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Alternatives to GOP: what are the options (with a view towards election success by 2024)?
original to Free Republic | Jan 17, 2021 | Peter O'Donnell

Posted on 01/17/2021 9:02:35 AM PST by Peter ODonnell

Obviously in an ideal world, the "base" would assert control over the Republican Party and flush out the swamp creatures who seem to form the majority of its executive and prominent elected representatives.

But assuming that movement never takes off or gains any traction, what third party options exist and what are their chances for electoral success by 2024?

The range of possibilities would seem to include these:

(a) Declare the existence of an alternative GOP, calling it something very similar to the Republican Party (with the word Republican in the name, such as Conservative-Republican, Constitutional-Republican, Free Republican? hmm) ... organize and go forward with a view to capturing 80% of the vote of the GOP and perhaps 20% of the vote of the Democrats with Libertarians attracted also.

(b) Declare the existence of an alternative less obviously alternative to the GOP, with a more neutral name such as American Eagle Coalition, Freedom Party of America, etc. Then go forward with the same set of aims as in (a) above, hoping to assemble a voting coalition of at least 50%.

(c) Flock to some already existing alternative that has limited organizational skills, take it over and make it the alternative. This could even include the Libertarian Party which has sufficient resources to attract 3 to 5 per cent of the vote and is a perennial participant in federal and state elections.

Let's discuss and review the pros and cons of these three alternatives.

(a) The hollowing out of the GOP approach under a new but similar name. To the best of my knowledge, this has not been tried in any major western parliamentary democracy before, all similar efforts would fall under option (b) that I listed above. ...

Basically (a) is the same idea as taking over the GOP, it just eliminates the messy process of ousting the executive and leading entrenched political figures like McConnell and Romney, and assumes instead that with a more attractive set of policies and perhaps the backing and participation of Donald Trump, this alternative would quickly replace the GOP as the real contender on the right.

At the same time, it would have the freedom to explore policy initiatives that the GOP would never envisage nor endorse, such as term limits for Congress, stricter immigration policies, anti-corruption measures, vote counting reforms, and specific restraints on war-adventurist types of foreign policy.

With the public quickly getting the idea that the new party with its similar name to Republican Party was the new Republican Party, there should be a rapid evacuation of almost all members and worthwhile political candidate elements of the GOP, leaving the actual GOP dead on the vine and likely to disappear in the 2025-28 presidential term that (ideally) would be either Donald Trump having returned without their assistance or endorsement, or a similar figure (possibly Donald Trump Jr, or even Ted Cruz) as president with good chances for re-election in 2028.

(b) The alternative party concept has been tried with varying amounts of success in a number of countries with roughly similar political landscapes, and also by Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996, you might argue.

Canada provides two recent examples and they are both instructive and cautionary. First, some ancient political history, this will take two paragraphs then we can get back to important things. Around the mid-1920s in Canadian politics, there were the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, and a populist group known as the United Farmers of Alberta. This was before the time of the socialist "CCF" (Co-operative Commonwealth Federation) which later turned into the NDP (New Democratic Party). So with several close elections and power switching back and forth, the Conservatives of those times reached out to the UFA and formed a new party called the "Progressive Conservative Party of Canada" which ended the existence of the UFA and went on to become a somewhat better vote-getting proposition than the previous Conservatives had been. Even so, after one brief chance to govern in the early 1930s, this party was in opposition in all the years between 1935 and 1984 except for the John Diefenbaker government that lasted from 1958 to 1963. The Liberal Party of Canada, at that time a very centrist drifting left sort of entity, easily won most of the elections held, and then started to drift towards the left-liberal globalist camp under Pierre Trudeau 1968 to 1984 (he was briefly ousted by Joe Clark for a minority period 1979-80, Clark got outmanoeuvered and Trudeau returned to power).

While the PC party was relatively unsuccessful in federal politics, it stayed relevant because of the formation of the NDP which ate into the Liberal vote totals. Otherwise, the Liberal Party of Canada would very likely remain perpetually in power since it could be assumed 90% of the 20% NDP voter share would go to them.

