Tag: political parties

Why the working class changed parties

Why the working class changed parties

Posted on by Jack

I have long been puzzled by many of the working class who support Republicans who seem to the working against their interests (lower taxes for the rich, for example). Democrats seem to be doing much more to help the working class and yet they seem to be losing support in this group.

Peter Coy has written a very interesting column today, based on a National Bureau of Economic Research paper , that seems to explain this at least in part.

It is an interesting article a well-worth your time.

New Political Party

New Political Party

Posted on by Jack

I have often thought that our representatives in both the House and the Senate should think independently about the good of the American people and the good of the county when voting (see More RINOs and DINOs needed). Our 2 political parties have become too powerful. The uncompromising party loyalty is the problem.

I had thought the answer was to elect more independents. But the recent appearance of the Forward Party suggests a possibility I had not considered. Independents often have a hard time being elected because of lack of logistic and financial party support. Here there is party support and no pressure to conform to an ideology.
Continue reading “New Political Party”

What is bipartisan

What is bipartisan

Posted on by Jack

Several years I was on the email list of our Congressman and every week, I’d get an email which included many, if not all, or the bills he voted for. He was a Republican so naturally most were Republican bills.

But some were described as bipartisan and I would look up the ones that sounded interesting. Nearly always, they were passed with well over 200 Republican votes and a very small number of Democrats – maybe 3 or 4.
Continue reading “What is bipartisan”

Yellow Dog Republicans

Yellow Dog Republicans

Posted on by jack

Before I retired I lived in Georgia for 30 years. For part of that time Georgia was a solid democratic state. Of course, this was a long time ago. The state seemed to have an abundance of Yellow Dog Democrats. That is, Democrats who would vote for a yellow dog if nominated by the Democrats over any candidate nominated by the Republicans.

So solid was Democratic Georgia that Republicans quite often didn’t even put-up an opposition candidate for many offices. The real decision was reached in the Democratic primary.

Now it seems we have Yellow Dog Republicans as well. Continue reading “Yellow Dog Republicans”

Partisan problem

Partisan problem

Posted on by Jack

I think that that much of the problem in Washington is due to the excessive power we give to our 2 major political parties. This shutdown and the debt ceiling crisis are just examples of that.

Now there appears to be a compromise that may solve these problems but even if the immediate problems are solved (for now anyway), we still need to fix the partisan problem.

It is nice to know that George Washington thought political parties were a problem too.

Death by government shutdown

Death by government shutdown

Posted on by Jack

When this government shutdown was just a few days old I wrote that Shutdown is failure and a result of giving parties too much power.

As you can easily guess my major point was about the excessive power of political parties but Continue reading “Death by government shutdown”

Shutdown is failure and a result of giving parties too much power

Shutdown is failure and a result of giving parties too much power

Posted on by Jack

About a year ago, I wrote here about Political parties and government dysfunction.

I have been a believer that much of the problem in Washington Continue reading “Shutdown is failure and a result of giving parties too much power”

No Labels

No Labels

Posted on by Jack

I have my opinions and I have been known to be wrong on occasion. I usually think I’m right but I’m willing to listen to other opinions and maybe reconsider my own opinion. Sometimes I’ll even change my opinion because of that listening.

Unfortunately, many of our so-called leaders don’t think they need to listen. Even worse they are willing to force everyone else to follow what they think is the right path.

You may have guessed by now that I am thinking about Congress. There is a partisan divide where Republicans don’t give Democratic ideas much serious consideration and Democrats don’t give Republican ideas much consideration and the 2 sides don’t compromise much. There are a few Independent and a few in the major parties willing to cross the aisle but not nearly enough of it.

So I have written about this failure of governing before. The political system is making our democracy dysfunctional.

A group called “no labels” is trying to help move us past this political gridlock. Check out the website of No Labels.

Republicans have no mandate

Republicans have no mandate

Posted on by Jack

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, thinks the Republicans in the House have a mandate.

But the Republicans lost big. In the words of The Economist :

The Democrats won 50.6% of the votes for president, to 47.8% for the Republicans; 53.6% of the votes for the Senate, to 42.9% for the Republicans; and…49% of the votes for the House, to 48.2% for the Republicans (some ballots are still being counted). That’s not a vote for divided government. It’s a clean sweep.

The Democrats gained seats in the Senate and in the House and won the Presidency. The Republicans did keep their majority in the House via gerrymandering but it is a smaller majority.

What part of “Republicans have no mandate” does Mr. Norquist have trouble understanding?

