To: Tublecane
The Republican Party was once an outsider party, fighting for a place at the table after the Whigs fell apart.
The Republican Party was the ghost of the Whig Party and gained a toehold in power only because of the sheer force of anti-slavery sentiment outside of the South. There is no political issue today that generates that kind of passion.
The best hope a third party in America can have is to generate enough interest in an issue that it causes one of the two major parties to alter its platform. And even that is pretty rare.
The Republican Party is the best vehicle by which conservatism can advance.
30 posted on
07/04/2009 7:18:50 PM PDT by
Terpfen
(Ain't over yet, folks. Those 2004 Senate gains are up for grabs in 2 years.)
To: Terpfen
“The Republican Party...gained a toehold in power only because of the sheer force of anti-slavery sentiment outside of the South.”
You can make the argument that the Whigs never would have broken up but for the slavery issue. But someone had to take over the old Whig constituency. Whether or not it was the Republicans who did so, a new party(/parties) was in order.
To: Terpfen
“There is no political issue today that generates that kind of passion.”
No, there isn’t. But it need not always be one issue. It can be several. There are plenty of popular positions that remain largely untouched by Republicans, most importantly enforcement of immigration laws.
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