It should be noted that the PC party had greater success in provincial politics, notably in Ontario, Alberta and sometimes the other English speaking provinces except for B.C. where politics takes on a different formation, the B.C. Liberal Party is actually a conservative-centrist coalition and any efforts by the B.C. Conservative Party to gain seats has been rejected by the voters (it tends to attract about 5-10 per cent of the voters). And in francophone Quebec, there are analogue parties under different names but these come and go on a regular basis, Quebec politics are dominated by their wing of the Liberals as a base for federalist Quebecois, and the Parti Quebecois (PQ) which is more or less the NDP for separatist francophones. Third parties regularly appear and sometimes even hold balance of power, these are all over the spectrum and not necessarily conservative in nature.

From 1984 to 1993, Brian Mulroney formed strong PC governments in Canada. For the first time, he managed to attract up to 50% of the voters, which against three other options (by then) easily secures a large majority in parliament. His governmental style was similar to Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher but he adapted that to Canadian contexts and governed from a centre-right position, keeping the Liberals bottled up between his political position and the purely socialist platform of the NDP. By the 1980s, another populist party called Social Credit was fading out of Canadian politics. It had governed British Columbia and Alberta in the past, but had morphed into a rural francophone dissent of all modern society movement, and when its charismatic leader died, that was the end of it altogether.

Mulroney lost favour with Canadian voters around 1992 after a divisive effort to reform the constitution and the introduction of a value added tax, the G.S.T. set at 7% (nowadays at 5%) on many but not all goods and services. It partially replaced a hidden manufacturers' sales tax of 12% on a more limited range of items. Even so, Canadians rebelled against Mulroney, led by the Liberal dominated media who cynically used the issue to get their party back into power. Despite the deputy leader of the Liberals' promise to repeal the G.S.T., incoming Prime Minister Jean Chretien knew it was a good idea and kept it around. Since then, there has been little opposition to it, as more and more Canadians have come to understand that the G.S.T. basically guarantees that people evading the income tax system will just be paying their fair share that way instead. Also it has stabilized our economy to a remarkable degree for such a small tax (provinces also have sales taxes that sometimes apply to the same items).

Well, in 1993 the PC party was not just defeated, it was crushed, reduced to two seats in the House of Commons and 30% of the vote. There had already been a breakaway right wing protest party formed, Reform -- Alberta based, it did not do any better in 1993, but by the 1997 election, it had outpaced the PCs and took about two thirds of the available right wing vote and elected a sizeable group (65 or so) able to form the official opposition. The PCs were only able to rebound to a low level of 12 MPs. The same result in 2000 allowed the Liberals to continue a majority government despite a rather shabby vote total of 39%, so a lot of people within the two parties (Reform and PC) determined they should perhaps rejoin but under a less divisive name (by now, Progressive had taken on far-left connotations that it probably didn't have in the successful years of the PC party). The Reform Party changed its name to the Canadian Alliance, partly to make it seem like the PCs wouldn't just be surrendering to Reform, but that was the essential nature of the merger when it happened in 2003-04. A leadership convention was held, and Stephen Harper, newly crowned CA leader, beat a field of other candidates with vague promises of compromise and continuation of the Reform-Alliance traditions (which were essentially Trumpist politics without a Donald Trump figure involved -- the Canadian media treated Stephen Harper in much the same way that your media have treated both GWB and Donald Trump in recent memory, but his leadership style while power-centered was not charismatic and certainly nowhere near a one-man show). The new party was simply named the Conservative Party of Canada, dropping the progressive label. Ontario, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Alberta are currently ruled by Progressive Conservative governments, and those provincial parties are essentially wings of the federal Conservative Party now after a period where they tried to stay on the sidelines of a federal bun fight between rival factions. The B.C. Liberal Party also can be thought of as a wing of the Conservative Party, with many of the same people active in riding associations (a riding being our name for electoral district).

Harper ate away at the Paul Martin Liberal government's majority, turning them into a brief minority 2004-05, then coming to power himself in a minority parliament 2006-08, and a majority secured thereafter for terms that lasted until 2015 when he finally ran out of gas and was (to the surprise of some) ousted by Justin Trudeau, with a return to the centre-left government of the Liberals. That has since been reduced to a minority where they need the support of the NDP to rule without the parliament coming to an end (in our system, a vote of non-confidence on an economic or constitutional matter automatically terminates a parliament and invokes an election, otherwise we now have fixed term elections every four years, the year before yours as it stands now).