Republican Party of Ignorance

Republican Party of Ignorance

Posted on by Jack

There seems to be a battle within the Republican Party as to whether they are the Party of Ignorance or the Party of Stupid.

But the saying is:

“Stupid is forever, ignorance can be fixed.”

Education can fix the ignorance problem but the Republicans do not seem interested in learning. They are willfully ignorant of basic knowledge and this should be unacceptable.

In “1984” George Orwell’s dystopian and satirical novel the Party that stayed in control of the government used the slogan Ignorance Is Strength. Perhaps the Republicans are on to something.

Bipartisan Cabinet

Bipartisan Cabinet

Posted on by Jack

It has been suggested that President Obama could have a bipartisan cabinet for his second term. Here is an example of 2 Republicans who could be great additions to the cabinet.

BUT there is a school of thought that IF President Obama wanted to show bipartisanship, he could do what Franklin D. Roosevelt did in World War II–pick Republicans who are intelligent, sane, responsible, and who are no longer serving in the Senate, to serve in his cabinet, and the State Department would offer a great location to put soon to be former Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, an acknowledged foreign policy expert, and a man who has worked well with Obama when they were both Senators, and went off to Russia to promote the safe collection of nuclear weapons stockpiles in 2005-2006. Lugar is a wonderful statesman, and would fill the job with excellence and professionalism. And he has been, like Kerry, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman in the past, and is still the ranking member of the committee until he leaves the Senate in January.

Additionally, as suggested earlier, former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a Vietnam War veteran and military expert, would be an excellent choice to serve in the Pentagon as Secretary of Defense. Always highly regarded and respected, Hagel would add stature to our Defense Department.

Such appointments would neutralize, to a great extent, Republican attacks on President Obama in the areas of foreign policy, national security, and defense policy.

See http://www.theprogressiveprofessor.com/?p=20041 for the full article.

I would like to add a suggestion, Jon Huntsman, former governor and ambassador, as Treasury Secretary.

It may be a good time to do some actual governing

It may be a good time to do some actual governing

Posted on by Jack

Now that the election is over, it may be a good time to do some actual governing. Seems the parties need to find enough common ground to reach a compromise and prevent us from falling off a fiscal cliff on this next January. Refusal to compromise could put us back in recession ( http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20121107-720595.html )

President Obama and Governor Christie

President Obama and Governor Christie

Posted on by Jack

I see President Obama and Governor Christie working together for the good the people of New Jersey impacted by the storm. Wouldn’t it be nice if more of our politicians were able to put political differences aside long enough to work for the good of the people?

More RINOs and DINOs needed

More RINOs and DINOs needed

Posted on by Jack

One of my pet peeves is the excessive partisanship in our political life. It would be nice if our Congress was composed of men and women who could think and act independently and govern the country in what they believe is the best interest of the people they represent. Sadly, there is excessive loyalty to political parties and a lack of ability of compromise for the good of the country.

Political parties have become too powerful. I have previously written many times about this “cancer at the heart of our democracy” (follow my partisanship tag for more).

There is a type of politician called RINO for Republican In Name Only. I suppose there is another group called DINO for Democrat In Name Only. If so, I have certainly heard that term less often.

Usually such a term is used to indicate a lack of party loyalty. And party loyalists consider it a bad thing. But I think it is a good thing. It shows that the politician in question can think independently and is willing to stand-up to the party for the good of constituents or the good of the country.

Think of how good it would be to have a Congress full of people who are willing to act for the good of the country and govern. Support your local RINO, DINO, or independent.

Lesser of two evils and the evil of two parties

Lesser of two evils and the evil of two parties

Posted on by Jack

Quite often our choices in elections come down to picking the candidate we believe to be the lesser of two evils. We just don’t like our choices. Pick 1 of 2 but you dislike both.

So who do you dislike least ? Who do you vote against ?

The choices we make in each election seem fairly important. And this election could be very important.


But in the long-run a perhaps it is just as important or maybe even more important that we find a better election system. I have written in this blog about this. I cite one post here but click on the tag “partisanship” to see a long list.

Mickey Edwards has written a fine book about it, The Parties Versus the People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans which I read and reviewed several months back. This book really started me thinking that we have given up too much control to the 2 major political parties.

You might be interested in Mickey Edwards’ Atlantic article which explored this before he had expanded the argument to book length.

I ran across this series of articles which also explored this problem. The link is to one article in the series but you can easy find the others on the website.

The first step is to think about it. And if you think it is a problem, lend your support to those who would like to do something about it.