See the following:
I would argue the Sixth Party System emerged with Reagan’s election in 1980 and we are now on the cusp of the Seventh. In any case, however, if you study the above closely, you will not find a cyclic pattern; what is “left” or “right” in one system does not necessarily bear any relationship to those designations in another.
From your lips . . .
Yes; but even the spectrum changes over time.
Baghdad Bob, is that you?
Love your work!
Tanenhaus is by no means part of any left, loony or sane.
So was Tanenhaus:
Paglia, OTOH, is a loony I wish had left long ago.
Or, to put it more civilly: I’m not a fan.
Mmm, yes, and we all know how conservatism completely died out then, not to return until a brief spasm during the GWB years. :dubious:
Conservatives will continue to have a tough time until they articulate an appealing platform that gets back to their financially responsible roots and doesn’t depend on government intrusion into people’s social lives and medical decisions. Even without that, they can stay viable simply by highlighting liberals’ screwups.
Anyone confident that the Republicans won’t pick up any ground in the 2010 elections?
I’ll take another 40-50 years of liberal dominance, thanks. Conservatism didn’t really resurge until Reagan. Nixon wasn’t what you’d really call a conservative Republican (modern Republicans, if they were recited his record without his name, would probably ball him a leftist). Goldwater tanked. Ford was a bookmark, a placeholder. Eisenhower was very much a moderate. At best, conservatism was in a holding pattern from 1932 to 1980, with brief and long-term ineffective blips like McCarthy and Goldwater.
Their success will be directly proportional to how effectively they can distance themselves from the movement conservatives.
It’s ridiculous to single out young liberals for this when the Republican party depends on painting it’s opposition as evil or immoral in order to get votes. From gay rights to abortion and birth control to healthcare death squads, they’ve got it down to art form.
I think conservatives are generally older, this quote was attributed to Winston Churchill: “Anyone who isn’t a Liberal before the age of 30 has no heart … and anyone who is still a Liberal after the age of 30 has no brain.”
But I think the median age of liberals is climbing, and many conservatives are getting more moderate. Yes, there are the loony conservative fringe ranting on TV about healthcare, but conservatives have put up with the loony liberal fringe for years too. Obama isn’t Hitler, but neither was Bush.
What I see on the Internet and in my family is many that are fiscally conservative but socially liberal.
But it can make them foolish or bigoted. <plonk>
There will be conservatives 10, 20, 50 and 100 years from now, probably in just about the same numbers as there are now. They won’t fighting for the same causes that current conservatives fight today, just like current conservatives are not fighting against women suffrage, racial integration or for witch burning. The only common trait they will have is that they will be wrong, their causes utterly evil and they will have to be forced kicking and screaming to treat their fellow human beings with the compassion and respect we all deserve, so at least some things will remain the same.
I really believe it. I’m a conservative/libertarian…especially by the standard of this board, where pretty much everybody to the right of Karl Marx is considered a Nazi.
That noted, I have a long history on this board and elsewhere of supporting gay marriage, opposing Bush the Younger’s Sandbox Adventure, and I’m solidly pro choice. I plan on keeping my guns. I want my taxes lower, my government smaller and less intrusive into my private life.
I believe the power of the State should be strictly limited to those powers granted in the Constitution, and maximum liberty preserved for the citizens. I’m a devout atheist.
I am not an evil person. I’m not a racist. I’m not a homophobe, or any of those other horrible things that have been broad-brushed over all conservatives in this thread.
I agree concerning true honest conservatives. The problem is they seem to be few in number and not fighting enough to raise their voices and lead. They are being drowned out. I actually think we need to work together to educate and illuminate , encouraging and appreciating the serious hard working conservatives and exposing the hacks and hate and fear mongers.
Obama took some steps in that direction last night and I cheered.
This is part of the problem, “conservative” applies to several wildly different belief systems that have almost nothing to do with each other. When you can apply the same label to white power advocates and black people then you are talking about a very big umbrella.
That must explain the liberal tendencies of old hippies like me?
McCarthy (Joe, not Eugene), those toads on the House Un-American Affairs Committee and everybody else who kept up the heat on the cold war and arms race through the '60s, plus digging a big hole in Vietnam must all have been liberals then (To be sure, some were. But many were right-wing).
And if you cited JFK’s record without his name (especially in terms of foreign policy), he’d be way to the right of today’s Democratic Party.
I would never underestimate the power of conservativism (in whatever form) to make a comeback in the U.S.
This ain’t Sweden. 
*And Nixon ain’t Clinton. 
Exactly. Is the OP referring to minimal-government conservatives, or balanced-budget conservatives, or isolationist conservatives, or Christianist “family values” conservatives, or who? They form a coalition under the banner of the elephant. Which ones are dying off? Surely not all of them together?
Do you have any idea how unintentionally hilarious this sounds?
Enjoy your “purity.”