Discontent within the ranks of the CPC has led to the creation of a populist alternative, the Peoples' Party of Canada. Despite the socialist sounding name, this is a far-right rump of voters who would be in the Trump coalition if they lived across the border. The policies of the PPC are more extreme forms of conservatism than the CPC will tolerate or endorse, although the CPC did well enough under Harper's style of appearing to lean towards those things then never actually doing much about them (such as with climate change, immigration issues, or standing up to the socialist media and defunding the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as examples). The PPC only managed to get 2-3 per cent of the vote in 2019, and failed to elect even their well-known leader who was running in his own home riding won as a Conservative in 2015. He was rather narrowly defeated by the official Conservatives, but other candidates were well back in the pack, behind the Green Party which does fairly well in some Canadian urban areas.

Although outside the scope of this topic, since we've delved that deeply into Canadian politics, and just for context, there is also a sizeable Quebec based party called the Bloc Quebecois which is essentially the federal presence of the PQ, and aimed to be a front line for separation negotiations should any referendum ever empower them (so far, two in 1980 and again 1995 failed by very narrow margins, gotta love those Montreal Greeks who were the margin of difference apparently). This BQ party tends to bounce up and down in Quebec opinion polls between 20 and 40 per cent support. The NDP tried to mount a francophone presence, partly succeeded around 2008-11, then lost that ground to the BQ, who are essentially a socialist party waiting to re-merge with their PQ brethren after separation or "sovereignty-association" as some like to sell the concept (we're leaving but sticking around for the financial benefits being the essential nature of that proposition).

Another example that could be cited of the success or failure of alternative right wing parties would be in the United Kingdom where the Conservative Party never took on the name Progressive Conservatives, but made the same philosophical shift a bit later, perhaps after Churchill's last term when Anthony Eden, a more centrist figure, took over. In those days (1950s) it was a straight up choice between centre-right Conservatives and leftist Labour, and they tended to alternate terms in power to the 1970s. At that time, a third party emerged, the Liberals, unlike in Canada, a very small presence and largely idealistic centrists who wanted neither of the above. The Liberals never totally broke through, their usual election performance was something like 10-20 seats won (out of over 600 in the UK parliament) and perhaps 15% of the vote. That party has since been renamed the Social Democratic Party. In UK politics also, there are regional parties for Scotland and Northern Ireland holding many of the seats available there. These tend to align themselves with either side although the Ulster unionists almost always align with the Conservatives. While the Scottish nationalists are pro-independence, the Ulster unionists are largely the opposite, advocates of continued participation of NI in the UK.

Into that rather complex picture emerged the UKIP, a more right wing protest party that was the prime mover to get the Brexit movement started. The Conservative Party co-opted that movement when it sensed that opposition to it might lead the UKIP towards a larger voter share in national elections (the term federal does not get used in the UK since they have basically a unitary form of government, especially in England and Wales, counties have some governmental authority but basically all the politics is national and in Scotland or Northern Ireland, regional).

The UKIP have acted as a sort of deterrent to any tendency for the British Conservatives to become too centrist. Also a deterrent to that was Tony Blair's third way concept of moving Labour more into the centre from the far left. The Conservatives were being squeezed into a fairly narrow portion of the voting spectrum so they basically tried the GOP approach of giving election cycle lip service to policies that would appeal to soft dissident votes that might otherwise get parked with UKIP as a protest. Then between elections they attempt(ed) to ignore those vague promises, Stephen Harper style, and govern from the centre anyway.

Just a brief commentary on all of the above -- the relevance of this to U.S. politics would be that yes you can create alternatives under considerably different names and philosophies, but as with the Ross Perot experience, the danger is that the alternative reaches just that critical level of success that will split the available anti-Liberal (anti-Democrat) vote in half and make it easy for them to win without even good appeal to their side of the voting spectrum.

The success of the alternative depends on crushing the orthodox original party being replaced. If there is not a crushing by at least a 4:1 ratio, then the original party retains enough life and presence to be constantly in the process of renewing itself and eating back some of its lost support.

Another cautionary tale is that just because an alternative is successful (Canada's Reform Party by about 1999) is no guarantee that it can do any better against the leftist establishment than the defunct and corrupt original party was doing, nor is it any guarantee that the new leadership (as with Stephen Harper) will follow through on explicit promises to voters. In other words, you can even get to majority power status as with Donald Trump, and still fail to reach the objectives laid out (clearing the swamp in his case, certain other things in Canada -- much was made in 2011 of how Stephen Harper would finally defund the CBC which is essentially the voice of the Liberal Party of Canada paid for by taxpayers of all persuasions, yet he did nothing about that promise, and he also endorsed the precursors to the Paris climate accords, Kyoto and the Rio summit).

