6 Years Ago and applicability today

I said this nearly 6 years ago. And for all that’s happened I’d still believe it. Primaries do shape parties, and this primary has shaped the GOP in ways I couldn’t have predicted in 2010. We’ve gone from moving towards the tea party, smaller government and more freedom to…a candidate who wants to start a trade war and punish specific companies for offshoring. (Whatever you think about offshoring, one should be disgusted that Trump ran on a platform of coming after a specific company for a decision that broke no laws.)

So yes, this primary reshaped the GOP. The voters have spoken and they have decided that they want their own authoritarian bully to go against the other side’s authoritarian bully.

While I see nothing wrong with primaries shaping parties on a macro-level, I would note that at a micro-level, it means that a reshape may leave some people outside the parties boundaries. Will the end result be a bigger tent? Only time will tell, but it is a tent shifted so far left that it’s simply too big for me at this moment.

I now know how the Blue Dogs felt when the Democrats abandoned them for raw progressivism. It’s an interesting feeling knowing that you don’t fit in either party. Perhaps made more interesting because unlike the Blue Dogs, who were too conservative for the left and too liberal for the right, I’m merely too conservative for the progressive left and the new populist right.

Time will tell how this shakes out, for now all we can do is watch.

15 comments to “6 Years Ago and applicability today”
  1. Maybe this is the chance for Conservatives to rid ourselves of the GOP establishment and this populist/nationalist movement that has invaded the tent. Always reluctant to join in with the “let it burn” crowd, now I see it as our chance to do just that. Let’s incinerate it with all of them inside.

    The republican party is no longer a viable vehicle from which to install a conservative candidate (as if it ever was the last 28 years). This Nationalist/Populist movement now within the party will not be reasoned with nor accept rational conservative thought as evidenced by the attempt of many to point out Trumps liberal past or current liberal leanings. Add to it Trump not being worried about losing votes from disenfranchised conservatives because in turn believes we can be replaced by disenfranchised Bernie supporters should tell us conservatives (if we can get it through our thick heads) exactly where we stand, it sure as hell isn’t in the “tent”.

  2. “The republican party is no longer a viable vehicle from which to install a conservative candidate (as if it ever was the last 28 years).”

    Perhaps not on the Presidential level (although I’m not convinced of that, either, given how close Cruz came), but I don’t think you can say it’s true at the state level. There’s a reason guys like the Pauls run as Republicans, not Libertarians.

  3. The Blue Dogs betrayed the people who put them in office by joining the far left Obama/Pelosi wing of their party. Their losses in 2010 allowed the party to move even farther left. Too bad the GOP leadership in Congress can’t see the possibility of this happening with the conservatives in their party.

  4. In a perfect world our “politicians” would follow the Constitution to the letter and there would be severe penalties for not doing so.

    So people here is the question. How do we achieve this? We tried the GOP route. It did not work.Then we tried the TEA Party route. That did not work either.

    Right leaning Bloggers are great at identifying the problems that are faced.

    Providing solutions? That is another story yet to be written on the page of any Blog I have ever read.

    So now. Lets here your solutions and how we go about achieving them. I am all eyes here.

  5. Well I’m working on a longer form post about that.
    But beyond that, I’m sorry I don’t have the answers to everything. I write what I know and what I’m less sure of is where to go from here.

    Where are your solutions?

  6. I have no solutions except for taking what I can get. Right now that is limited to a man would is a great example of political incorrectness. A man that says what he thinks at the moment. A man who doesn’t triangulate every spoken word into saying what the listener wants to hear.

    Thanks to the last 28 yeas of the GOP helping enact the progressive agenda it is enough for me.

    Go ahead and label me a Trumpkin, Trumpbot, Trumpster, or what ever. I will gladly accept any label you place on me. I will give the man a chance because every chance we gave the GOP/Conservatives, they wasted.

  7. I think Trump is a buffoon, a loudmouth, and not nearly as smart as everyone seems to think. He is a corporatist and a fan of big government, with a large dash of extra-legal authoritarianism tossed in.

    But….your point about the GOP is reasonable, which is why I am not a #NeverTrump.

  8. Labels that denigrate are pointless and I would not craft childish extensions on a last name even were that not so.

    You may in fact be correctly labeled a fool, but that has not yet been proven. There are many fools waiting to be crowned as events play out.

    You seem to favor King Stork, not King Log. Actually, given the fact that Mr. Trump has never held office or exerted the power of government, he can at best be said to talk much like a stork would talk.

    In point of fact, you have chosen King Beak, hoping that behind the beak lives the heart and body of a stork. Action is the test, but action awaits luck and time before it is at hand. When that time comes, if that time comes, we will all see what kind of an animal you have chosen.

  9. I’d note that a man who says what he thinks at the moment, is also a man who isn’t very sure of his position on anything.

  10. I’ve been feeling homeless for quite some time. Maybe I’ll be like Moses traveling in the desert for 40 years. Politically that is.

  11. I officially de-registered from the Republican Party yesterday as I refuse to be in a party that would select someone like Trump as its nominee, no matter what the feckless and awful Republican party has done in the past. A party that exulted in an amoral Johnny come lately who relentlessly smeared a good man who had a proven track record of fighting for the things we claimed we wanted.

    I need to be part of an organization that shares at least some of my values.

    I am now politically homeless, and I’m interested to see whether any new party arises that I can find common ground with.

  12. Pingback: News of the Week (May 8th, 2016) | The Political Hat

  13. DENIABLE SOURCES
    What is that? Some esoteric Extract from an African-American folk tale? It definitely is not persuasive. Tim and CBD capture my sentiments exactly. Label us what you will. We’re well past the debate phase. Take Action or die.

  14. It’s important to look back at Trump’s interviews for the past 25 years and see what’s stayed the same and what’s changed.

    The stuff he cares about, about the US being schlonged by other countries, about illegal immigration versus legal, about making America great; that stuff hasn’t changed in twenty-five years.

    The stuff he doesn’t care about, that flip-flops and changes.

  15. Which makes me fear for my 2nd Amendment rights and abortion on demand and eminent domain and…..

Comments are closed.