think any party could

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. I guess in reality the Democratic party would then split, in the event of a true GOP implosion as some other posters are saying.

[CTyankee]

45. The point you make is what Thucydides made 2500 years ago about the Athenian Empire.

As you know, Athens was the world's first democracy (deeply flawed tho it was). But it became drunk on power and money and that caused its downfall. Thucydides wrote his History of the Peloponnesian War to attest to just that catastrophe. Athens overreached, launched the Sicilian Expedition to "spread democracy" (not unlike our expedition in Iraq), slaughtering a whole island of people (in Melos) who did not want to be in the Empire), and caused the final defeat of the once invincible Athenian navy by the Spartans (NOT a democratic society at all) at Siricusa.

Sorry to go all "greek history" on you, but there is a sad history here that corroborates what you have said. I think our founders had the same fears. A republic going to empire was, to them, a very bad thing. They had an ideal. I think they knew that it would not last once the country finally reached its final boundary of geography.

Thanks for your thoughtful post here.

[jhrobbins]

106. That's the problem - if you meant that the Democratic party would be the only

party, then absolutely not. Those future Democrats would not be recognizable to us - you know the absolute power thing and all.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

9. I didn't read the entire post... IMPLODE. (n/t)

[graywarrior]

10. Continue to implode

[anonymous171]

11. If the GOP becomes a minority/regional party, the Democratic party will split in half.

The DLC or the progressive left will split off and form their own party.

[alwysdrunk]

15. That's exactly what I'm afriad of

That type of thing can lead to instability if we aren't careful.

[wyldwolf]

17. ummm

The DLC/PPI is a think tank. If New Democrats and/or the Progressive Left splintered off, there would still be a large dominant party who are neither 'progressives' or New Democrats

[anonymous171]

18. I was using the DLC as a blanket term for conservative democrats.

[wyldwolf]

21. it doesn't apply

where would people like carolyn mccarthy go who is a DLC member? Or Jim Webb who is not? Or even Joe Biden who, before he was selected as VP, was a hated Senator among the netroots and often accused of being a DLC member.

If you were referring to Blue Dogs, you might have a point.

[Andy823]

12. I think they will have to

Shift to the left if they want to stay around. The gang of "ditto heads" in congress are the "old" party of idiots who can't think for themselves so they follow Rush. I agree with what you said, and I think Rush and the other talking heads of the Bush era will lost their power over the next few years. Those with half a brain the republican party will see that the only way to survive will be to shift to the left and try and pull in people who are not of the radical right wing base, and not the super rich, they can't win elections with what they have now, and no matte what they do they will be the minority party for a long time to come.

[TheCowsCameHome]

14. #3. Rot slowly on the vine.

[Happyhippychick]

16. Implode while shifting left

[DJ13]

19. Shift Left

Our own party needs the competition so they dont become complacent and no longer care about representing the Left in this country.

[librechik]

20. If they try to shift to the left, they will implode

that's what happens when you spend decades gaming the system. Now it's not possible
for them to reform and help America--they're only positioned to want it to fail, like Rush.

Black and White loses to Gray over time.

[Occam Bandage]

22. Shift left. nt

[alwysdrunk]

23. Damn, I should have made this a poll

All the one word answers, I wish you could add a poll after the fact. Post and learn, post and learn.

[NRaleighLiberal]

24. They cannot shift to the left. It is beyond their belief systems, their code of "life"

They must be lock step and authoritarian - either as mindless leaders or brainless followers. Implode or struggle to pathetically survive are their only options.

[hughee99]

87. That doesn't make any sense...

If they're mindless leaders and brainless followers, then a "belief system" doesn't matter. Change a few of the leaders (with different opinions) and the belief system of the whole party changes. Then the mindless followers do what they do best.

[camera obscura]

25. Shift left. Much further left.

[Larry in KC]

26. Implode while attempting to shift farther RIGHT.

[AllentownJake]

28. Implode than the democratic party split in two

So you have a moderate party and a liberal party with conservatism going the way of libertarianism as an idealogy.

[kath]

109. Yep - that's my dream - Repugs implode, leaving room for a new party (a party for the PEOPLE) to

form on the left.

[Sultana]

29. Disappear

:shrug:

[T Wolf]

30. Implode, explode, and disappear from our nation. Wanting them to remain is like

saying we need the KKK to balance out those desiring a non-racist society so that everyone can be comfortable in the middle where racism is still strong, just not as virulent as it was 100 years ago.