Another lesson is that some in the voter base will accept a half loaf or a glass half full, saying, "this is a lot better than letting the socialists rule." Stephen Harper still has many fans in Canadian conservative politics although he gained some enemies as well. His two successors so far have tried to emulate his style and philosophy, Max Bernier was going towards populism when narrowly defeated for the leadership, thus he bailed out and formed the PPC alternative.

(c) taking over some other political entity, including possibly the Libertarian Party

Most of the Trump wing of the GOP would probably think of themselves as philosophical conservatives and some as libertarians. These terms have taken on somewhat tarnished meanings due to the decisions taken by their most prominent representatives. For example, if one thinks of "conservative" as being prep-school, Bush-Cheney, National Review, neo-con or any of those types of globalist adjuncts, then conservative can be a sort of code word for sellout nowadays. And libertarian could mean defender of civil liberties, a task that often falls to left-leaning lawyers who just happen to have broader tolerance for free speech than most of their colleagues. I know this quite well personally, having successfully defended myself in court against a slander lawsuit brought by a far-left blogger in Canada, where my arguments and those of my co-defendants, the Fourniers (managers of a website Free Dominion which is Canada's version of FR), were partially supported by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, who intervened as observers, and took a position something like this -- "like us, you might not like these people or what they're saying, but they have the perfect right to say it."

Of course, that attitude, the general anti-religious foundation of the Libertarian movement, and its pro-marijuana stance, are all irritants that keep many right wing voters away, unless they wish to park a protest vote having run out patience with their RINO or CINO alternatives. I would not join, support or vote for the U.S. Libertarian Party. The Canadian version is similar, and I have voted for it once, when there was no other alternative but the Harper cons or staying home. In Canada, the Libertarians do just about as well as in America, perhaps not quite as strong a voter share (1-2% seems to cap it). The effects of the Libertarian vote seem almost nonexistent if one assumes that without the party, half of the voters would stay home, the other half might divide equally between alternatives. So there seems little point in trying to take over the Libertarian Party and making it big-time and election-savvy, which the current version strikes one as being anything but ... they seem to wear as a badge of honor their nearly complete inability to devise actual methods of attaining power, it's a libertarian thing apparently to consider one's self so purely small government that no practical person could vote for your party (that is a really small government, one that can never even exist).

There are probably other parties out there with skeleton organizations, one or two dedicated leaders, almost no voter support or recognition, and a compatible ideology perhaps somewhat idiosyncratic to the founders' views of politics. In Canada there was something called the Freedom Party that struck some of us as being a vehicle, but that idea never gained traction and the Freedom Party faded out of existence. Or there are small religious conservative parties, in Canadian politics, there's a Christian Heritage Party, resolutely pro-life, anti-same-sex marriage, and reasonably well organized, but condemned to media planned ignoring and/or contempt combined with 0.5% voter support levels. Within the narrow context of its overall limited prospects for success anyway, it has been hampered by the appearance of being an adjunct of one particular Christian denomination at the expense of a wider base of support.

But in the context of our discussion, a religious based party would probably not work in American politics at all, given the separation of church and state foundations of the constitution. The McMullen rump candidacy in 2016 showed that even a perfectly crafted appeal to Mormon voters would attract fewer than 5% of them and almost nobody else.

The search for a tiny perfect political nucleus is really just the same process as (b) above, so in my opinion should be tossed out as an alternative in favor of (b).

On balance then, the most likely path to eventual success would appear to be (b), a new party with an independent name and foundation, sending the message to the Republican Party, we're here, deal with it, and becoming an inviting but not entirely compromised or dedicated target destination for Donald Trump himself or his most powerful support base. In other words, set it up as a Trump-friendly organization, give out the impression that you couldn't do better than Donald Trump as the first leader or presidential candidate, but even so, there is a party organization involved and so it would be a change in operational procedure from 2016-2020 Trump, in the following ways ...

Donald Trump had a love-hate relationship with the GOP, they tolerated him rather sparsely at first, then got perhaps more enamored with his successes mid-term, then the support began to fade under the relentless pressure of establishment opposition and their natural desire to roost close to the fountains of globalist largesse that might come their way after Democrats had finished their feeding frenzies.

