There are six political parties in America, not two. Where are YOU? Or do you wedge yourself in between (a seventh political party?) Explain yourselves. (I don’t fit in any of the six comfortably, myself)
Theory holds that these six align themselves into the two major political parties for convenience, but the grouping is not harmonious.
The elite of the Left are the Dissolute. They are idealists, concerned with ideas rather than pragmatics. These are media moguls, academicians, ACLU lawyers, and intellectuals primarily concerned with abolishing the norms of decency from society, or, rather, to alter the norms to bring them in line with a nonjudgmental, all-welcoming, but ultimately nihilist political correctness. They favor abortion and homosexual marriage. Libertarians tend to group here.
The elite of the Right are the Capitalists. Rightwing intellectuals and businessmen seek minimum government and free trade. Their primary concern is economics. They also tend to favor what is properly called the liberal institutions of rule of law, the constitution, the freedoms in the Bill of Rights. They are somewhat internationalist in flavor. Libertarians are found here also.
The yeomen of the Left are the Dependents. These include teacher’s unions and bureaucrats, farmers, trial lawyers and race hustlers, and everyone who depends on handouts from the public till, or pay-offs from class-action suits. They favor expansions of the federal government to fund their various programs, and class actions suits to force guns and cigarettes into oblivion. They are pragmatists, concerned with questions of Right Conduct, which they regard as synonymous with charity and order (which they equate with handgun disarmament and race quotas). Authoritarians are found here of the Welfare-State kind.
The yeomen of the Right are the Militarists. They favor a strong military and an aggressive foreign policy. They are anticommunist and patriotic. They do not share the internationalist feelings of the Capitalists. They are pragmatists, concerned with questions of Right Conduct, which they regard as synonymous with honor and order. Authoritarians are found here of the Law-and-Order kind.
The base of the Left are the Workingmen. These include many constituencies, such as southern Black Baptists, who do not share the social values of the Social Libertines, but they do share a suspicion of the Capitalists, in whom they see a mutual enemy. Their primary concern is economics: they want the government to regulate the market and protect the working man. These are common Joes.
The base of the Right are the Social Conservatives, the Chaste, who want to protect their families from the rising tide of filth and moral decay in which our current society is drowning. These are idealists, concerned with ideas rather than pragmatics. They want to see perversion shamed rather than lauded.
The Social Conservatives have more in common with the Workers than they do with the Capitalists, whom they also mistrust as driving the morals of society into Philistinism, but the presence of the Marxist and socialist element in the Left elite drives the Conservatives to the Right. They want the government to regulate the speech and protect the manners of society. They regard abortion as child-murder. These are common Joes.
This model of “six factions in two parties” has one advantage in predicting the outcome of political contests: as a rule of thumb, if there is an issue or candidate that energizes all three factions in one party, but not all three factions in the other party, that party will prevail in a political contest.
Under this model, the reason why, for example, gay marriage has not prevailed (except via court action), even in Leftwing California, is that it is an issue that concerns only the elite of the Left, not their yeomanry, and not their base. The reason why, for example, NRA-type gun-rights issues have not prevailed (except via court action) is that this issue only concerns the yeomanry on the Right, and not their elite (who have armed guards at their beck and call) nor their base.
When it comes to abortion, the Elite on the Left support it because killing unborn babies offends normal morality; the yeomanry on the Left support it, because they see abortion as a step in favor of equality for women; the base supports it because Workers can rarely afford large families, and killing children, especially black children is a pragmatic cost saving measure. On the other hand, of the Right, only the base, the Social Conservatives, are motivated by this issue. It has no bearing on the concerns of the small-government Rightwing Libertarians, nor on the strong-military Rightwing yeomanry.
The discussion of where “you”, dear readers, fit should be interesting because we have a diverse crowd who drift past the blog from time to time.
I vote the party that has the best chance of holding the left at bay, whether they do it or not.
So I hold my nose and vote GOP.
I am excited over my house candidate, Jeff Jones, hoping he defeats Dingell Inc.
I am not so excited about the senatorial candidate John James, but his election would help keep Schumer at bay.
I’m much like Ed. I vote for candidates rather than parties and that usually means the GOP because I find their candidates to be generally more rational than the donkeys.
As you like to say, LL, the choice between GOP and Dem is a choice between Saducee and Pharisee. Two sides of the same wicked Sanhedrin.
That said, I veer towards social conservative/worker/militarist and, with Ed, we’ve got to keep the nihilist Left OUT of power. They have way too much as it is, clearly.
Is Joe Biden’s rapid-onset dementia a ruse to keep him from being prosecuted and having to testify against his son for corruption?
Whoa!
Good analysis. The Big Tent was once the Democrat Party.
I’m vastly unpopular, and hold political opinions sure to offend almost anyone. I hate both the parties, and indeed, believe that the parties (all parties) should be abolished. Any justification for them is long obsolete at this point, and they are, after all, private clubs with the sole purpose of trying to control and direct elections. Sounds like treason, to me.
I vote for whoever seem to me to be the “least worst”. The times I have ever been able to vote for any candidate that I even sort of “like” are rare, indeed.
I’m not a fan at all of Marxists. I think the government should limit itself to things we really need it for, and those few things it is good at. I think people should be left alone to the greatest degree possible, unless they really, indisputably, cross the line – and then we should come down on them like the hammer of god. I’m a big fan of the US Constitution, and I think we should follow it closely. I also think that if people don’t like what it says, there are two methods for changing it built right in, and those are the proper ways.
