This is excellent, Nomi. Many thanks. HCR and your comment made me have this strange thought in my la magdrugadic brain this morning. I suddenly wondered, what would happen if all dems, progressives and independents suddenly joined the Republican party and inoculated it by dissolving or at least diluting its' dark energy with Truth…
This is excellent, Nomi. Many thanks. HCR and your comment made me have this strange thought in my la magdrugadic brain this morning. I suddenly wondered, what would happen if all dems, progressives and independents suddenly joined the Republican party and inoculated it by dissolving or at least diluting its' dark energy with Truth and Light? What would happen? Poof?! Their voting power would suddenly shift? There are more of us than them...aren't there? . Just an early dawn can-we-use-the-light thought. If you cannot beat them, join them...and destroy them? There was a quote when I was much younger, "Dress Republican, Think Democrat." Those of you who understand politics better than I, can set me straight. But once upon a time Dems were the current Repubs, and Repubs were the Dems. How did they shift? And in the middle of that shift, was there balance first? Like the center line between Yin/Yang? Radical repubs infiltrated everywhere in our systems. We infiltrate theirs with sanity?
You know, when you are in a brainstorming session, ANY idea is allowed to percolate up...
Consider this a perk-up from my overworked, primordial ooze of Being this morning.
I was born into a Lincoln-TR-Ike Republican family. Nixon really changed things a lot in his desire to not lose and to help his "friends". Reagan pushed it a lot further, the first Bush had some heart and at least was a "professional". His son was controlled more by Cheney, Rove and others around him. Iraq was never about WMD. That's when I changed my registration. Trump is his own animal. People can see the light, but it's hard to give up something you've grown up with. Our R Gov Hogan never embraced Trump and it's worked for him. Light and truth always prevail. It can take a long time...but keep at it.
Oh Penelope. I surround both parties with white light every morning with an extra boost of light sent to the recalcitrant brat adults…on all sided. Surrounding darkness with white light allows it to get in the cracks. And, yes, most effective when done in la magdrugada….early morning.
I like to go out in the early morning...at last dark, first light and honor the 4 directions...commune with the Universe...now I have a word for the time. Perfect.
1) The next step up from voting is joining your local party. That’s where being outed as a RINO would take big courage, like what’s required more and more at school board meetings. Not that a requirement for courage should be a barrier.
2) Republican politicians no longer care about winning more than 50% of votes. Hence the legislation to suppress and override votes.
Pros:
1) A bunch of progressive votes would sweetly mess with Republican gerrymandered districts.
2) A bunch of progressive votes would sweetly dismantle legislation to suppress and override votes.
3) Impression management and polls: Significant numbers of registered Republicans tallied as supporting progressive issues and candidates catches media attention and builds that momentum.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
Some sort of critical mass is needed to transform individual party switches into an effective movement. But it starts with individuals and needs cohesive direction.
For awhile it looked like the more Lincolnian Rs would reject the seditious Rs and either reclaim the party or split the party. But neither has happened.
How much of the big switch was an artifact of unique historical circumstances,
We need to re-read and re-listen to all that HCR has written and said about the history of the Republican Party and that switch of affiliation by big business. And of course, follow the money, which takes us back to the matter of how to influence big business. Which is all the more daunting in light of a new round of expose of dark money machinations as illuminated by the Pandora Papers. But why should “daunting” be a barrier. Other than wisely marshalling resources to maximize effectiveness.
Here’s a brief refresher on the big switch:
“How did this switch happen?
Eric Rauchway, professor of American history at the University of California, Davis, pins the transition to the turn of the 20th century, when a highly influential Democrat named William Jennings Bryan blurred party lines by emphasizing the government's role in ensuring social justice through expansions of federal power — traditionally, a Republican stance.
But Republicans didn't immediately adopt the opposite position of favoring limited government.
"Instead, for a couple of decades, both parties are promising an augmented federal government devoted in various ways to the cause of social justice," Rauchway wrote in an archived 2010 blog post for the Chronicles of Higher Education. Only gradually did Republican rhetoric drift to the counterarguments. The party's small-government platform cemented in the 1930s with its heated opposition to the New Deal.
But why did Bryan and other turn-of-the-century Democrats start advocating for big government?