The result of all that was that Donald Trump never had much oversight or dedicated intelligent support and advice, he simply ran his own show the way he runs his business operations, and might have lost the benefits available of better advice than he apparently did get from the sycophants he assembled (because unless Joe Biden does not take office, let's call a spade a spade, Donald Trump essentially failed in his self-declared mission to clean the swamp).

I'm sure people still want to support the man based on his obvious dedication and considerable other successes especially economic and security wise, but would it not be true to say many would like to see a sort of Improved Trump with more voter oversight, where the base is directing Trump more so than Trump directing the base? After all, he wants to serve this political base, he just seems to feel that his own counsel is sufficient and he "gets" what the base want without much formal interaction. I feel that some aspects of the election loss could have been avoided, and that is why I want to see a third party, so that those failures can be avoided in 2024.

First of all, if you know there's going to be fraud, then surely a better strategy than just letting it happen to prove a point might exist? Trump should have been lobbying all through 2019 and early 2020 for better voting oversights and he should have made a more detailed case for the potential of massive fraud in five or six key cities (PHL, CHI (ORD), MKE, ATL, LAS, probably others that don't matter to the results as much). With a more dedicated party on his side instead of trying to outlast him, the ideological opponents are less free to wheel out absurd criticisms that can resonate through a managed media -- the organized and dedicated party speaks for more than just Donald Trump and his family, and can join in the fray. This is why George W. Bush never reached quite the boxed-in position that Donald Trump quickly found he faced with regard to Congress and wider public opinion.

Ideally, there would be an outcome something like the creation of an American Eagle Freedom Party, or whatever you like, with an enthusiastic pro-Trump membership ready, willing and able to give 110% support instead of the compromised and ambivalent support of the GOP, the sort of reluctant "I guess we have to" model of endorsement that caps the voter appeal somewhere too close to the margin of error -- the appeal of a pro-business, pro-freedom, anti-war for no reason, low-tax, no-climate-b.s. well organized party should be around 65 to 70 per cent.

There was never any reason for example for black or Latino voters to be hostile to Trump. He has no really racist background, and was advocating policies that could make lives better in all segments. For women voters, a more savvy political advisor than Donald Trump ever seemed to find would have told him, look, we can't shed the image of your past, but if you can stomach doing this, just apologize and move on, say you're not perfect, nobody is, but at the same time you're not so completely imperfect that you fit into traditional uniparty politics like a swamp creature.

Donald Trump never got past about 80% capture of the Reagan coalition and that did him in (yes fraud, but that's been going on forever too).

It's not too late to reorganize and do the right thing for the country, flush the GOP and start over with a cleaner and leaner fighting machine.

That's all I've got for now ... your turn ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: anotherstupidvanity; chat; chatforum; nonsense; notnews; rehashof20years; stopthesteal; tldr; toolongdidntread; vanitiesbelonginchat; vanity; wasteoftime
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To: Basket_of_Deplorables

The only way to have gotten rid of parties, would have been to get money out of politics, good luck with all that.


101 posted on 01/17/2021 10:35:36 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Peter ODonnell

The reason that the Left tries to control language is because they understand the power of it. Trump’s success was based totally on language. He said things that no politcian would dare to say. And for this, the ruling class tried to turn him into a pariah.

To save the US, we need more of this kind of language, which can persuade the masses. Let’s not be cry babies and moan about the fact that the ruling class still has so much power. Let’s be happy that we’ve drawn blood from them, and build on Trump’s war of language.

3rd party or not, we can destroy the GOPe if we use language as effectively as a sous chef cutting veggies with a high quality pearing knife.

The line of attack that needs to be taken is to call out the GOPe for all the ways that it has contributed to American decline. Trump focused strictly on the Uniparty theme, and how both parties are in bed with the Globalists and the CCP. This is how he pivoted to getting tough on immigration.

But we need people who can dig deeper and articulate all the other ways the GOPe has betrayed us. There needs to be another theme to go alongside the Uniparty Globalist theme that Trump pushed. We need to expose the GOPe’s deafening silence and inaction on several fronts.

For example, why do so many GOP politicians speak out about being pro life, yet they say nothing and do nothing about radical Left wing curriculum in our schools? Because being pro life is a good campaign theme to attract Conservative voters. But cracking down on Left wing brainwashing of our youth clashes with the Uniparty agrnda of dumbing down and corrupting future generations of voters.