NO THANKS.

The two-party system you are so enthralled with has given us the choice between a right-wing and a center-right power elite, neither of whom have the best interests of the entire nation at heart. The best we get is a watered-down version of progress.

I would much prefer a more open system where all views, including the "extreme," have equal access. Then, the people can truly decide what they want from a full menu, not just the right-hand page.

As for fearing that more political options would produce chaos and possibly lead to a breakup of the monolith know as the USA - IMHO, that would not be such a bad thing.

To reiterate - I want them GONE.

[JayMusgrove]

31. Great analogy! n/t

[alwysdrunk]

33. The breakup of the USA wouldn't be a bad thing?

Are you serious? That would be a disaster for all of us and the entire world, how can you possibly say something like that?

[anonymous171]

37. What? I like America though.

:(

[bigwillq]

32. Implode.

I wouldn't want any one telling me I need to shift to the right.

[Vincardog]

34. Implode and Let the DLC and Blue dogs replace them

[ieoeja]

36. Shift left. Move that center. It isn't us vs them. It's good vs bad.

I'd prefer my choices be good versus better than good enough versus bad.

[Zynx]

38. Make a shift to the right and then implode.

[uponit7771]

39. Their current culture needs to be choked out of existance for 091u2340u generations

[wildeyed]

40. Right now it's like watch lemmings go over the cliff.

Eventually there needs to be an opposition party. The question is whether the pubs reinvent themselves or a new party emerges.

[damntexdem]

42. Implosion! Implosion! It's so much more impressive.

And a GOP shift to the left would still leave it hard right.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

43. For over 30 years the Republicans have been quite successful selling

their narrative and pushing their right wing agenda. For over 30 years the American people have bought into the Republican propaganda. Let's not get it twisted, folks. Just because the Democrats won doesn't mean that we don't have work to do. It's not just about the Republicans imploding. I want the average American to wake the fuck up and realize that they've been hoodwinked. I would rather see the Republicans come to their senses and move to where the majority of Americans are. I don't think this is as big of a problem for the Democratic party, as I told you before, the Democrats have never been ideologically homogenous. But the Democrats need to do a much better job putting together a coherent agenda--one that Americans can get behind. An agenda that cannot be redefined by Republican right wing rhetoric a la, 'tax and spend liberal'. One way to do this is for the Democrats to use their political capital and redefine just what the so-called political Center is. For years, the Democrats have allowed the Republicans to push the narrative that this country is Center-Right. It is not! The Democrats need to stop running away from its core principles and STOP DEMONIZING LIBERALS!!!! Instead, join with their liberal bretheren and sisteren to find common ground. And Liberals need to STOP ceding power to the DLC. It must stop!

With all that said, it's probably preferable to have a healthy mixture of ideologies within the parties. This used to be the Republican party; there used to be liberal Republicans and moderate Republicans. Both factions have been marginalized by the right wingers. The biggest problem with the Republican party as it stands today is that there is this new generation of young Republicans who are even more ideologically narrow and right wing than even the Nixon or Reagan Republicans were.

I am a political science professor and I am seeing this with my own eyes. These young Republicans are even more strident and unyielding in their ideology. My Republican students are this way. They listen to Rush, to Sean, to Bill, to Mark, and everyone else in between and simply regurgitate their talking points in class. It drives me up the fucking wall. No critical thinking skills at all!

Eric Cantor is one of these new rightward Republicans. The scariest thing is that he is the new face of the party. That shit is scary as hell.

Looks like Boehner is the new Newt Gingrich and Cantor is the new Tom DeLay.

God help us all. :puke::puke::puke:

[Marsala]

48. I'd rather have Boehner and Cantor than Gingrich and DeLay

Gingrich and DeLay had power and (some) political talent. Boehner and Cantor are terrible. Cantor blamimg the failure of the first bailout bill on Nancy Pelosi being mean to them was perhaps the most pathetic Republican moment in the campaign... well, next to the Couric interviews.

[CTyankee]

49. See my post #45. You should teach Thucydides in your classes, if you don't already!

Boy, does that bring home to people the reality of what happens to a great democracy that betrays its principles!

Hammer it into them. They have to understand what brings down empires and what happens to the people in those empires, what suffering and misery they undergo.

I wish you well in your teaching. You are doing good, good works and I applaud you!