According to Rauchway, they, like Republicans, were trying to win the West. The admission of new western states to the union in the post-Civil War era created a new voting bloc, and both parties were vying for its attention.
… From a business perspective, Rauchway pointed out, the loyalties of the parties did not really switch. "Although the rhetoric and to a degree the policies of the parties do switch places," he wrote, "their core supporters don't — which is to say, the Republicans remain, throughout, the party of bigger businesses; it's just that in the earlier era bigger businesses want bigger government and in the later era they don't."
In other words, earlier on, businesses needed things that only a bigger government could provide, such as infrastructure development, a currency and tariffs. Once these things were in place, a small, hands-off government became better for business.”
I actually did this once when I was young. Registered R for the primary to vote against Nixon. If enough people do it, you can sway an election in the primaries. In this case today try and get R's who will be reasonable, or loose to the Dem. It would take a lot of organizing and it would have to be in districts where the Dem is a sure thing or un-opposed in the primary. TX, GA & KY would be very interesting case studies.
The big shift occurred when LBJ supported & signed Civil Rights legislation. He did the moral thing, knowing many southern Dems would be upset and possibly leave the party. Nixon used that opportunity to court white racists in the southern states. That's when the south started to change from solid D to solid R. There's other factors and other things happened, but that really created the electoral map we see today. It's interesting that 2 of the Dems elected President since then have come out of the south, Carter & Clinton while Bush II is the only R from the south....and R's have elected 2 celebrities, Reagan & Trump. Bush I and Biden have been the political "professionals" and Obama came from the outside...and many of the elections have been very close...and now are electorally decided in about 8 states.
This is excellent, Nomi. Many thanks. HCR and your comment made me have this strange thought in my la magdrugadic brain this morning. I suddenly wondered, what would happen if all dems, progressives and independents suddenly joined the Republican party and inoculated it by dissolving or at least diluting its' dark energy with Truth and Light? What would happen? Poof?! Their voting power would suddenly shift? There are more of us than them...aren't there? . Just an early dawn can-we-use-the-light thought. If you cannot beat them, join them...and destroy them? There was a quote when I was much younger, "Dress Republican, Think Democrat." Those of you who understand politics better than I, can set me straight. But once upon a time Dems were the current Repubs, and Repubs were the Dems. How did they shift? And in the middle of that shift, was there balance first? Like the center line between Yin/Yang? Radical repubs infiltrated everywhere in our systems. We infiltrate theirs with sanity?
You know, when you are in a brainstorming session, ANY idea is allowed to percolate up...
Consider this a perk-up from my overworked, primordial ooze of Being this morning.
I was born into a Lincoln-TR-Ike Republican family. Nixon really changed things a lot in his desire to not lose and to help his "friends". Reagan pushed it a lot further, the first Bush had some heart and at least was a "professional". His son was controlled more by Cheney, Rove and others around him. Iraq was never about WMD. That's when I changed my registration. Trump is his own animal. People can see the light, but it's hard to give up something you've grown up with. Our R Gov Hogan never embraced Trump and it's worked for him. Light and truth always prevail. It can take a long time...but keep at it.
Oh Penelope. I surround both parties with white light every morning with an extra boost of light sent to the recalcitrant brat adults…on all sided. Surrounding darkness with white light allows it to get in the cracks. And, yes, most effective when done in la magdrugada….early morning.
Can you send some of that light up to Georgia? And beam a little over to Sen. Warnock please....
Let's send it around the globe every madrugada!
Light in the cracks, I like it...magdrugada (didn't know the word till now) is my favorite...
“Madrugada” is classic Daria. Shared last week. Such a beautiful descriptor.
I like to go out in the early morning...at last dark, first light and honor the 4 directions...commune with the Universe...now I have a word for the time. Perfect.
Circle of Light time.
It is my new favorite word, too, from Daria a few days ago.
Continuing the brainstorming with pros and cons…
Cons:
1) The next step up from voting is joining your local party. That’s where being outed as a RINO would take big courage, like what’s required more and more at school board meetings. Not that a requirement for courage should be a barrier.
2) Republican politicians no longer care about winning more than 50% of votes. Hence the legislation to suppress and override votes.