Or how about the rise of populism in various countries. The Left and the media paint populist politicians as promoting xenophobia, simply for wanting to preserve national customs, culture, religion, and looking out for the best interests of ordinary citizens. Have we ever heard a word from any GOPe types coming to the defense of these populist leaders? They don’t join the Left in the smearing of these populists, but they don’t defend them either. Their silence on this issue is more proof that they are fine with this demonizing of the populist movement.

My point is, we can’t just focus on the “endless wars”, outsourcing of jobs, etc. Those are themes for winning general elections. To cause a revolution within the GOP, we have to fine tune our rhetoric for primary challenges. We have to paint the GOPe as the party that plays the role of “good cop” to Conservative voters, while the Democrats and the whole Leftist popular culture gut our traditions and our way of life.

Trump got people’s attention because he’s a celebrity. Now we need many, many dozens of ideological wonks who can expose and explain how thoroughly worthless and duplicitous the GOPe has been for so many decades. The good thing is that the Democrats and the media have already been attacking the GOP for just as long. Now it’s our turn to finish them off.

We don’t need guns for this revolution to happen. We need smart, articulate speakers who can build and launch lethal truth bombs, that are aimed squarely at the likes of the Bushes, Rove, Romney, McConnell, McCarthy, etc.

“Low energy Jeb” should be just the beginning of the skewering of the entire Bush family. That whole corrupt clan needs to be made completely toxic to ALL voters. Let’s drag Prescott, Poppy, and Dubya’s name through the mud. Let’s paint them, and all their allies as the Socialist Left’s long time silent partners, who never had Conservatives backs.


102 posted on 01/17/2021 10:35:42 AM PST by The Fop (God Bless Donald Trump, Frank Sinatra, Joan Rivers, and the Fightin' Rat Pack Wing of the GOP)
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To: The Fop

My hope is the seeds that Trump planted will eventually bear fruit, especially if this upcoming administration is as unpopular as I believe it will be.


103 posted on 01/17/2021 10:37:14 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Zhang Fei

2022? 2024? Does anybody seriously believe they will allow Trump and his family to live? He’s far too dangerous to their cause, in or out of the White House.


104 posted on 01/17/2021 10:39:17 AM PST by MayflowerMadam (They had to kill somebody for their plan to work. RIP Ashli.)
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To: Peter ODonnell
To anyone who says a new party cannot gain enough traction to become the main alternative — that has already been disproven in Canadian politics,

Canada has a Parliamentary system of government. The USA does not.

This makes a huge difference in how reformers must act - it massively amplifies the impact of one side "splitting the vote".

If memory serves me correct, President Lincoln would have never won the 1860 election if the Democrats didn't split their vote 62-38 between Douglas of the formal Democratic Party (state rights, including the right to enslave people), and Breckinridge of the Southern Democratic Party (eager proponents of slavery).

There also was a split on the Republican side, between Lincoln and Bell of the Constitutional Union Party (anti-secession, but let's ignore the whole slavery issue), but it wasn't as bad as on the Democrat side.

105 posted on 01/17/2021 10:40:34 AM PST by Yossarian
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To: Zhang Fei

The GOP presidential candidate with the strongest support among Hispanics in my lifetime was George W. Bush. That right there is a huge problem with the scenario you laid out.


106 posted on 01/17/2021 10:40:44 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("There's somebody new and he sure ain't no rodeo man.")
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To: Peter ODonnell

Join the Dims


107 posted on 01/17/2021 10:41:09 AM PST by petitfour (APPEAL TO HEAVEN)
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To: Peter ODonnell

1. Ideally, a new party called Great American Party - GAP. We need someone to stand #intheGAP.

2. HOWEVER, I agree with those who have already posted. Change won’t happen as long as our votes are meaningless via electronic manipulation.

3. As a minor show of personal protest, I also have changed my party affiliation from R to I.

4. I am known to be an eternal optimist - but for once, I am very pessimistic on this ever turning around.


108 posted on 01/17/2021 10:41:51 AM PST by Merrylaugh1
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To: Peter ODonnell

Like many have stated, I do not have any faith in either party, nor the system. I erred in the past by sitting out the McCain and Romney elections.
If nothing changes (highly likely) I will likely write in for None of these A$$h0les.
It, like third party will make absolutely no difference, I will have done my civic duty by voting while letting me not vote to support any of the poor choices offered.
This will likely be for ALL positions on the ballot.


