CPAC's Conservative-Libertarian Split Could Be Hard To Bridge

I always follow the CPAC conference to see what kind of craziness the current Republican wanna-be leaders are up to. Apparently the Republican civil war is alive and well still and very evident at this year's conference.

I am very curious what effect this split will have on the 2016 elections.

www.npr.org...

I suspect that the Republican party will continue to tear itself apart as the Libertarians attempt to drag the progressive Republicans into the 21st century.

As far as elections go I believe the Democrats and progressive Republicans will continue to win and the rights of the individual will continue to be eroded away. I don't see anything getting better in 2016 or the foreseeable future.

Hopefully people will wake up and stop voting for Democrats and Republicans and opt instead for some sanity. There is no difference between the progressive Republicans and Democrats anymore.

Metallicus
I suspect that the Republican party will continue to tear itself apart as the Libertarians attempt to drag the progressive Republicans into the 21st century.

As far as elections go I believe the Democrats and progressive Republicans will continue to win and the rights of the individual will continue to be eroded away. I don't see anything getting better in 2016 or the foreseeable future.

Hopefully people will wake up and stop voting for Democrats and Republicans and opt instead for some sanity. There is no difference between the progressive Republicans and Democrats anymore.

I agree with this. I think there's a chance that a bit more liberal republicans will get voted in in the next couple elections, but I wouldn't hold my breath on it. The old progressive republicans are still the majority, but they seem like they're a dying breed nowdays, and are fighting their best against the new liberal republicans. They may be going away slowly, but I think the liberal republicans will be the majority in another decade of so.

I think we're going to eventually see more Ted Cruz and Rand Paul style of new republican leaders, rather than the John Mccain and Romney style of republicans, hopefully. I really don't see much difference between the Mccain/Romney style republicans and democrats anymore.

I think a better way to put it is the Country Club Republicans vs. the conservatives and the libertarians. The Country Club is trying their best to keep the conservatives and the libertarians divided because they know that if the two unite, they're done.

The libertarians are prone to voting Democrat at odd times because you still have a lot of what I call liberaltarians - people who only want their favorite vices legalized and will vote for whomever they think will give them that and don't care about anything else, and the conservatives are uneasy with that for obvious reasons.

However, principled libertarians and rational conservatives should agree on more than they disagree on, and they need to realize that and form a bond on it. After all, the house (our country) is burning down, and we both know that. Unless we unite and clean house united on the front that a much, much smaller government is the only way to save our country long-term, we're going to wind up with a really hard lesson in unrestrained liberty across the board.

The Republican Party courted the Christian Right in the 1970s. This was pretty much the genus of Social Conservatism.

The movement arose in the 1970's as members of the Republican "New Right" (many of whom were conservative Christians) looked to foster an influx of conservative Christians into the Republican Party at a time when feminism, the civil rights movement for gay Americans, and federal protection of abortion access stirred numerous conservative Christian leaders, many of whom were Christian Fundamentalists, to organize Christians to seek to influence American society and law through electoral politics.

Christian Right

The Social Conservative way of thinking though is coming to an end with the majority of the country and I would suggest is an anathema to Conservative Libertarians.

The Republican Party will continue to tear itself apart for a few years yet but, ultimately, the Conservative Libertarians will hold sway. That is the way the younger members are leaning.

I really don't see much difference between the Mccain/Romney style republicans and democrats anymore

How about endless war, isn't that a difference?? Not to mention just about every other issue. The only thing they have in common is letting corporations get away with murder.

reply to post by CB328


The best way to bring the corporations down is to level the tax down and flatten it so there are no more special rules for anyone or any entity. Then you need to streamline and reduce regs so that the little guys and actually do business again without being unduly burdened. That will inject real competition into the system.

I have no issue with a large corporation so long as they come by their size honestly, but as it is now, the rules are written such that they have the advantage on the playing field when it comes to tax code and regulatory regime. They can take the regulatory hits the little guys can't and lobby for tax considerations where little guys can't.

If enough competition arises, then consumers have real choice, and the market will take care of the bad guys.

I liked this speech at Cpac.

www.youtube.com...
she got Obama with it.

The Republicans looked great on black and white TV, color, not so much.

CB328

I really don't see much difference between the Mccain/Romney style republicans and democrats anymore

How about endless war, isn't that a difference?? Not to mention just about every other issue. The only thing they have in common is letting corporations get away with murder.

Endless war...

WW2 (D)
Korea (D)
Vietnam (D) & (R)

Some miscellaneous under Reagan and Bush 1 (R)
Thousands of air/missile strikes under Clinton (D)

and, Bush 2 & Obama of course...

reply to post by CB328


Do you think a libertarian or a independent can win in 2016?

In my state of Ohio, the Republican legislature BANNED the Libertarian candidate from the ballot. A legal maneuver to keep right-leaning voters from splitting the vote.

Total effing BS

Husted, the Ohio Republican AG, also blocked all early voting, especially on Sunday when most disabled voters and church groups were likely to vote.

Dick move Ohio Republicans. Libertarians you just got played.

Macabe
In my state of Ohio, the Republican legislature BANNED the Libertarian candidate from the ballot. A legal maneuver to keep right-leaning voters from splitting the vote.

Total effing BS

Husted, the Ohio Republican AG, also blocked all early voting, especially on Sunday when most disabled voters and church groups were likely to vote.

Dick move Ohio Republicans. Libertarians you just got played.

That's when it's time to do a write in whether they provide for one or not. Yes, it's throwing away your vote in a sense because the rules won't let you do it, but they need to know they can't get away with it.

reply to post by ketsuko


I moved here from England several years back, and now am a legal US citizen, and voting in this country seems unnecessarily difficult. The entire process seems designed to limit your choices, then prohibit the populace from voting. This seems counterproductive for a country that proclaims itself the "land of the free..."