Only in a 2 party system. In a 3 party system such as is in Israel and many European nations a vote for a minority requires genuine coalition building in order to govern. We do not have coalition building because we are saddled with an either/or political environment.
In our current structure conservatives have no voice. Think about it.
It is not so implausible. McCain is more of Democrat and Hillary is less liberal than Obama. I would not be suprised in the least especially given the rumors that McCain was going to leave the Repub party a while back.
We are not Europe or Israel.
We have only two parties. There are other trivial wannabe’s but they are not really of any real significance. In the Presidential race there are three choices.... Republican, Democrat or trash your vote.
We have strong voices in the legislative houses. Consider Rick Santorum, a strong well principled conservtive. He was turned out. To be elected, the President must have very broad appeal and that includes some to the left of center.
When you look realistically at the spectrum of political opinion, pure conservatives don’t have enough votes to prevail. They have no choice but to be a part of the Republican effort because that effort most nearly represents their thought. Otherwise, they are out of the process.
There is a strong tendency here for FReepers to consider Republicans wimps and clueless when the real reason is that there is just not enough votes in the Senate to prevail. Frist had control but could not satisfy FReepers because he lacked the votes. It was not because he didn’t want to pass bills, he just didn’t have the votes. The same is true in spades with Dingy Harry, except he is all tied up everytime he brings something too pqrtizen to the floor.
Thoughts of a third party are at present just dreaming because there is no chance of success at the Presidential level. None, zero, nada.
The decision in November will be to do what’s best for the country even though it doesn’t meet the highest most pure definition of best, or elect a Marxist Obama. If you don’t vote for McCain and Obama is elected.......your fault.
Fortunately, there is considerable time left. There will be a convention and there will be some sugar and some honey added. What seems very bitter or perhaps sour will be made palatable and perhaps even very good.
“In our current structure conservatives have no voice. Think about it. “
This is no accident.
When John Draper wrote a book on President Bush last year, he focused on a number of areas involving Daschle. Most relevant today is the assessment of the political connection between Daschle and McCain and the mention of a Daschle visit to McCain’s Arizona ranch.
Daschle’s objective, wrote Draper: “To see if perhaps he could make an honest Democrat out of him (McCain). Depending on which staff you believed, Daschle either came very close to succeeding or never had a chance to begin with. Nonetheless, the flirtation did not go unnoticed by the White House.”
When reviewing the book, I asked Daschle about Draper’s comments.
“It is true that we were once close to bringing John McCain into the caucus. There are many who can verify that,” Daschle said.
http://argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/COLUMNISTS0102/802080318/1157/VOICES08