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

57. Thucydides is a staple. And every professor should include it in their classes,

along with The Prince, The Second Sex, Antigone, etc.

[CTyankee]

76. Another good start is good ole Edith Hamilton's "The Greek Way."

It is said that Bobby Kennedy read that book after his brother's assassination to obtain some meaning to the tragedy and he found her writing to be helpful to him.

I've not read The Prince but I had read the other two you mention when I was an undergraduate. I don't think many people outside of an academia steeped in the Humanities ever read them any more...

[alwysdrunk]

105. And if they do somehow shift left, these people will lose their jobs.

And more moderates (Steele?), will start getting the top positions. They fact that Boehner and Cantor are the best they have, just reinforces how bad of a spot they are in.

They are going to have to do it now or do it later, but If they don't start changing soon they really will start having to be happy about having 38%-40% in both houses.

Do you really think they would just do nothing, just continue ahead on a suicide mission in the name of God and Conservative Principles?

[Hellataz]

44. Shift to the left

I would feel so much better in this country if the GOP let go of the religious right and the desire to only help rich white folks. If they simply embraced a conservative, less government approach, then they wouldn't be so harmful. I would weep at the idea of a Republican president if I knew they had only slight disagreements with how the Dem's govern, but wouldn't use their office to enact their own personal values and morals on everyone else.

I'd like to see the GOP really truly reinvent itself and stop running against minorities, women, and gays. Stop making a woman's choice an issue and stop trying to push religion on to everyone. And start embracing things like the environment, science and equality. Maybe then, despite their "trickle up" way of life, i might not be sick to my stomach at the the thought of a GOP in office.

But it's a dream, it wont happen. I cannot foresee the the GOP letting loose they death grip clutch on the bible anytime soon.
But if there really were a choice between implode and shift, I'd choose shift, because in this 2 party systems, they wont ever implode, they will only get more extreme, so you have to look at it like that. You want to see them get even farther to the right, or take some steps to the left?
That's the real question.

[AlinPA]

52. The republican party is the religious right, only for rich white people,

against minorities, women and gay people, anti-science, not caring for the environment and equality. They wouldn't be the republican party if they stopped these things.

[hughee99]

88. Take a look at some of the southern democrats of more than 60 years ago

If you go back far enough, this statement essentially describes both parties. The Democratic party became enlightened many years ago. The repuke party can do it as well. When they Democratic party made the switch, those who didn't want to go along switched to the repukes. For the repukes to do it, they'll lose some people as well and a 3rd party of strictly fuckwits will be created.

[HughMoran]

46. Disappear

I'm sick of selfish hateful bigots.

[quakerboy]

47. move left

If they move left, so will we. The whole country will. If they completely implode, their big money backers will just shift fully to buying Democratic politicians, and we will move right.

I would rather have us all move left than end up fighting the same fights of the past 30 years, only between a right wing democratic party and a left wing progressive party.

[northernlights]

50. implode

moderate rethugs could shift left and merge with the DLC. At least 2 new parties would emerge -- moderate left would become the new right, far left would become the new left, the new center would be left of current center left.

Works for me.

[gabby garcia]

51. oh - they're "dropping" the racism

- people of color will be accepted as long as they tow the neocon line, just as women are accepted as "equal" as long as they realize their bodies and choices are not their own. look for Palin/Steele 2012.

:puke:

[MyNameGoesHere]

53. Neither i want a coup de grace. A death blow and be done with them. n/t

[ShadowLiberal]

54. History shows that the party that implodes can still have their vision of America win

Much as I'd love to see the GOP totally implode and a decade or two of democratic/liberal dominance that would result from it, history doesn't show that the vision/agenda of the surviving party will be what America becomes. The perfect example of this is the Federalists short reign, and implosion.

The federalists envisioned a lot of things in the government we take for granted today, like a strong judiciary (their judges claimed the right of the Supreme Court to rule laws unconstitutional, a power never given to them in the constitution), the whole system of how the government borrows money by selling 'bonds' to be cashed in later, a society with a diverse economy, rather then just a nation of farmers like the democratic republicans envisioned.

In the end what did in the Federalists more then anything is the fact that their opponents started to become more and more 'federalistized', and see the value of Federalist ideas whenever it was politically convenient. The federalists were also an extremely pro rich people party, doing stuff like taxing whiskey, a drink of the poor, instead of wine, a drink of the rich, and that didn't help them survive very much either.