109 posted on 01/17/2021 10:42:53 AM PST by ps425dc
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To: Presbyterian Reporter

They are not going to allow the Trumps to rebuild their current empire.

They are going to do everything they can to annihilate the Trump family financially so nobody ever tries this again.

Trump’s only hope is to rebuild a new empire.


110 posted on 01/17/2021 10:43:52 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (You are in far more danger from an authoritarian government than you are from a seasonal virus.)
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To: FLT-bird

“Identify the RINOS who need to be primaried.”

They took care of that themselves on January 6 — self identified by certifying the election. ALL who did that must be gone ASAP.


111 posted on 01/17/2021 10:50:50 AM PST by MayflowerMadam (They had to kill somebody for their plan to work. RIP Ashli.)
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To: Buchal

“become precinct leaders, and show up at meetings, and work to elect candidates,”

That’s a really good idea. Simple. Do-able. It’s not a flashy idea, but if this election showed nothing else, it showed how much power “mere” precinct workers and counting center workers can be.

Little by little, and subtly, infiltrate every precinct and county election position. Start by volunteering at the polling places.


112 posted on 01/17/2021 10:54:56 AM PST by MayflowerMadam (They had to kill somebody for their plan to work. RIP Ashli.)
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To: dfwgator

After watching Dennis Prager on American Thought Leaders and Alex Jones with Paul Joseph Watson, I don’t see much hope.

Also, watch James Lindsey on American Thought Leaders for a deep dive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGiRGPq6Axo

Alex Jones is a nut, but the biggest thing he said that I agree 100% with, is that Trump needs to open up a Bank. Basically, a safe financial institution for Patriots.

I’m afraid the left will increase their intimidation efforts to get Banks and payment processors to ban anyone that represents political opposition.

This Presidential/Political transition won’t be like any other.

They are too close to just coast and they know they are unpopular.

They have, maybe their best and only opportunity to go big and take complete control.

This new administration won’t be like Clinton’s or 0bama’s terms where we pretend to get along and compromised on policy in a public debate.


113 posted on 01/17/2021 11:05:05 AM PST by Zeneta
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To: MayflowerMadam

“””That’s a really good idea. Simple. Do-able. It’s not a flashy idea, but if this election showed nothing else, it showed how much power “mere” precinct workers and counting center workers can be.

Little by little, and subtly, infiltrate every precinct and county election position. Start by volunteering at the polling places”””


I fully agree.

Also, right now every FReeper needs to contact their state rep and senator and demand they clean up the lax voting rules in their individual states. Most state legislatures are now or soon will be in session and the time to make the legislators do something to fix lax voting rules is now.


114 posted on 01/17/2021 11:05:10 AM PST by Presbyterian Reporter
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To: Peter ODonnell

Conservatism’s underpinnings seem too nebulous to me.

When the Ayatollas or the Chinese leadership can be called conservative then the term has lost all functional value and meaning.

Now I am no expert but my study indicates that Classical Liberalism is based on solid principles.

Free Speech, Civil Discourse, Individualism...and more as described in the following... all of which were the bedrock of America as founded

Here is an article listing and elucidating the Principles of Classical Liberalism...

https://www.rationalargumentator.com/index/blog/2014/07/principles-classical-liberalism/

Principle 1. The life of each individual is an absolute and universal moral value. No non-aggressive individual’s life, liberty, or property may be legitimately sacrificed for any goal.

Principle 2. Every individual owns his body, his mind, and the labor thereof, including the physical objects legitimately obtained through such labor.

Principle 3. Every individual has the right to pursue activities for the betterment of his life – including its material, intellectual, and emotional aspects – by using his own body and property, as well as the property of consenting others.

Principle 4. The rights of an individual to life, liberty, and property are inherent to that individual’s nature. They are not granted by other human beings, and they cannot be taken away by any entity.

Principle 5. The initiation of physical force, the threat of such force, or fraud against any individual is never permissible – irrespective of the position and character of the initiator. However, proportionate force may be used to retaliate and defend against aggression.

Principle 6. The sole fundamental purpose of government is to protect the rights of individuals by engaging in actions specifically delegated to the government by its constituents. Government is not the same as society, nor is the government entitled to sacrifice some non-aggressive individuals to advance the well-being of others.

