# Is it possible to hijack a political party? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 7, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198 "2005-10-07T15:07:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/1 "2005-10-07T15:07:40Z")
Okay, this is a complicated question, and I hope I can get it straight. I was thinking recently (I don’t remember about what) as I tend to do from time to time, and I remembered something someone told me about the book Freakonomics. There’s a story in the book about a man who becomes a member of the Klu Klux Klan so that he can learn their jargon. He then goes periodically to the writer of, I believe, of _Superman_ and gives the words he’s learned for them to put in the comic. What eventually happens is that children all around the country are using the Klu Klux Klan’s jargon so they’re constantly forced to change, which is difficult (I would say especially in the case of the KKK). Well, I’m just curious as to whether this would be possible with a political party. Say, a liberal entered the republican party (I know technically all republicans aren’t conservative, but bear with me), would he be able to turn the party around? I think I was thinking about the mid-60s when republicans became democrats and democrats became republicans. Does this question make any damn sense? If someone could better explain myself for me, I would be gratious. I hope it makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/2 "2005-10-07T15:12:05Z")
> [@gitfiddle](#): > > If someone could better explain myself for me, I would be gratious. Gratuitous, even. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/3 "2005-10-07T15:13:10Z")
> [@gitfiddle](#): > > Okay, this is a complicated question, and I hope I can get it straight. I was thinking recently (I don’t remember about what) as I tend to do from time to time, and I remembered something someone told me about the book Freakonomics. There’s a story in the book about a man who becomes a member of the Klu Klux Klan so that he can learn their jargon. He then goes periodically to the writer of, I believe, of _Superman_ and gives the words he’s learned for them to put in the comic. What eventually happens is that children all around the country are using the Klu Klux Klan’s jargon so they’re constantly forced to change, which is difficult (I would say especially in the case of the KKK). > > Well, I’m just curious as to whether this would be possible with a political party. Say, a liberal entered the republican party (I know technically all republicans aren’t conservative, but bear with me), would he be able to turn the party around? > > I think I was thinking about the mid-60s when republicans became democrats and democrats became republicans. > > Does this question make any damn sense? If someone could better explain myself for me, I would be gratious. > > I hope it makes sense. Yeah it makes sense. For the most part parties are made up of an ignorant mass. They don’t know what’s going on and blindly adhere to the party line. Then there are people we used to call “The Aristocracy” who’s families have wealth and holdings that are not limited to one country, who’s peer group is all people in similiar situations to themselves who really run the world. It tends to be from these groups that we get our presidents and such, they have a completely seperate perspective on things, where they are operating on the world stage, and the countries they control are powerstructures that add to their resource pool. So Political parties get hijacked all the time by these people who know what’s up, and have a better view of the big picture. As a consequence of their position in life, they oftentimes happen to be very good schmoozers, and are able to target what they say to whom, and are very good at making individuals feel good. A good politician is an actor on par with say Sidney Poitier or Brad Pitt. For the most part the bulk of people in a party have provincial concerns, and these top level actors know that if they help their constituents make ends meet, that they will have a strong foundation from which to work. However, the party at the top is quite different from the party at the bottom. Erek ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/4 "2005-10-07T15:18:47Z")
Some might ague that Pat Buchanan’s 2000 presidential bid as the reform party candidate would count as an example. If I recall, the Reform party was largely an economic/political reform movement, and shied away from social issues like gender/race relations, religion, etc. Buchanan’s ‘hijack’ of the party turned them around 360 degrees, with fairly disastrous results. Added to this was the taint of his takeover due to accusations of fraud involving primary ballots. Of course, you could argue that it was a party based more on personality than policy, and Buchanan was no real change in that regard. If I recall, his strongest rival was a man whose personal platform rested on transcendental meditation. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/5 "2005-10-07T15:34:21Z")
> [@Stonebow](#): > > Buchanan’s ‘hijack’ of the party turned them around 360 degrees, with fairly disastrous results. They spun in place? 🙂 I think you meant 180 degrees. Conversational mathmatics is fun. This was the example I was thinking of, a party is what it’s members elect to do at any one time. Longstanding party principles are meaningless if the rank-and-file decide to change, or if the rank-and-file change. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/6 "2005-10-07T15:36:17Z")