Thomas Jefferson probably wouldn't have been remembered as a good president had the Federalists not been so weak and powerless, Jefferson's policies crippled the economy (especially hurting the New England area, dominated by the Federalists), but his party won reelection anyway.

[Demi_Babe]

55. shift left

[Norrin Radd]

56. Dissolve, forever. The Green Party or a new Progressive Party

can become the new left.

[eridani]

58. Either would be fine

With implosion, Greens may become a viable minority party, all to the good. If they move left, we shift the terms of the public debate, also good.

[Writer]

59. I don't give a damn. I just want them to help Obama fix the economy.

Which they won't do.

Because they're ideological and trapped in a past version of politics.

So... who cares what they do? Fuck 'em.

[Estrella Del Mar]

60. I'd take both

Both scenarios would mean a better future for America.

[Hawkowl]

61. DIE!!!!! DIE!!!!!

I wish to see the GOP vanish the way of the Whigs. I want them to be a quaint little historical footnote like perhaps the Know Nothing Party. Who you say? Exactly.

I want the GOP destroyed like the Romans destroyed Carthage. Then Rome can split into and be Rome vs. Byzantium. Or in our case Blue Dog Democrats vs. Progressive Democrats.

[Juche]

62. Both

Implode first so the democratic party can pass legislation necessary to get the country back on track. After that is done, let the GOP be reborn as a decent party that puts country first and idealogy second.

[SKKY]

64. I want the GOP to go down in a ginormous, violent implosion...

[NEOBuckeye]

65. Disincorporated and abolished. Conservatives can reorganize under a new banner. n/t

[Life Long Dem]

67. This isn't another lets change the rules question is it?

Don't give the Republicans an inch!

[cherish44]

68. I'd rather they wake up and smell the coffee

but if that can't happen implosion is an acceptable consolation prize

[carnie_sf]

69. It wouldn't be the first time in American history

one of the major parties folded. The Whigs were at one time a major force in American politics, but they lost their relevancy just as the pukes seem to be doing now. If say the Green party were to rise up and fill the void left by the GOP, that could be a good thing. Just sayin'

[sampsonblk]

70. I am with carnie_sf - Major parties have folded before

The nation survived.

The GOP is a flawed vehicle. It doesn't even represent the bogus views of the RW wackos it needs to survive. It is on the verge of collapse. And rightly so.

As another poster said, let them reorganize under a new banner. Maybe this time they will have legimate political positions.

[Raine]

71. Go left ... because

realistically no matter what they ARE GOING TO WIN ELECTIONS SOMETIMES and who wants a total rightwing nut in control. It would be better for our country and also us to have two decent parties instead of only one that is fit to lead. :think:

[alwysdrunk]

86. That's true, what happens to states like Georgia and Missisippi if they go hard right

Do we expect those people to just like in freeper hell, hostages of the fundies that have the number to control the election results?

[davidpdx]

72. Implode

Then Explode, then jump off a cliff like the lemmings they are.

[WinkyDink]

73. I'm Grover Norquistian on this: Drown it in the bathtub.

[harun]

74. I would like the Dem's and the Rep's to both move Left. Repukes are so far

Right at the moment they are just fascist, racist, Imperialists set on oppressing the Middle and Lower class. They stay with that thinking and we need to try and get them to 15%-25% only in the Senate and House. They can do severe damage, as seen with Bush, with any real numbers.

[greguganus]

75. Shift left. We are Obama. Resistance is futile. n/t

[iamthebandfanman]

77. as much as id rejoice at their demise

probably id go with move to the left.
its about time WE forced the other side to have to make ideological consessions to win.

[dcindian]

78. They need to be gone as much as the other Talibans of the world need to be erased.

They have no redeeming value to society. They have only those who cannot see outside their self interest, the racist, and religious nut cases left as the soul of their party.

The Democrats can split to form two or more parties. We need a true progressive voice in the government.

[Control-Z]

79. One is already happening.

The other? When hell freezes.

[alwysdrunk]

85. They are going to have to at least reprioritize some of their positions

Things like the the hard line abortion stance, the anti-gay stuff, the ten commandments on the court house lawn. Those among many other of their positions are losers in the medium and long term. There will have to come a point when they look at the projections and start throwing certain people under the bus so that they can survive.

