If they don't get their stuff together, the Republicans will lose and go the way of the Whigs anyway. Remember, the Democrat Party was designed for winning elections. They take on whatever ideology seems appropriate, although to some extent they are split as well, the left over hippies and the machine pols. They make good partners, one has ideas, bad ones of course, but ideas, the other just wants to win.
Obummer is a hybrid of the two.
Gingrich’s third parties already exist, but he wants an even more special third party that will finally unite the right into a reconquering force. Well, of course he does. By sheer coincidence, my friend’s daughter wants a pony.
If our voting system were based on an instant runoff, or approval voting, or Condorcet, or anything other than what it actually is based on, Gingrich might have a point. But it’s not, and the Republicans won’t let that happen any more than the Democrats will.
The right’s only chance in the medium term is to reach out to those of us of a more libertarian persuasion. We are not out of reach, but we’ve been pushed aside for too long in favor of social conservatism and fundamentalist fervor. No matter how much we might support limited government, we haven’t been offered anything like it recently by the Republican Party. On top of that, we’ve been forced to accept attacks on our gay friends and neighbors, an endlessly invasive drug war that has done at least as much damage to the Bill of Rights as anything the second-amendment defenders have been forced to endure, and just to add comedy to injury, Governor Palin.
This should be fun. State your platform, Mr. Gingrich, and let’s see if that dog will hunt.