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Voters' approval of the two major parties is slipping

Dittohead not!

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but, it's mostly slipping for the Republican side.

Voters are feeling pretty negative about the Republican nominating race. A new NBC/Wall Street Journal released earlier this week found that while 19% of registered voters have a more positive view of the GOP, 42% now hold a more negative view of the party amid the months of slugging in the primary race.
Registered voters don't like the Democratic side, either, though the negative ratings for that race were far lower.

source

They don't much care for Republicans, but then, they don't feel much better about Democrats. Sounds a bit like my own opinion.
 
I despise both gangs about as equally as if they were the Crips and the Bloods.



About the only diff between them is the Pubs don't shoot at my sacred cows as often as the Dims.



Cthulu '16.
 
Well, these parties have dominated the political scene for around 100 years, and neither has done much different when in office, with a few rare exceptions.

Perhaps it's time for some new splinter parties to take over. :shrug:

I think it's been time for quite a while now.
 
And yet the lemmings will come out in droves to vote R or D again without ever giving an alternative party option a second thought.

We'll hear all the same nonsense about "wasted votes" and "won't make a difference" and blah blah blah....

And people will continue to register as an R or D making it appear as though those two parties are indeed the only viable option.

The masses will bitch and moan about how FUBAR'd the system is, then continue to support it with their votes.

It is the true definition of insanity.
 
And yet the lemmings will come out in droves to vote R or D again without ever giving an alternative party option a second thought.

That's because people are getting increasingly stupid, politically. They're being TOLD what side they're on, and they just obey without question or thought.

You're a successful person financially? You're a republican, citizen.
Poor? You're a democrat.
Black? You're a far-left democrat.
Broke college student? You're almost socialist.

Now observe these stupid citizens. Look at how they get their news.

Republicans? Steady stream of Glenn Beck, Rush, etc.
Democrats? Steady stream of DailyKos, MSNBC, etc.
Hell, look at this message board? Look how many democrats quote DailyKos, like it was gospel. Look how many republicans quote right-wing blogs.
 
I've got no use for either party and haven't in a long time.

If Trump gets the Republican nomination I'll vote for him, he's a lot of things but a party Republican is not one of them.

If not I'll vote for Gary Johnson again.
 
I've got no use for either party and haven't in a long time.

If Trump gets the Republican nomination I'll vote for him, he's a lot of things but a party Republican is not one of them.

If not I'll vote for Gary Johnson again.
What makes you think, besides Trump saying so, that he's not the typical Republican candidate? His tax proposal is exactly what every Republican proposes -- massive tax cuts that go mainly to the rich, hostile to immigrants and so forth.

What 'reform' Republican voters want is their GOP to recognize the reality of growing inequality that has eliminated the connection between economic growth and middle-class incomes, to shift its focus away from tax cuts for the rich, and to drop the fixation with the knee-jerk response of slashing every New Deal or Great Society program -- that help middle-class Americans. Well, there's a name for people with those views: they're called Democrats.
 
Lemme see...there are exactly two independent members of congress (both Senators)...with one of them running for president as a Democrat. This despite the fact that independent candidates run in almost EVERY election in almost EVERY election district.

And of the people running for re-election (Democrats and Republicans)...my guess is that over 90% will win. My further guess is that none of the independent candidates will win.

The people SAY they are tired of the two parties...but they seem more than comfortable with them.
 
Lemme see...there are exactly two independent members of congress (both Senators)...with one of them running for president as a Democrat. This despite the fact that independent candidates run in almost EVERY election in almost EVERY election district.

And of the people running for re-election (Democrats and Republicans)...my guess is that over 90% will win. My further guess is that none of the independent candidates will win.

The people SAY they are tired of the two parties...but they seem more than comfortable with them.
While independents 'say' they are independent, they tend to always vote for one of the major parties. They aren't as independent as they say.
 
While independents 'say' they are independent, they tend to always vote for one of the major parties. They aren't as independent as they say.