Principle 7. Every individual has the absolute right to think and express any ideas. Thought and speech are never equivalent to force or violence and ought never to be restricted or to be subject to coercive penalties. Specifically, coercion and censorship on the basis of religious or political ideas are not acceptable under any circumstances.

Principle 8. Commerce, technology, and science are desirable, liberating forces that are capable of alleviating historic ills, improving the quality of human life, and morally elevating human beings. The complete freedom of trade, innovation, and thought should be preserved and supported for all human beings in the world.

Principle 9. Accidents of birth, geography, or ancestry do not define an individual and should not result in manmade restrictions of that individual’s rights or opportunities. Every individual should be judged purely on his or her personal qualities, including accomplishments, character, and knowledge.

Principle 10. There are no “natural” or desirable limits to human potential for good, and there is no substantive problem that is necessarily unsolvable by present or future human knowledge, effort, and technology. It is a moral imperative for humans to expand their mastery of the universe indefinitely and in such a manner as will reinforce the survival and flourishing of all non-aggressive individuals.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A party is needed that in some form stands upon these bedrock Principles

One advantage may be that ‘liberals’ think that they are ‘liberals’ even though often their interpretation of Classical Liberalism is flawed and incomplete.

They have stolen the name of a noble Political and Social Philosophy and use it to hide and disguise their totalitarian bent.

But the ones that are attracted by the term liberal, and can be taught what Classical Liberalism actually is,
may become attracted to it and help espouse it to other ‘liberals’ giving birth to Classical Liberals.

There are many online resources that can deepen your understanding and appreciation of Classical Liberalism.

comments?


115 posted on 01/17/2021 11:33:32 AM PST by kanawa ((Trump Loves a Great MadnessDeal (NorthernSentinel)))
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To: Peter ODonnell

Oh, I know! Let’s call it the Reform Party!


116 posted on 01/17/2021 11:37:07 AM PST by familyop
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To: Alberta's Child

[The GOP presidential candidate with the strongest support among Hispanics in my lifetime was George W. Bush. That right there is a huge problem with the scenario you laid out.]


IMHO, Dubya got Hispanic support for the same reason Trump did - he seemed like a regular guy who wouldn’t talk down to them. (The WOT was probably another, unspoken factor - Hispanics are probably more fervently* Christian than their Spanish counterparts back in Europe). In other words, the same kind of thing that drew white working class support for both of them.

Today, there’s another factor at work - clear policy differences. With the Dems supporting riots and economic shutdowns, in addition to ruining an indeterminate number of Hispanic business owners, while putting their employees on the street, Hispanics are starting to see why having Democrats in power is not a good thing.

* A crusade would have seemed a heaven-sent opportunity to slaughter the Moors in retaliation for their assault upon the West. In fact, most of the post-9/11 assaults on Muslims or suspected Muslims stateside were carried out by Hispanics. That Dubya used this opportunity to impose ridiculous ROE’s during the Afghan and Iraqi campaigns that got thousands of Americans killed unnecessarily probably soured many on this moron.

Alone among Christians stateside, Hispanics still take their religion seriously in the sense of wanting to slaughter the Muslim infidel for Christ the Redeemer. Fidei defensor might be the nominal reign style of British monarchs - it is the actual sentiment of many Hispanics. It’s not an accident that they are well-represented among the Proud Boys, for whom the defense of traditional Christianity is an integral element of their organization.


117 posted on 01/17/2021 11:37:55 AM PST by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Peter ODonnell
There are several options, pick which ever appeals to you. It really doesn't matter.


118 posted on 01/17/2021 12:02:40 PM PST by TheDon (#ResistTheSteal)
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To: William Tell

Republicans must be completely broken, and we have to spill some milk.

There is no other way.


119 posted on 01/17/2021 12:06:52 PM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: RC one

You have to find the underground papers and search for conservative radio.

I like Billboards and Burma Shave signs in liberal counties - there’s only 400 some of those blue counties.
People have to drive and walk past billboards and signs.

Mock them. Antagonize them and hold your ground. First Amendment Signs can’t be banned by the teknocrats.

I will start off the first “comic-sign” I heard by some guy say on Howie Carr’s chump line:
BREAKING NEWS: Big Guy has just landed in Basement 1
Repeat Big Guy has just landed in Basement 1

Nothing the Left hates more than being mocked.


120 posted on 01/17/2021 12:15:21 PM PST by Auslander154 ("Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred." Jacques Barzun)
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