by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

The GOP is a disciplined, top-down monolith. Even when the GOP screws up and runs an idiot like George W. Bush or John McCain, there is the danger that he will win because, on election day, the GOP will close ranks, hold their noses and vote the party line. Liberal Democrats for whom Clinton or Obama are too conservative will pout and stay home. Worse --conservative Democrats will join the evil minions and vote for a Bush Jr or a John McCain.

The Democratic party, meanwhile, doesn't have the luxury of settling for a 'base hit' in a game in which there are no base hits --only home runs. For the Democrats, that is! The GOP has the luxury of just putting a man on base! Democrats don't have the luxury of nominating anything less than a JFK or an FDR.

The left wing world wide is a disorganized amalgam of differing opinions, sitting ducks for a disciplined, Nazi-like top down party like the GOP where issues are not derived from the people but from focus groups, consultants and think tanks who literally manufacture issues based upon how well they 'test'. What really hurts is that for their talk about 'the base', the GOP owes its allegiance to the riches one percent of the US population, a moneyed segment that plays and wins because it writes the rules.

Voting green ...is a luxury of the middle class, who will more or less fare equally well materially under either major party. Yes, there are social issues, but keep in mind that Bush was chosen as the GOP's dream candidate in part because is soft on abortion. Middle-class women are the key swing voters in this election, an there are a lot of pro-choice soccer moms who lean Republican.

The most active segment of the GOP base is pro-life, but the majority of people in this country are not and the Republican thinkers and money men know it. Bush is not a 'stealth' candidate; he comes from Eastern moneyed Republicans; his dad despised the Christian GOP activists (and the feeling was mutual). Gore knows this, which is why he feels the need to protest (too much) that Bush really is pro-life ---it's been the Democrat's hole-card for so long he can't bear to feel the tactical advantage slowly slipping away from him.

--Nate Blakeslee, Texas Observer, Nov 3, 2000

There are two options left to Democrats.

1. Find a long term wedge issue that will split the GOP right now the middle. Exploit it!
2. Support sweeping electoral/election reforms that will ensure that every vote counts in every race --borda count, range voting, abolition of the primary system, direct elections et al

The current system sucks! The GOP has the money to endure and rebound. Democrats, always scrambling for money, are a party of speedy sprinters in a long distance race. Democrats may change but risk becoming GOP-lite. They have little choice, then, but to change the rules, but how?

• A Spiritual Mind Movie
• How the US Became a Vassal State of China
• Terrorism is Worse Under GOP Regimes
• The US Army Document That Proves the US is the World's Number One Sponsor of World Terrorism
• Dissecting the Scrambled Brains of the GOP
• Why the CIA is the World's Number One Terrorist Organization [w/LINKS]
• Why the CIA is the World's Number One Terrorist Organization [PDF]
How the GOP Pays Off its 'Base' of Elites

Published Articles on Buzzflash.net

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By: Len Hart Why Democrats Must Change or Perish, via The Existentialist Cowboy