Showing posts with label political parties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label political parties. Show all posts

Sunday, September 14, 2025

Thoughts on America After the Death of Charlie Kirk...

Saw this tweet over on X and gave it some thought....for what its' worth, I agree with most of the tenets except for one part; quoting.... "The Democrats will suffer through several more disastrous electoral cycles before younger politicians finally emerge who will rebuild it into a more patriotic, immigration skeptical, pro-family, center-left party that can compete against the Republicans on economic and quality of life issues."

While the first part of that quote is correct in that Democrats, if they weren't already heading to at least one or two not-so-good election cycles, are probably headed to several in a row reminiscent of how Democrats in the 1920's suffered and subsequently Republicans in the 1930's likewise suffered electorally. Where I think Mr. Fivekiller is wrong though is in what that party will look like.

Historical examples are important here; in two of America's fellow Western countries, Canada and Australia, one half of the Left-Right spectrum is occupied by coalitions of parties. In Australia, that coalition is an official one, known as the Coalition and consisting of the Liberal & National Parties; in Canada, it is an unofficial coalition of the Liberal & New Democratic parties. In both cases, the parties have commonalities which allow them to work together (a unified Labor Party in Australia, a unified Conservative Party in Canada) yet both groups have quarreled with each other over the decades.

Going back to the Democratic Party, I think we might see something similar where the Democratic Party as it currently stands simply can't survive the continued pull-and-tug of its' disparate parts, especially as more and more of its' constituent parts begin fracturing and splintering. Which begs the question: where will it go?

That, dear readers, is the million dollar question which I'm not certain of figuring out offhand. Given the first-past-the-post plurality system used in the U.S., any official split would be fatal to the Democrats yet the party as it stands cannot survive; my guess would be something akin to Canada's left-wing "coalition" - two disparate parties with a common focus (opposing Republicans) yet sometimes at cross purposes to one another. (Think American-style Liberal & Progressive Parties).

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Founders' Quotes, 7-8 April 2025

A pair of quotes concerning politics, political leaders and political parties...

(1) It behooves you, therefore, to think and act for yourself and your people. The great principles of right and wrong are legible to every reader; to pursue them requires not the aid of many counselors. The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest. Only aim to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail. - Thomas Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America — 1775

(2) Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the Spirit of Party generally. . . . A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume. - George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

Politics isn't bean bag as Tip O'Neill once said; it is an endeavour that belongs to the body politic of society and requires our steadfast attention. So too is keeping our political leaders, whatever persuasion they are, on the straight and narrow. That also requires a civic society that is educated in civics and thought, things sorely lacking in today's "I want it now, damn the costs!" society.