Pros:
1) A bunch of progressive votes would sweetly mess with Republican gerrymandered districts.
2) A bunch of progressive votes would sweetly dismantle legislation to suppress and override votes.
3) Impression management and polls: Significant numbers of registered Republicans tallied as supporting progressive issues and candidates catches media attention and builds that momentum.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
Some sort of critical mass is needed to transform individual party switches into an effective movement. But it starts with individuals and needs cohesive direction.
For awhile it looked like the more Lincolnian Rs would reject the seditious Rs and either reclaim the party or split the party. But neither has happened.
How much of the big switch was an artifact of unique historical circumstances,
We need to re-read and re-listen to all that HCR has written and said about the history of the Republican Party and that switch of affiliation by big business. And of course, follow the money, which takes us back to the matter of how to influence big business. Which is all the more daunting in light of a new round of expose of dark money machinations as illuminated by the Pandora Papers. But why should “daunting” be a barrier. Other than wisely marshalling resources to maximize effectiveness.
Here’s a brief refresher on the big switch:
“How did this switch happen?
Eric Rauchway, professor of American history at the University of California, Davis, pins the transition to the turn of the 20th century, when a highly influential Democrat named William Jennings Bryan blurred party lines by emphasizing the government's role in ensuring social justice through expansions of federal power — traditionally, a Republican stance.
But Republicans didn't immediately adopt the opposite position of favoring limited government.
"Instead, for a couple of decades, both parties are promising an augmented federal government devoted in various ways to the cause of social justice," Rauchway wrote in an archived 2010 blog post for the Chronicles of Higher Education. Only gradually did Republican rhetoric drift to the counterarguments. The party's small-government platform cemented in the 1930s with its heated opposition to the New Deal.
But why did Bryan and other turn-of-the-century Democrats start advocating for big government?
According to Rauchway, they, like Republicans, were trying to win the West. The admission of new western states to the union in the post-Civil War era created a new voting bloc, and both parties were vying for its attention.
… From a business perspective, Rauchway pointed out, the loyalties of the parties did not really switch. "Although the rhetoric and to a degree the policies of the parties do switch places," he wrote, "their core supporters don't — which is to say, the Republicans remain, throughout, the party of bigger businesses; it's just that in the earlier era bigger businesses want bigger government and in the later era they don't."
In other words, earlier on, businesses needed things that only a bigger government could provide, such as infrastructure development, a currency and tariffs. Once these things were in place, a small, hands-off government became better for business.”
https://www.livescience.com/34241-democratic-republican-parties-switch-platforms.html
Food for thought!
Ellie…I’ll need to think about all this for quite awhile. Lots of nuggets in there…as usual. Thank you.
Great idea, Penelope! Just like the NYT columnist who suggest that Biden could get his money for his programs by minting a trillion dollar coin!
Is that called subversion or sabatage? Either esy i’m for it. Reps do it to the Dems already
I would say it would be a subversive action. And sabotaging their authoritarian coup d'etat would be the goal.
I actually did this once when I was young. Registered R for the primary to vote against Nixon. If enough people do it, you can sway an election in the primaries. In this case today try and get R's who will be reasonable, or loose to the Dem. It would take a lot of organizing and it would have to be in districts where the Dem is a sure thing or un-opposed in the primary. TX, GA & KY would be very interesting case studies.
Good morning Penelope! Very interesting perk-up.
I surprise my Self, sometimes, Gus!
Pay no attention to Randy. Keep on thinking!
Yes, he is adding nothing to the discussion at hand. Thanks, Gus!
The big shift occurred when LBJ supported & signed Civil Rights legislation. He did the moral thing, knowing many southern Dems would be upset and possibly leave the party. Nixon used that opportunity to court white racists in the southern states. That's when the south started to change from solid D to solid R. There's other factors and other things happened, but that really created the electoral map we see today. It's interesting that 2 of the Dems elected President since then have come out of the south, Carter & Clinton while Bush II is the only R from the south....and R's have elected 2 celebrities, Reagan & Trump. Bush I and Biden have been the political "professionals" and Obama came from the outside...and many of the elections have been very close...and now are electorally decided in about 8 states.