What the OP is describing is an acknowledged political tactic known as “entryism”: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entryism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entryism) Something like a corporate takeover in the political field. Historically it has been used by socialist organizations of various kinds, e.g., Trotskyists infiltrating labor unions and more mainstream socialist parties with the intent of radicalizing them. Buchanan’s takeover of the Reform Party in 2000 is, indeed, considered an example of this. The swapping of constituencies by the Democratic and Republican parties in can be traced to Nixon’s adoption of the “Southern Strategy” formulated by advisor Kevin Phillips, although the process can be seen to have begun much earlier: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern\_strategy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy) Whether it is an example of entryism is debatable. It did not involve a cabal sneaking into either party’s leadership under false colors. The Pubs just decided, by gradual stages, to change their message to appeal to white conservative Southerners still nursing a grudge over integration, and that gradually evolved into a broader “culture war” politics. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/7 "2005-10-07T15:50:19Z")
The sort of deliberate hijacking of a group to acheive your goals is something that I have often heard rumors of with gun clubs. Anti-gun activists will infiltrate the club with the intent of causing mischief. A typical gun club will have 500-1000 paying members. However, most of them are like me. They simply want to pay thier dues and have a place to shoot when they need it. They don’t actively go to every meeting and vote on every motion. So, a dedicated group of a couple dozen people could go to a meeting as members and simply vote to close down the club. Or cancel the insurance, or any other number of harmful things. In the political sense, I think that there can be infiltrations and takeovers that are less cut and dried. The statement of [Moveon.org](http://Moveon.org) that they had “bought and paid for” the democratic party is an instance of this. There’s and article today in the Washington Post that touches on this, although it doesn’t mention [moveon.org](http://moveon.org) by name. [link](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/06/AR2005100601645_pf.html) > [@](#): > > The liberals’ hope that Democrats can win back the presidency by drawing sharp ideological contrasts and energizing the partisan base is a fantasy that could cripple the party’s efforts to return to power, according to a new study by two prominent Democratic analysts. > [@](#): > > Since Kerry’s defeat, some Democrats have urged that the party adopt a political strategy more like one pursued by Bush and his senior adviser, Karl Rove – which emphasized robust turnout of the party base rather than relentless, Clinton-style tending to “swing voters.” > > But Galston and Kamarck, both of whom served in the Clinton White House, said there are simply not enough left-leaning voters to make this a workable strategy. In one of their more potentially controversial findings, the authors argue that the rising numbers and influence of well-educated, socially liberal voters in the Democratic Party are pulling the party further from most Americans. > > On defense and social issues, “liberals espouse views diverging not only from those of other Democrats, but from Americans as a whole. To the extent that liberals now constitute both the largest bloc within the Democratic coalition and the public face of the party, Democratic candidates for national office will be running uphill.” I disagree that Bush and Rove have ignored the swing voters and focused solely on the base of the party. I think their success with swing voters was clear in their victories in the past two elections. In any case, I agree fully with their analysis that the Democratic party has moved too far to the left and won’t start winning elections until it moves back. This is largely due to the hijacking of the party by a minority of far left activists. They aren’t doing this to try and be harmful to the party, but the result is exactly that. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/8 "2005-10-07T15:51:20Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The Pubs just decided, by gradual stages, to change their message to appeal to white conservative Southerners still nursing a grudge over integration, and that gradually evolved into a broader “culture war” politics. I’d argue that the Democratic Party dumped the South and the conservative wing of the party. Conservative Democrats were no longer welcome in the Democratic Party, starting about 1968. