I used to agree with your premise Josh, I no longer can.
After 32 years of “just support us one more time and we’ll do X”, I’m done.
We get the same old promises, the same old BS election after election after election.
Now if someone like Duncan Hunter is suddenly made the President of the RNC, I might change my mind. But I don’t see that happening.
For now I’m content to wait and see how things develop. But the Republican party has pooped on this conservative voter for the last time.
I want results, and if the cowards can’t produce them. I’ll support a candidate who can. Even if that means going to a 3rd party.
tueffelhunden, I still prefer Josh’s point.
To restate an obvious: To have an influence, you have to have a voice. More voices together are heard better than many single voices. (Isn’t that why all professionals unite in associations to increase their lobbying power before local, state and federal governments?). Unless some cataclysmic events happen (and G-d save me from any bloody revolutions, I don’t want to “live in interesting times”, thank you very much!), we have a working democratic process with all its pluses and minuses.
It just happened historically that there are only 2 major parties in America. SO, you need to make one of them to better suit you (and from what you are saying, me too). A cohesive strong faction within party, or a closely allied third party, “a third party which isn’t really a third party” like the Conservative Party of NY - are better mechanisms than a totally new 3rd party that is doomed to lose if it stands on its own. (It is a matter of fact, not emotions). As Josh said, you need an organization - infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure.
Without such organization, all the dissatisfaction we have with the GOP nomination and general direction of the Republican party is just lots of hot air. If we all remove ourselves from the political process, who is going to win? How is our point of view is going to be better advanced? I don’t see Republican party disintegrating or magically transforming itself into a conservative party if we all just leave into nowhere.