[Control-Z]

103. Well, when you put it that way.

As long as they get to throw a few under the bus, it could happen.:evilgrin:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

80. shift to the left. which will force the dems to move more left too

[Phx_Dem]

81. Completely implode.

I don't think this bunch of nutjobs are capable of going left. I think their uber-conservatism hatred of all things fair to the American worker, their dislike and fear of people who are different from them along with their extremist religious views make it pretty-much impossible for them to go left. If they signal that they are leaning left (which would be blasophemy for them), they're lying to win an election and will revert right back to their old ways as soon as the election is over.

Better to have the GOP completely and utterly implode so some moderates can try to remake the party sans the radicals.

[friedgreentomatoes]

82. No matter...

...who is in the Oval Office, there always needs to be an Opposition.
Otherwise it becomes a dictatorship.

[CitizenLeft]

83. implode and disappear forever in a puff of fetid smoke.

*poof* :nuke:

[backscatter712]

89. Shift left.

I'm going to say something that is blasphemous on Democratic Underground.

The Republican Party needs to be rehabilitated.

As much fun as we're having with an awesome Democratic President, and control over both houses of Congress, understand that it cannot last forever. We do not, and should not live in a country with a one-party government. And face it, there are times when even Democratic politicians are total douchebags, and are in desperate need of an electoral asskicking to give them some humility.

Right now, the Republican Party is its own worst enemy, but there will come a day when they figure out a new working strategy and get into power again. And right now, they're an authoritarian nightmare, but that can be changed. When the day comes that Republicans return to the White House, I'd rather see the next Republican president be someone like Dwight Eisenhower than like George W. Bush. Sure we'll disagree with a Dwight Eisenhower, but we need the next Republican president to be one that won't leave the country in ruins or rule with contempt for the Constitution and rule of law. It can be done.

[Runcible Spoon]

90. I'd rather have the DEMS shift left. Sigh.

I really can't fucking stand this post-partisan bullshit. Post-partisan means ONE PARTY. We voted Obama in, with enough of a mandate stating that WE WANT partisanship, sorry! We WANT to stamp out the Republican policies that have pillaged our country. They had their fucking shot, I don't care what kind of sophisticated and disingenuous political analysis one uses to defend "post-partisanship", diluting policies with broken, corrupt ideas doesn't IMPROVE anything. It just makes anything we try to do half as effective.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

92. i think the dems would shift left if the repubs did first. branding and what not.

[Runcible Spoon]

93. Yeah well a girl can dream can't she...

:evilfrown:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

99. yes, she can and so can i

[Vektor]

98. Right. Not once during the Bush administration...

..did the Republicans EVER try to work with Democrats. They ran roughshod all over this country, wiping their asses with the constitution, and stripping away civil liberties from the citizenry as fast as they could do it.

They left America in tatters, and America responded by voting them OUT by a huge margin. We need to give the people what they voted for, and start erasing the damage the Republicans have done. That can only be done by shifting as far AWAY from the way they like to do things as possible.

[underpants]

91. I like it right where it is

[Jennicut]

94. Actually the Republicans used to be much further to the left

Ronnie Raygun was the first "real conservative", remember? Then every president they ran and the party had to fit into that. Ike, Nixon, and even Ford were more to the left then Reagan, Poppy Bush and Bush. Unfortunately for the Rethugs, they went to far to the right, causing an abandonment of their party by the public. However their core constituency insists are being crazy right wing wackos and dislikes anyone who is not "pure" conservative, like John McLame. The core groups did not like him. The Republican Party is going to implode because they have shoved out people in their quest for purity. These people became libertarians or went with the Dems this time. Its too late for them, they are done. Its not like the Dems were in 2000 and 2004. We were never done as their wins were based on fear and people can get passed that. Their losses were based on incompetence, greed, and idiocy. Let them implode.

[alwysdrunk]

104. You make a damn good argument.

A damn good argument. But what would an major party truly imploding, actually started getting only 25%-40% of the majority for, say, 5-8years; what would that really look like in 2009? I think it could possibly have major, major implications.

People from both parties talked a lot about foreign threats that may try to take advantage of the transfer of power from Bush to Obama. Don't you remember the "Generated Crisis" that wasn't really just a "Rhetorical Flourish". Don't you think if they were thinking about it then, the might actually try and pull some shit when we have a third party and maybe even a fourth start {i}transitioning[/i} our whole system of government?

[Jennicut]

107. Well, I want the Rethugs to implode but then I don't really like multiple parties

As the power with the main party in charge gets weaker and weaker. I am torn.