I am a registered, capital "I" Independent...and I have voted for either a Democrat (mostly) or a Republican in every election...except for the time I ran for office as an Independent and voted for myself.

But besides being an Independent...I also am a pragmatist...and in each of the elections, I realized either the Democrat or Republican would win...and I DID NOT WANT MY VOTE TO BE MEANINGLESS.

In any case, it is my opinion that one of the major parties will make a serious mistake in the near future...and will self-destruct. I personally think it will be the Republican Party...and it could easily be during this election cycle.

That might end up being a good thing. The fracture may create two parties of that dysfunctional party...and one of those two may well end up being the dominant party in American politics...by pulling a good many away from the Democratic Party...which is almost as dysfunctional as the GOP.

America could be the better for a fracture.
 
Oops, left one part out.

They aren't as independent as they say.

Being "independent," MTA...does not mean "not voting for the one of the major party candidates."

Being independent often means not allowing one philosophy to dominate your voting pattern to exclusivity. Being independent and voting for someone who has no chance of winning...while allowing someone you don't want to win gain an advantage by doing so...

...is not being independent. It is being short-sighted...even stupid.
 
What 'reform' Republican voters want is their GOP to recognize the reality of growing inequality that has eliminated the connection between economic growth and middle-class incomes, to shift its focus away from tax cuts for the rich, and to drop the fixation with the knee-jerk response of slashing every New Deal or Great Society program -- that help middle-class Americans. Well, there's a name for people with those views: they're called Democrats.

That's not at all a functional description of Democrats.

Maybe the more more pragmatic, rational, and conservative of Democrats want what you describe, but the lunatic fringe of the Democrat Party, the fringe that frequently finds itself in power, just wants to start there and keep on rolling.

They don't want to "recognize" a disconnect between folks bringing lower-class skills to the marketplace and then finding that they aren't able to command middle-class incomes. They want to legislate middle-class incomes for people who don't have middle-class skills. They seem largely oblivious to the fact that our economy has evolved enormously over the past 50 years, both in terms of technological innovations taking the place of factory-floor labor and in terms of the global economy flattening and Democrat-led free market agreements resulting in greater, global, competition for no-skill and low-skill manufacturing jobs.

For the most part they also seem painfully unaware of the difference between generational wealth, hedge fund billionaires, and a guy busting his ass spending $200,000 and seven or eight years of his life to get a good (modern and largely necessary) education, in order to earn a solid middle-class or upper-middle-class living. Their tax proposals lump the corporate cog and the small business owner raking in $250,000 a year in the same boat with the guy whose family has had a billion plus invested dollars dating back to the time of the Industrial Revolution and can live like a king off of capital gains alone.

They aren't just interested in preserving New Deal social safety net programs, they're interested in pushing entirely new programs (like socialized medicine) on an entirely new generation of Americans.

Since you stopped there I'll stop there but I'm sure we can both keep going.

You can continue pretending that all the Democrats want is for things to stay largely the same in an ever changing world (which paradoxically would make them "conservative).

And I can continue demonstrating that they're really quasi-socialist progressives who have no real interest in the middle-class backbone of this nation but rather pander to the lowest-skilled and lowest-income Americans in an effort to trade redistributed tax dollars for votes.

What "reform" Republicans want (and I can really only speak for myself here) are leaders who don't really care what grown adults do in their bedrooms, who don't turn their evangelical Christianity in to the cornerstone of their political platform, who aren't interested in legislating morality or waging war as a metaphor on every real or potential vice, and who aren't such bellicose chickenhawk idiots. But we want them to be just as conservative as ever, if not even more conservative, when it comes to the government spending money (that they don't earn, but rather take from people who work hard for it).
 
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That's not at all a functional description of Democrats.

Maybe the more more pragmatic, rational, and conservative of Democrats want what you describe, but the lunatic fringe of the Democrat Party, the fringe that frequently finds itself in power, just wants to start there and keep on rolling.

