Study: Republicans Leaving Party, tired of two evils argument

[Henry Rogue]

In reference to the op article, what does that tell you about the people who stayed, (excluding embedded liberty activist of course)? Sheep.

 

[Quark]

I'm not sure if that is a good thing. Doesn't one have to be registered Republican to vote in the primary? If the base we need to vote for liberty-minded Republicans is leaving the party, then the GOP candidates won't be liberty-minded.

 

[GregSarnowski]

I'm not sure if that is a good thing. Doesn't one have to be registered Republican to vote in the primary? If the base we need to vote for liberty-minded Republicans is leaving the party, then the GOP candidates won't be liberty-minded.

well I know in New Hampshire at least unaffiliated voters can participate in either primary. but I agree with your overall point. hopefully this study is more just a lagging indicator from last November and Rand and others are inspiring the right people to get involved.

 

[enoch150]

Warning, speculative rant...

I would not be surprised to see the CFR-vehicle "Americans Elect" pop up again, and if Rand wins the GOP primary, run a candidate to divide the conservative vote. In the last two election cycles they have been insurance against Ron. Notice how despite spending many millions and getting ballot-access in the majority of states, they didn't even bother to put up a candidate against Obama/Romney. Now I don't think it's paranoid to expect this happen again, with Rand being even more formidable opposition to the empire. And if they do put up a candidate expect that candidate to be in all the media coverage, polls, and debates - unilke every other legitimate third party-nominee.

I thought about this scenario quite a bit and it seems plausible. They could run this from several different angles. Like running a rich, billionaire who's perceived by the media to be "moderate", i.e. Bloomberg. Or they could have a "moderate" republican bolt the party and run as a progressive to split the republican vote like Theodore Roosevelt did, thus guaranteeing democratic victory. I think Chris Christie fits perfectly in this scenario. The third angle would be to play upon the gullible patriotic fervor of conservatives and run a former high-ranking general from the military that is well-respected. Once upon a time this could have been David Petraeus.

Americans Elect was formed in 2010, so they were really only involved in the 2012 election. I believe they support (ed) David Walker, the former US Comptroller General. At least one of their national directors did. I have a 24 page campaign strategy written by him, complete with names of campaign staff, ad scripts, and a five week budget. They were looking for someone to focus just on fiscal issues, like what has been mentioned in this thread. They figured, at the very least, they could get a bunch of email addresses from people who were primarily focused on fiscal issues for 2016. David Walker was apparently aware of the effort and they thought it likely that he would run if he got the AE nomination. The problem was that their entire strategy hinged on getting David Walker the nomination through AE and neither Walker nor anyone else got enough votes of support by their own rules. That's why they didn't run a candidate.

 

[GregSarnowski]

Americans Elect was formed in 2010, so they were really only involved in the 2012 election. I believe they support (ed) David Walker, the former US Comptroller General. At least one of their national directors did. I have a 24 page campaign strategy written by him, complete with names of campaign staff, ad scripts, and a five week budget. They were looking for someone to focus just on fiscal issues, like what has been mentioned in this thread. They figured, at the very least, they could get a bunch of email addresses from people who were primarily focused on fiscal issues for 2016. David Walker was apparently aware of the effort and they thought it likely that he would run if he got the AE nomination. The problem was that their entire strategy hinged on getting David Walker the nomination through AE and neither Walker nor anyone else got enough votes of support by their own rules. That's why they didn't run a candidate.

I could swear there was a similar org from the same characters in 2008, even if it wasn't called Americans Elect.

Either way the AE Board of Directors was basically a Who's Who of the status-quo. Let's just say I'm suspicious that the same people who orchestrated the economic situation are the one's who are going to save us from it.

 

[ican'tvote]

The GOP is not the problem. The GOP is a vehicle. It's who's behind the wheel that matters. This is true of all political parties.

 

[GregSarnowski]

The GOP is not the problem. The GOP is a vehicle. It's who's behind the wheel that matters. This is true of all political parties.

If the GOP were a car what kind of car would it be?

I don't know but I bet it would drive 25 mph on the highway with its blinker on the whole time.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

The GOP is not the problem. The GOP is a vehicle. It's who's behind the wheel that matters. This is true of all political parties.

Some truth to that. All political parties should be thrown deep into the woods.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

If the GOP were a car what kind of car would it be?

I don't know but I bet it would drive 25 mph on the highway with its blinker on the whole time.

And a turbo button to plow people over at 120 mph when they get within striking distance.(for profit, of course)

 

[Cleaner44]

This is us winning! We need to tear down the old rotted GOP before a new small government party can be established. This is the very essence of the Ron Paul R3VOLUTION. Helping candidates like McCain and Romney lose is a joy. I love to encourage others to boycott the BIG GOVT Republicans and it is working. Romney got even less votes in the 2012 election than McCain did in 2008 and that is when our population increased. Winning!

