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Purple States, Red Parties
In several states, the Republican Party is stuck in a cycle of destruction, with an electorate trending toward the middle paired against a Party controlled by its right flank. Virginia, Kansas, Arizona, and Colorado are all, to varying extents, exhibiting this trend. And unless the ever-vanishing GOP moderate can reassert itself, all four states will be prime targets for a Democratic resurgence (where they haven’t taken control already, as they have in Colorado).
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3 Responses to “Purple States, Red Parties”
Since the Republican party is non-competitive in so many states and districts these days, it is a stretch to call it a true national party. Over 100 Democratic Congressmen will not face a real opponent in 2008.
However, you fail to carry the data to its natural conclusion, that the Republican Party will soon be as irrelevant in national politics as it is in such states as Maryland, Mass., California, and NY.
The U.S. will soon be a one party state. The real question is who are the winner and losers in such a situation.
I disagree. The system is perfectly set up to perpetuate a two-party system. The Democrats and Republicans have too much to gain by having each other around. The existence of the Republican Party ensures that Democratic politicians will always have a bogeyman to rail against and distract voters away from their own mediocrity. It works the opposite way, as well.
The current two-party system is a perfect way to stifle alternative ideas and parties. By having the Comission on Presidential Debates be controlled by an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, the CPD can claim to be “bipartisan” even as it prevents third party and independent candidates from join in the presidential debates. By arguing that we must continually vote for the “lesser of to evils”, we are assured that nothing better ever comes along.
Nick,
While I agree that at least one more major party would be a good thing I just don’t think it can happen with our current political structures. I think we need proportional representation, more representatives to decrease the proportion of representatives to population and probably some other changes that I can’t think of right now in order to make a system that doesn’t handicap third or even a fourth party.