[mmonk]

95. Shift to the left. Maybe the Blue Dogs will follow and we can get

a real good working majority.

[Vektor]

96. Finish the implosion already underway, then disappear entirely.

Sorry, but America would be 100% better off if hatefulness, divisiveness, bigotry, homophobia, racism, sexism, greed, warmongering, and fiscal irresponsibility left the building, so to speak.

All the above listed traits describe the Republican platform, and such ideas have no place in a civilized society.

[Arugula Latte]

97. Tiny enough to drown in the bathtub. *BLUB*

[AtomicKitten]

100. They're clearly moving right, so I opt for implosion, please. n/t

[Sebastian Doyle]

101. The Repuke party can self destruct any way they please

However, I would like to see the Democratic party make a shift to the left.

And it would take about 45 degrees to the left to undo the damage of the DLC and the BlueBalled Mutts.

[MadMaddie]

102. The GOP is on it's way to imploding.....No doubt about it!

[Are_grits_groceries]

108. Shift to the RIGHT a little more and

run all the moderates out. That way there will still be something to push against. Nature abhors a vacuum, and if they implode, some other party will form. It could be a splinter of the Dems. Let them sit and stew in their rabid little juices.

[LaydeeBug]

110. They've already imploded. Now they need to merge to the left. nt

[chiefofclarinet]

111. I think the GOP will splinter, not implode

At this point, I see the Republicans as a loose confederation between the religious conservatives, the Eisenhower conservatives, and the libertarians. This is not particularly stable, and one of these groups (probably the libertarians) will explode after their way isn't followed and leave the party. I think the Libertarian party will grow in size to be about equal to the what is left of the Republicans by siphoning off most of the Eisenhower conservatives that don't flee to the Democrats.

Of course, this does not answer the question you raised. I would rather see the GOP move to the left, and if the religious nut-jobs have a hissy-fit about it, I would like to see them as a regional party. This will make the center shift to the left, and force the Democrats to left. However, this probably won't happen.

[cooolandrew]

112. Let's be fair with the amount of DINOs in the party the system is farr from that.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

113. Is "cease to exist" an option?

Although I suppose there will always be SOME party out there to cater to all of the the bigots, moralists, and "economic royalists". The big question is whether or not the "moderates" (if there are any left that is) are going to stick with them. The last few years have seen a substantial dwindling of "moderate" Republicans in Congress and throughout the country. If the GOP can't figure out some way to recapture the moderates and independents and Obama and the Democrats maintain the drastic national realignment reflected in last year's election, then they're probably finished as a viable party.

[Two Americas]

114. shift to the Left

Of course. If you destroy the GOP, the wealthy and powerful people who control the GOP will find other avenues to exercise their power.

Moderates in control of the GOP is the best check against the power of the wealthy and powerful few, just as the moderates in the Democratic party are now effectively suppressing the people, organized Labor and stamping out any and all hints of any politics that are even vaguely to the Left.

The best thing that could possibly happen for the people would be to overthrow the rule of the centrists and corporate apologists in the Democratic party, and for centrists and moderates to gain control of the GOP. The worst possible thing for the people would be for the Republican party to collapse, so that the wealthy and powerful few then organize new political strength in new areas and organizations, while centrists and free marketers continue to control the Democratic party and force it to support the needs and desires of the upper class.

People calling for destroying the GOP are seeing politics as though it were a sports playoff series. They want "their team" to win, for the vicarious thrill and to be able to feel like "winners," and don't care about anything else.

[JCMach1]

115. Implode, we need at least two new parties in this country...

[Cobalt-60]

116. They smell of torture. Exterminate.

Once they crossed the torture as an official policy line, it was too late.
I think we need a party that does what the old Republicans at least claimed the wanted.
But that organization can't have continuity with the band of traitors and war criminals that the Republicans have become.

[rocktivity]

117. Shift to the left

BECAUSE it would make them implode!

:rofl:
rocktivity

[PVnRT]

118. Yes

[jacksonian]

119. simple politics - whoever isn't happy with the Dems

will be the new Republicans. They will move toward whoever doesn't like Obama, so the real question here is who will Obama end up pissing off the most?

Nonetheless, the Republican religious right kool-aid they drink is going to be a big drag around any coalition building they hope to do.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

120. They need to do a really good impression of Meteor Crater.

Screw 'em.

[ronnykmarshall]

122. I'll take "Dead American Political Parties" for $500, Alex