 

[I<3Liberty]

This is fantastic! If 1% of voters register libertarian, we will be guaranteed a position on the ballot. We'll have more time and money to invest in actual campaigning since we won't have to fight the two-party system to get candidates on the ballot (like we had to with Gary in 2012.)

I've been a registered libertarian since I turned 18 in 2011. Some guy at a republican activism table, tried to get me to register republican and I was like...

The GOP is not the problem. The GOP is a vehicle. It's who's behind the wheel that matters. This is true of all political parties.

I agree, but I feel like we also need to get 1% registered as republicans, so we can get on the ballot and intimidate the GOP. They were totally freaked out when they saw that Gary was on almost every ballot and could very well spoil Mitten's chance of winning. I would definitely vote for Rand if he is the 2016 GOP nominee, but I have a bad feeling they'll pick another crappy candidate.

 

[GregSarnowski]

This is fantastic! If 1% of voters register libertarian, we will be guaranteed a position on the ballot. We'll have more time and money to invest in actual campaigning since we won't have to fight the two-party system to get candidates on the ballot (like we had to with Gary in 2012.)

I've been libertarian since I turned 18 in 2011. Some guy at a republican activism table, tried to get me to register republican and I was like...

Good luck to you but even with ballot-access the deck is stacked heavily against third parties in terns of fundraising, media coverage, poll and debate inclusion, etc.

It is OK if you're running a candidate to make a philosophical point. But the Libertarian Party will never be taken seriously by most voters; fair or not, it has largely been consigned to irrelevancy.

So the GOP wins by default. And I think the record of this new reemergence of libertarians in the GOP so far has been pretty decent. Certainly electorally it has been more successful than the LP, which AFAIK has never won a federal election in 40+ years.

 

[The Free Hornet]

Oh, yeah cut & run. That'll work!

Words like "leave" or "run" just aren't suitable. It is my job to get in front of the ballot as an informed voter. It is their job to convince to vote for GOP candidates. Few make that cut. That's not my problem.

As for losing support, that is what should happen to the party of Romney and 'legitimate rape" BS. That is US winning and TPTB losing.

 

[Lucille]

Related:

Here's how Louisiana's five recognized parties fared over the first half of 2013:

Democratic Party registrants decreased by 10656, from 1405085 to 1394429.
Republican Party registrants decreased by 272, from 809298 to 809026.
Libertarian Party registrants increased by 797, from 7244 to 8041.
Green Party registrants increased by 80, from 1729 to 1809.
Reform Party registrants increased by 5, from 1406 to 1411.

That's one state. Where can we get the rest?

 

[Lucille]

I belong to this local group, Flagstaff Liberty Alliance. They're tying to draw disaffected everyone. I think Liberty Alliance is a great name for a party.

 

[azxd]

The GOP is not the problem. The GOP is a vehicle. It's who's behind the wheel that matters. This is true of all political parties.

I agree !

The real problem is the smoke screen of deceit that so many refuse to acknowledge.

 

[scrosnoe]

The GOP is not the problem. The GOP is a vehicle. It's who's behind the wheel that matters. This is true of all political parties.

bingo! the powers that be steering the vehicle are the real problem / along with the media under essentially same control....

 

[enoch150]

Related:


That's one state. Where can we get the rest?

Connecticut usually publishes annually in October, but there was a special PR for November 2012.

Democratic Party +70,928 to 767,693
Republican Party +33,067 to 430,439
Independent Party +4,537 to 13,933
Green Party +223 to 1,815
Libertarian Party +398 to 1,603

All parties go up in Presidential election years. But both major parties had been in a multiple decade downtrend prior to 2008. At least, in percentage terms. Obama halted the decline of both and gave a bump to the Democrats.

Also, the Independent Party is not a real party. It literally stands for nothing. Transparency in government or some nonsense. But it went from a few hundred to 14,000 members in about 5 years after the Republicans co-opted it. It basically just cross endorses Republican candidates.

 

[nobody's_hero]

I'm not so sure taking over the GOP would even work. You guys remember the hotly contested convention pitting Barry Goldwater against some Rockefeller guy? Yeah, apparently the relatively liberty wing of the GOP took the reigns and guess what? Rockefeller supporters stayed home. The media, which has always been against us, proclaimed that the GOP nominee Goldwater was just too radical and it ended up setting the liberty movement back half-a century.

I could easily see that happening again even if hell freezes over and we were able to gain a majority in the GOP.

 

[klamath]

Once again I laugh at the panacea people think a third party would be. All they are doing is giving up their right as individuals to determine what coalition to join to form a majority government. Instead of you as a voter making that determination, it would be the multiple party hacks making the deals in Washington. Europe does so well with many parties, let us be just like europe Just look at the independents now in Washington. People thought they were voting for an independent but all they did is give the decision on what party to caucus with to the politician.