[A_Former_Democrat]

People are losing faith in the process itself. They are seeing it’s all about spending and buying votes. While one party does it alot more, the corruption and influence peddling is affecting virtually all. The disgust is apparent.

[ClearCase_guy]

People are losing faith in the process itself.

Absolutely. I think the system is totally rotten at the core.

[Fantasywriter]

“People are losing faith in the process itself. They are seeing it’s all about spending and buying votes. While one party does it alot more, the corruption and influence peddling is affecting virtually all. The disgust is apparent.”

Amen.

[bigbob]

I think there are many factors at work here, including as you say the general cynicism toward politics and politicians, and the feeling that we’re screwed, no matter who gets elected. Also the fear factor over the economy and job security is overriding a lot of concerns that seemed important a year or so ago. The most interesting factor, I think, is when people realize the impact of what Obama is doing is having on their kids and grandkids future. That will continue and it will be like a punch to the gut when it hits. If the GOP candidate (hopefully Sarah Palin) stands tall on traditional American values, pledging to put the country back on the right track, I think she will win in a landslide in 2012. Forget about becoming “Demmocrat Lite” or appealing to Hispanics or other special group - that’s the DNCs tactic. Appeal instead to the basic sense that everyone shares, the desire for those who come after us to have a better life.

[nathanbedford]

I think you are right and I think that tendency was clearly manifested in the sentiments expressed at the various tea parties.

America was perfectly designed, albeit by accident, to operate with a two-party system. It does not function properly in a third-party environment. The Republicans during the Bush years forfeited their role within the two-party system as they shed their identity like a snake skin. The result is that the Republicans have no credibility, no standing to complain about spending. The Iraq affair so muddied the waters that they lost their edge for national defense. And George Bush managed too often to embrace liberals like Teddy Kennedy, thus compromising Republicans standing on the social issues.

The Republican implosion happened at a time when demographics moved inexorably to favor Democrats. We will never know whether a steadfast Republican president and Congress might have overcome the daunting challenge of arithmetic. So the Democrats, predictably, have now taken over every branch of power and, equally predictably, are overplaying their hand and causing a reaction in the electorate.

Equally unknowable is whether any Republican could have defeated Barak Obama in his campaign to become the iconic first African-American president. It may well be that the Obama pathology was incurable.

The Republicans have not recovered their footing and found the courage to lead the resistance against an icon, even a Manchurian Marxist, who is overreaching. Until they do, the country will look for third-party solutions. As long as the country flirts even as daydreams with a third-party, Obama and the Democrats will stay in power. If the Republican party does not soon find its soul, Obama and the Democrats will stay in power.