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driveway · 03-10-2009, 10:10 PM

I spend a fair amount of time reading uber-right wing material on the internet, specifically Free Republic, Townhall and Redstate. I'm not sure why I do it, perhaps the same reason I watch Destroyed in Seconds.

The overriding theme from the posters on those sites is that it is the social-conservative crowd who are the true conservatives and the GOP betrayed them by offering them "democrat-lite" McCain. The acronym RINO (Republican In Name Only) appears over and over again in their posts.

These people are the 'base' of the GOP, they are politically active, firecely devoted to the party and fervently anti-democrat. Each and every last one of them is convinced that any move by the GOP closer to the centre is a death-knell for the party. They want Sarah Palin, they love Sarah Palin. They hold her name up like some kind of magical talisman against the forces of socialist darkness that have swept the nation.

They state over and over again that they need to purge their party of the RINO's who have handed power to the Democrats. They feel that only with a true Social-Conservative 1st, Fiscal Conservative 2nd candidate do they have a shot at winning power again.

There is a real possibility of schism within the Republican party. Also there is a strong possibility of moderate republicans switching to the democrats, bringing their small-government mindset with them. It is not at all inconceivable that by 2012 or 2016 there could be a situation in the states similar to what we had in Canada through the 90's where two centre-right parties split the conservative vote leading to essentially guaranteed liberal government.

The other issue facing the GOP are the considerable demographic problem. Younger voters, college educated voters and hispanic voters all vote democratic by huge margins. Those groups are all only going to get larger over the next several years - especially if the Democrats can find a way to get citizenship to the millions of illegal immigrants currently in the states.

Even without an 'evangelical collapse' the GOP faces major, major problems both internal and external. It could be a long, long time before there is a centre-right federal government in the states again.

03-10-2009, 10:10 PM	#31
driveway A Fiddler Crab Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Chicago Exp:	I spend a fair amount of time reading uber-right wing material on the internet, specifically Free Republic, Townhall and Redstate. I'm not sure why I do it, perhaps the same reason I watch Destroyed in Seconds. The overriding theme from the posters on those sites is that it is the social-conservative crowd who are the true conservatives and the GOP betrayed them by offering them "democrat-lite" McCain. The acronym RINO (Republican In Name Only) appears over and over again in their posts. These people are the 'base' of the GOP, they are politically active, firecely devoted to the party and fervently anti-democrat. Each and every last one of them is convinced that any move by the GOP closer to the centre is a death-knell for the party. They want Sarah Palin, they love Sarah Palin. They hold her name up like some kind of magical talisman against the forces of socialist darkness that have swept the nation. They state over and over again that they need to purge their party of the RINO's who have handed power to the Democrats. They feel that only with a true Social-Conservative 1st, Fiscal Conservative 2nd candidate do they have a shot at winning power again. There is a real possibility of schism within the Republican party. Also there is a strong possibility of moderate republicans switching to the democrats, bringing their small-government mindset with them. It is not at all inconceivable that by 2012 or 2016 there could be a situation in the states similar to what we had in Canada through the 90's where two centre-right parties split the conservative vote leading to essentially guaranteed liberal government. The other issue facing the GOP are the considerable demographic problem. Younger voters, college educated voters and hispanic voters all vote democratic by huge margins. Those groups are all only going to get larger over the next several years - especially if the Democrats can find a way to get citizenship to the millions of illegal immigrants currently in the states. Even without an 'evangelical collapse' the GOP faces major, major problems both internal and external. It could be a long, long time before there is a centre-right federal government in the states again.