I also wish there were things in the Constitution that it lacks, like explicit privacy and property rights, requirements for simple and limited laws and curbs against bureaucracy, etc. but I know those aren’t ever going to happen.
I’m a big believer in representative government, by which I mean that I think morons who I disagree with about every single thing deserve representation, too, and that everyone should vote their opinions – if I got to make all the rules, the only one happy would be me.
I could go on about my opinions forever, but it’s probably already way too long.
-Kle.
Personally I’m very conservative. Politically I’m small government libertarian. I despise government that injects itself into ones life, especially the federal government.
The federal government’s footprint was small before the Civil War. Since then and the South (and the primacy of State’s Rights) lost, that footprint has only grown larger.
I belong to the LMA party. “Leave me alone”.
I was never political as a young man, until all my avocations became the subject of relentless control freaks. Cars, motorcycle riding, guns, airplanes, rule here, rule there, do this, don’t do that, wear your seatbelt and read all the safety warnings.
Ever see a S+W box from the 1960’s? The gold ones? The entire manual is printed INSIDE THE LID. How to load and unload. That’s it- there was a belief people were smart enough to know not to do the ten thousand stupid things we are warned about today, and a assumption that no jury or judge was stupid enough to award damages for such stupidity. Buy a leaf blower today and half the 50 page book is redundant stupidity warnings.
Most American kids today have never really known freedom. Ride in the back of a pickup? Have a beach fire with some friends and beer? Walk down the road with a .22 rifle? Ride a dirtbike in the State Forest? Bring a pocketknife to school? Have a cop tell them they have had enough and send them home? Sell some lemonade? Blow a corner and have the cops tell you to replace the neighbors mailbox, instead of writing a ticket? Be a asshole and get their nose bloodied and learn a life lesson? The bureaucrats have literally written a regulation for almost every human action .
They say ignorance of the law is no excuse. I am calling BS on that, no human in the world could know every law in the USA. They can’t even COUNT them. And meanwhile, it seems the basic legal and moral foundations of the country, namely the 10 Commandments, the Constitution and Bill of rights, are ignored. Rapists, murderers and pedofreaks are preening righteousness and telling us how to live our lives?
Trumps speech was great. Said exactly what the situation is.
KLH and Raven pretty well summed up my political opinions.
I will not make any deals with you. I’ve resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own.
I’m not a number, I am a FREE MAN
From the opening of “The Prisoner”, which pretty much is how I feel., along with LUTHA.
But then at times I feel like a fiscally and socially conservative “Militarist”, so I don’t know what that makes me…..
There’s this dumb old joke. What will that nation use for a constitution once their revolution is over? Let them use the American Constitution. It’s in terrific shape because it’s hardly been used!
I believe that our Founders were smarter and more generous/less abusively selfish than most Americans today. They gave us a general plan for running a mostly fair government that can work well(not perfectly) when used as prescribed. I pretty much want to be left alone, but I recognize the need and benefits of cooperation with other people. General guides like the Constitution provide a means doing so. Specific sets of rules from Home Ownership Associations and City Zoning Ordnances usually do not enhance harmony. They tend to harsh my mellow, so I live out in the county just outside city limits.
Get the hell off my lawn.
Paraphrasing Groucho Marx: I wouldn’t want to belong to any political party that would have me as a member.
Independent. I vote the person NOT the party, but yes, we have to defeat the hard left.
I fall across all three of the Conservative groups in some way. Free Market economics to a point are good but there needs to be a referee on the field of economic play or the bullies will take over; government is currently that referee even though it is not the best it may be the best there can be. The Libertarian, unhindered business model is essentially a declaration of economic anarchy which is unsustainable; to a degree we see that with our current mega-corporations who form an oligarchy to try to control this country. I probably am more a cross between Militarist and Social Conservative beyond that. I agree with both KLH’s and raven’s views, also.
I used to be an independent voter 30 to 40 years ago but now I vote pretty much straight Republican as voting for a Democrat at the lowest level, even if they are good and moderate, supports the National Democratic agenda. The Democrats at all levels are forced to toe the Democratic Platform or face Cancel Culture. On the flip side the Republican Party needs reform also. There are too many spineless GOP-e and RINOs who bend to the will of the Power Mongers/Democrats to suit my taste.
BTW, calling the Donkey Party the Democratic Party just makes me want to spit on the ground. Currently, the only thing democratic about them is their name as they have become full blown Totalitarians.
The Dims have been taken over by radicals who only know how to destroy. Saw their pathetic attempt to make a garden, and ended up with a mud hole – yeeeesh.
On the other hand, The Stupid Party does it’s best work at kicking the can down the road plus giving the Dims half of what the Dims ask for, and the Dims keep on asking. Dims have heard ‘Yes’ so many times now they throw tantrums when they hear ‘No’.
Be still, my beating heart…sigh.
Under this model, the reason why, for example, gay marriage has not prevailed (except via court action), even in Leftwing California, is that it is an issue that concerns only the elite of the Left, not their yeomanry, and not their base. The reason why, for example, NRA-type gun-rights issues have not prevailed (except via court action) is that this issue only concerns the yeomanry on the Right, and not their elite (who have armed guards at their beck and call) nor their base.
That’s REALLY interesting.
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