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/9 "2005-10-07T15:51:26Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > It tends to be from these groups that we get our presidents and such, they have a completely seperate perspective on things, where they are operating on the world stage, and the countries they control are powerstructures that add to their resource pool. If you look at the backgrounds of our presidents in the 20th century-today, that’s mostly not true: McKinley-Son of Ohio farmers T. Roosevelt-Came from money Taft-Father was former Sec. of War and Republican party leader Wilson-son of a minister Harding-His father was a smalltown doctor who also owned a weekly paper, his mother was a midwife Coolidge-Father was a politician/officeholder in rural Vermont Hoover-Father was a blacksmith who died when he was young…raised by his uncle, a doctor. F. Roosevelt-Came from money Truman-Father was a farmer Eisenhower-Father owned a store, then became a mechanic Kennedy-Came from money Johnson-Son of a farmer Nixon-Father owned a grocery store/gas station Ford-His stepfather was a businessman, I don’t know what his father did. Carter-Son of a farmer and a nurse Reagan-Son of a shoe salesman G.H.W. Bush-Came from money Clinton-Father was a travelling salesman, stepfather owned a store G. W. Bush-Came from money. So, really, the only members of the “aristocracy” you mentioned would be the Roosevelts, Taft, Kennedy (and Kennedy’s father’s money was “new money”), and the Bushes. Every other man to be president from 1900 to now had middle class or lower middle class backgrounds. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/10 "2005-10-07T16:10:25Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > …snip… Then there are people we used to call “The Aristocracy” who’s families have wealth and holdings that are not limited to one country, who’s peer group is all people in similiar situations to themselves who really run the world. It tends to be from these groups that we get our presidents and such, they have a completely seperate perspective on things, where they are operating on the world stage, and the countries they control are powerstructures that add to their resource pool. …snip… Erek I understand what you are saying but Presidents for various reasons come from all over. Reagan, Nixon & Clinton were not from wealthy powerful families. Carter’s family was not exactly blueblood either. Bushes and Kennedies are political bluebloods. I believe Ford was also, but he is really the accidental President and probably shouldn’t count. To the Op: it would be an interesting experiment and I would argue the religious right did hijack the Republican Party. I am a moderate republican. I feel like our only prominent speaker is Sen McCain. Bush and the other prominent leaders are all religious right and/or the wealth party. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/11 "2005-10-07T16:14:59Z")
Don’t you hate when you get pulled away from a post, and someone posts basically the same thing you were saying, but only better? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/12 "2005-10-07T16:21:50Z")
> [@mks57](#): > > I’d argue that the Democratic Party dumped the South and the conservative wing of the party. Conservative Democrats were no longer welcome in the Democratic Party, starting about 1968. ummm…68 is the year Democratic Conservatives sent cops into the street at the Chicago Convention to pummel the kids who wanted peace. Mayor Daley was not ever a liberal. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/13 "2005-10-07T16:32:24Z")
One example of this was Howard Stern’s campaign for Governor of New York. In 1993, Stern announced he was seeking the nomination of the Libertarian party and encouraged his fans to register with the party. Many did, they outvoted the existing party members, and Stern got the nomination. Stern got a lot of publicity for his run for governor but withdrew from the race in 1994. But this kind of thing isn’t going to happen with the Democrats or Republicans; they already have millions of members and no outside group is going to be able to bring in enough new people to radically change the direction of the party. It’s third parties that can be taken over by a single person and his followers, like Stern, Buchanon, Nader, Perot, or Ventura. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/14 "2005-10-07T16:35:58Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > If you look at the backgrounds of our presidents in the 20th century-today, that’s mostly not true: > > McKinley-Son of Ohio farmers > T. Roosevelt-Came from money > Taft-Father was former Sec. of War and Republican party leader > Wilson-son of a minister > Harding-His father was a smalltown doctor who also owned a weekly paper, his mother was a midwife > Coolidge-Father was a politician/officeholder in rural Vermont > Hoover-Father was a blacksmith who died when he was young…raised by his uncle, a doctor. > F. Roosevelt-Came from money > Truman-Father was a farmer > Eisenhower-Father owned a store, then became a mechanic > Kennedy-Came from money > Johnson-Son of a farmer > Nixon-Father owned a grocery store/gas station > Ford-His stepfather was a businessman, I don’t know what his father did. > Carter-Son of a farmer and a nurse > Reagan-Son of a shoe salesman > G.H.W. Bush-Came from money > Clinton-Father was a travelling salesman, stepfather owned a store > G. W. Bush-Came from money. > So, really, the only members of the “aristocracy” you mentioned would be the Roosevelts, Taft, Kennedy (and Kennedy’s father’s money was “new money”), and the Bushes. Every other man to be president from 1900 to now had middle class or lower middle class backgrounds. Point taken. Supposedly there is an interesting thing on [genealogy.com](http://genealogy.com) that talks about the lineages of presidents and their connection to past presidents. For instance Barbara Bush was Barbara Pearce, related to Franklin Hyde Pearce. In the case of