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What would happen if Congress split into four parties? This.
The Washington Post's The Fix ^ | December 15, 2014 | Philip Bump

Posted on 12/16/2014 8:06:13 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

The last-minute vote to approve a long-term spending package cast a bright light on unusual splits in an otherwise unified Democratic congressional caucus. Following the lead of Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), House and Senate Democrats voted against a bill that President Obama was personally advocating. It was similar to the insurgency faced by the Republican establishment last year, as many, many pundits pointed out, only with "no bank bailouts" replacing "no Obamacare" as a rallying cry.

At ABC, Rick Klein, presumably with his tongue in his cheek, suggested that there are now "four parties that need to be taken into account in the Senate: two party establishments, and two wings that are arguably more in touch with the vocal grassroots." But, that's not only in the Senate. The House was actually somewhat more polarized on the vote than the Senate, following the lead of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) who actively opposed the CRommnibus deal.

But what if Klein is right? What if the Congress actually completely fragments, along the lines that were sketched in the sand on the spending vote? What then?

The short answer is: Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are still the most powerful members of Congress. It's just that they have a much smaller base from which to operate....

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Issues; Parties; U.S. Congress; U.S. Senate
KEYWORDS: amnesty; boehner; cromnibus; democrats; elizabethwarren; gop; mcconnell; teaparty; tedcruz
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Comments?
1 posted on 12/16/2014 8:06:13 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I will vote only on principle. I will not “hold my nose”. Give me a conservative to vote for or go to hell.


2 posted on 12/16/2014 8:09:30 PM PST by iowacornman (Romney is the father of government health care.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Sounds like “Bump” wants an even more effete congress in order to empower Obama more during his final two years.


3 posted on 12/16/2014 8:10:04 PM PST by Olog-hai
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Cruz got 22 votes last Friday. 6 of the new freshmen Senators are Tea Party folks. That makes 28 Tea Party and 26 RINOs. Does that mean McConnell is out and the Tea Party could take over the Senate?


4 posted on 12/16/2014 8:14:32 PM PST by robert14 (cng)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Of course we should have 4 major parties.

Far Loonie Left, Center Left, Center Right, Strict Constitutional Conservative. If the Germans and Brits can figure that out, why not us. We must also repeal the 17th, so that the upper house will not be a popularly elected (which means Left in the bigger states with large urban areas and concentrations of gibsmedats who can outvote their more sensible ex-urban neighbors, who in some cases control the governorships and the state legislatures despite them. These urban ani, including the Ferguson Ferals do not deserve Senators. Bad enough they have their drooling idiotic CBC.

5 posted on 12/16/2014 8:16:01 PM PST by Kenny Bunk (The fate of the Republic rests in the hands of the '15 -16 Congress. God help us.)
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To: robert14

Depends on how many of the new ones are brow-beaten into submission by the rino/gop-e machine.


6 posted on 12/16/2014 8:16:10 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

What do I know? I already left the Republican Party. A year ago I registered as a Whig. http://www.modernwhig.org/


7 posted on 12/16/2014 8:18:34 PM PST by BuffaloJack (Muslim Creeping Conquest of America and Canada)
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To: Kenny Bunk

Four parties would mean 4 times the current problems.


8 posted on 12/16/2014 8:19:36 PM PST by Sasparilla
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The map is incorrect - If the Republican establishment were diminished, the number of conservatives would definitely rise.


9 posted on 12/16/2014 8:27:20 PM PST by PGR88
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The 4-way split is real, but not the same on all issues, so you can't do it on the basis of just one vote, the cromnibus, as the article does.

We're stuck with just two parties because of our plurality winner-take-all election system (with a few exceptions, e.g., 50% run-off states).

To make a major policy change, you have to take over an existing party, like the commies did to the Democrat Party.

Conservatives need to do it to the Republican Party.

10 posted on 12/16/2014 8:31:16 PM PST by MUDDOG
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

With enough outside pressure the Congress will “do the right thing”.

Let em know what you think


11 posted on 12/16/2014 8:38:12 PM PST by woofie
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To: iowacornman


That, my FRiend, is a phrase to live by and should be the rallying cry for 2016!
12 posted on 12/16/2014 8:38:54 PM PST by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
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To: iowacornman
I will vote only on principle. I will not “hold my nose”. Give me a conservative to vote for or go to hell.

That, my FRiend, is a phrase to live by and should be the rallying cry for 2016!
13 posted on 12/16/2014 8:39:51 PM PST by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
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To: MUDDOG

Democrats are better Liberals than Republicans are Conservative, so it is easier for them. Think about it...when have you ever heard a Rat calling a fellow Rat “too liberal” or extreme?


14 posted on 12/16/2014 8:41:22 PM PST by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: bigbob
Never! Their main goal is to defeat Repubs.

The GOPe's main goal is to defeat conservatives.

15 posted on 12/16/2014 8:43:18 PM PST by MUDDOG
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I see a Congress increasingly polarized, if you can still say "polarized" in 4 directions instead of 2.

Partisan, bickering more and accomplishing less, until the whole legislative branch grinds to a halt.

It was like that in the last days of Rome, I recall - a Senate useless and largely ceremonial, while the Emperor ruled by edict.

Sounds familiar.

16 posted on 12/16/2014 8:50:47 PM PST by ZOOKER (Until further notice the /s is implied...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

They got most of the South completely wrong. Particularly Florida. The east coast is not conservative— hardly. the strip from Tampa to Daytona is conservative by and large as is the panhandle. Solid dem— Miami, Dade and Broward counties.

NC is all wrong. the only true liberal islands are in Chapel Hill and Asheville. No where else really. Still tobacco country.


17 posted on 12/16/2014 8:52:44 PM PST by John S Mosby (Sic Semper Tyrannis)
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To: iowacornman

I wonder if Elizabeth and Ted are going to form their own party. They do seem to support the same things. It might be interesting or at least entertaining.


18 posted on 12/16/2014 9:01:11 PM PST by napscoordinator (President Walker is our future President! Ted Cruz is the Senate Majority Leader in the future!)
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To: John S Mosby

And Asheville being liberal does not affect the rest of WNC, where most are rural conservatives or independents.
Charlotte and most major cities are predominately black.
South Carolina predominately black in many major areas of cities.

In 2010, there was a report that more than 30,000 votes were illegal in NC, many having voted in both NC and FL or other states. Obama only carried NC in 2008 by about 8000 votes was my understanding, but ACORN and other groups were able to steal this state.

I didn’t mean to butt in but I am in NC.


19 posted on 12/16/2014 9:31:55 PM PST by Kackikat
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

People must really be falling away from the Republican party. I had a local Republican beg me to fill some positions in our local group, but I told him I really don’t consider myself a Republican. Should I do it, I mean, if we plan to “take back the party,” we should have conservatives in there to do it, right?


20 posted on 12/16/2014 9:38:46 PM PST by Thorliveshere (Minnesota Survivor)
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