[GCFL-discuss] Parties

[gcfl-discuss at gcfl.net]

We haven't always had Democrats and Republicans. The Constitution did not
even anticipate the existence of formally organized parties. By the end
of Washington's first term, there were Federalists and Republicans (who
are the forerunners of today's Democratic Party -- just to keep it
confusing). The Federalists disappeared and we had one party, which
became the Democratic Party as a new opposition arose called the Whigs.
The modern Republican Party arose as a third party, opposing both the
Whigs and Democrats, on a platform of free land, government support for
industrial development, and restricting slavery to the states where it
already existed. The Whigs went out of existence, many Whigs becoming
Republicans, but not all.

A viable third party would have to offer a whole new perspective, not
just on what the answers are, but on what the questions are, and appeal
to people sick of either the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, or
both. A platform that I, Lance, Jeff, Eagle and Nancy could each say we
agreed with 80-90% of would about do it.

One problem with party organization, of any kind, is people do not divide
up into neat blocks on a whole variety of issues, we split different ways
on each question. For example, 35-40% of Democrats are pro-life, while
27-35% of Republicans are pro-choice. The major civil rights laws of the
1960s were passed by a coalition of Democrats and Republicans who
outvoted a coalition of Republicans and Democrats who were opposed.

Forget labels like "conservative" and "liberal." They mean nothing. I
favor renewed limitations on federal authority to get into anything not
specifically authorized by the Constitution as federal jurisdiction,
combined with vigorous regulation of large economic enterprises which
truly are interstate, and beyond the power of any one state to control,
combined with extreme restraint on federal OR state intervention into
individual decisions about individual matters.

Siarlys


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