They don't want to "recognize" a disconnect between folks bringing lower-class skills to the marketplace and then finding that they aren't able to command middle-class incomes. They want to legislate middle-class incomes for people who don't have middle-class skills. They seem largely oblivious to the fact that our economy has evolved enormously over the past 50 years, both in terms of technological innovations taking the place of factory-floor labor and in terms of the global economy flattening and Democrat-led free market agreements resulting in greater, global, competition for no-skill and low-skill manufacturing jobs.

For the most part they also seem painfully unaware of the difference between generational wealth, hedge fund billionaires, and a guy busting his ass spending $200,000 and seven or eight years of his life to get a good (modern and largely necessary) education, in order to earn a solid middle-class or upper-middle-class living. Their tax proposals lump the corporate cog and the small business owner raking in $250,000 a year in the same boat with the guy whose family has had a billion plus invested dollars dating back to the time of the Industrial Revolution and can live like a king off of capital gains alone.

They aren't just interested in preserving New Deal social safety net programs, they're interested in pushing entirely new programs (like socialized medicine) on an entirely new generation of Americans.

Since you stopped there I'll stop there but I'm sure we can both keep going.

You can continue pretending that all the Democrats want is for things to stay largely the same in an ever changing world (which paradoxically would make them "conservative).

And I can continue demonstrating that they're really quasi-socialist progressives who have no real interest in the middle-class backbone of this nation but rather pander to the lowest-skilled and lowest-income Americans in an effort to trade redistributed tax dollars for votes.

What "reform" Republicans want (and I can really only speak for myself here) are leaders who don't really care what grown adults do in their bedrooms, who don't turn their evangelical Christianity in to the cornerstone of their political platform, who aren't interested in legislating morality or waging war as a metaphor on every real or potential vice, and who aren't such bellicose chickenhawk idiots. But we want them to be just as conservative as ever, if not even more conservative, when it comes to the government spending money (that they don't earn, but rather take from people who work hard for it).
While you try to frame this in terms of a skills gap -- folks bringing lower-class skills to the marketplace and then finding that they aren't able to command middle-class incomes, that's not it. Even those with supervisory jobs are finding that their wages are stagnant. The only group where the income is rising fast is the top 1% -- and it's not because that group suddenly has better skills or suddenly is smarter.

But the belief that America suffers from a severe "skills gap" is one of those things that everyone important knows must be true, because everyone they know says it's true. Think about what we would expect to find if there really were a skills shortage. Above all, we should see workers with the right skills doing well, while only those without those skills are doing badly. We don’t.
 
The political party platforms of today are mostly irrelevant; they don't meet the economic needs of the great majority of American citizens.

The platforms today pander to social issues in a contrived fear-mongering manner, and at the expense of the economic needs of the very social-issue groups to whom they pander.
 
But the belief that America suffers from a severe "skills gap" is one of those things that everyone important knows must be true, because everyone they know says it's true. Think about what we would expect to find if there really were a skills shortage. Above all, we should see workers with the right skills doing well, while only those without those skills are doing badly. We don’t.

Oh, well if a union think tank says that union labor just isn't being paid enough we should probably take that to the bank!

Seriously though, thanksnothanks.
 

Well, what did you expect?

Given a choice between a mass of candidates, and the establishment frustration drowning out just about everyone else on one side, and a pre-designated, pre-ordained coronation on the other side, is it really any surprise that both of their support is slipping?
 
Well, what did you expect?

Given a choice between a mass of candidates, and the establishment frustration drowning out just about everyone else on one side, and a pre-designated, pre-ordained coronation on the other side, is it really any surprise that both of their support is slipping?

Re-reading this, I think I should have said "... frustration with the establishment drowning ..."
 
Well, what did you expect?

Given a choice between a mass of candidates, and the establishment frustration drowning out just about everyone else on one side, and a pre-designated, pre-ordained coronation on the other side, is it really any surprise that both of their support is slipping?

It would be surprising if it weren't slipping.
 
Screw the Democrats and Republicans. I am voting for Vermin Supreme.

vermin-supreme.jpg
 
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