people like Clinton, he was able to make his way into those circles. They don’t necessarily have to be born into them, but can have a prediliction toward them. In some cases like Reagan, I’d argue that he was probably more of a puppet. I think it can be argued that George HW Bush has been running this country since the Ford administration. You can trace Donald Rumsfeld, and Dick Cheney along with him. Those are the top levels of power, certainly you are correct, not all presidents come from that power. But I still maintain that at the top levels of power, it is aristocratic, and party affiliation has more to do with one’s personal connections than with an ethical affinity to that particular group. Erek ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/15 "2005-10-07T16:36:31Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > ummm…68 is the year Democratic Conservatives sent cops into the street at the Chicago Convention to pummel the kids who wanted peace. > > Mayor Daley was not ever a liberal. Never said that he was. Look at the delegates inside the convention hall and the reforms that resulted in a pronounced shift to the Left. It was the death of the old Democratic Party. Many people thought that was a good thing, it made the party more liberal and progressive. It also disenfranchised a large part of the party’s base. ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/16 "2005-10-07T17:12:05Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > They spun in place? 🙂 I think you meant 180 degrees. Conversational mathmatics is fun… Dude, don’t oppress me with your flat plane Euclidian geometric models. _Hangs head in shame_ My bad. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/17 "2005-10-07T17:18:28Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Point taken. Supposedly there is an interesting thing on [genealogy.com](http://genealogy.com) that talks about the lineages of presidents and their connection to past presidents. For instance Barbara Bush was Barbara Pearce, related to Franklin Hyde Pearce. Specifically, she would be his fourth cousin four times removed. Geneological links like that are interesting, but I don’t know if they’re neccesarily relevent to proving your point. If you trace my genealogy, I’m President Bush’s 14th cousin. He and I had a common ancestor who came over on the Mayflower. But the thing is, millions of people can trace their ancestry to him. Some of those people, like the Bushes, or Winston Churchill, are or were famous. Most are just ordinary people without any sort of power or influence at all. I’m not saying that family is irrelevant. Obviously, if your parents are rich or influential, that can give you an edge when it comes to getting into good schools, or making connections that can help you. But that’s a far cry from saying there’s an aristocracy that controls everything. Look at my list again…it’s not just Clinton and Reagan who didn’t come from a distinguished background…it was most of the presidents. And if you look at the backgrounds of most House and Senate members, you’ll find the same thing. Even looking at the two people you mentioned, Cheney and Rumsfeld, Cheney’s father worked for the Agriculture Department on soil conservation, and Rumsfeld’s father was a real estate salesman. Both Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are important and infuential people now, of course, but they’re both largely self made As for G. H. W. Bush running the country since the Ford administration, I’d like to see your argument. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/18 "2005-10-07T18:03:56Z")
To get back to the question posed by the OP — an example, within a movement rather than within a political party is Camille Paglia (with regards to feminism). By any everyday definition/understanding that existed prior to her coming along, Camille Paglia is a feminist like George Will is a socialist. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/19 "2005-10-07T18:42:56Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > I disagree that Bush and Rove have ignored the swing voters and focused solely on the base of the party. I think their success with swing voters was clear in their victories in the past two elections. In any case, I agree fully with their analysis that the Democratic party has moved too far to the left and won’t start winning elections until it moves back. This is largely due to the hijacking of the party by a minority of far left activists. They aren’t doing this to try and be harmful to the party, but the result is exactly that. OK, Debaser, name me some of those far left activists and those wildncrazy far left policies the Dems currently advocate. I hope some of it involves hanging bourgeous capitalists with rope they sold to us! ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198/20 "2005-10-07T18:57:41Z")
I think an excellent case can be made that the neocons have hijacked the Republican Party. If you look at all of Bush’s neocon “advisors” like Paul Wolfowitz and Grover Norquist, you’ll see that they have great influence. But they never campaigned openly for their program – frex, invadind a Middle Eastern country to establish a US bastion in the Middle East was neocon policy well before 911. They just used it as an excuse for warmongering. Buy you never heard diddly about it until after 911. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-hijack-a-political-party/325198.md?page=2)