We Need a 'Conservative' Party - 6 views
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Eli Melrod on 06 Sep 12I found this op-ed piece interesting, because I think it gets at the underlying problem with the current Republican party: there is no room for middle ground, because nowadays that means weakness. Although a centrist to philosophy to all problems does not work, I thought Friedman painted a nice picture of why little gets done in Washington due to the stark contrasts between the two parties. Basically, radicalization of the Republican party is one of the biggest problems with the current political situation.
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John West on 07 Sep 12I really liked this piece. The terrifying part to me (the author points this out really well) isn't just how little gets done, but how little gets talked about. The list of three other massive issues - more demanding and globalized jobs, energy crisis, and immigration - can hardly be brought up with the radicalization of the parties you mentioned. The reason this election is "about" jobs and the economy is that it is the only issue the parties can agree to disagree about constructively. Any one of the others, I think, would become about ideology and not about reaching a sensible compromise.
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Cameron G on 09 Sep 12This article, to me, really does address the main obstacle to becoming a united nation, which is radicals on either side of the political spectrum, but particularly conservatives. As a conservative myself, I find that often times I am frustrated by how stubborn or radical the leaders of the Republicans can be and this article makes an excellent point as to how that is affecting our nation. What our leaders need to understand is that they are never going to fully get their way, but instead they need to learn to compromise. Otherwise, nothing will get done. I agree with John that all of the other important issues need to be addressed, but they can't because of the radical ideals of a few powerful people.
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Anna Schutte on 09 Sep 12This editorial, along with John's article, show how important it is for the Republicans to become less radical. John's article shows that Karl Rove is actually already trying to do this by supporting more traditionally, conservative politicians and publicly taking more moderate stances. However, Romney and most of the Republican ads continue to cater to the radical right and their "no new taxes" and anti government positions. I wonder what would happen if Romney actually took the more moderate positions of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Would he lose the Republican base? I also found Murdoch's observation about immigrants being "natural Republicans" very interesting. Is this because they he imagines they have more conservative social opinions?
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cody s on 10 Sep 12This one really echoes a lot of what I've been hearing about the republican party. It seems like the tea-partiers have gotten big enough that the Republicans are shifting to the right so as to avoid a tea party candidate cropping up and splitting the vote (I read that somewhere, don't remember where). This issue really just reinforces, for me at least, the problems with the two-party system. Instead of having three parties, two for sane people and one for the tea partiers, the republicans have found themselves in a situation where they're straddling the widening chasm between moderates and radicals, and it seems to me like they've chosen the radical side as their base.
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miles henderson on 10 Sep 12I found this article interesting because it addresses the problems with both parties concerning national debt. I really enjoyed how the article poked fun at the election, saying " we celebrate the fact that it might include a serious debate about one of the four great issues of the day, though even that is not clear yet". After reading this article, I am beginning to think more of a conservative approach is needed to fix the issue in America concerning debt. Although in the past conservative presidents(George Bush Sr., Reagan) have used tax revenue and budget cuts to fix debt, I do not think it is out of reach for President Obama to fix debt issues in another 4 years if he takes a more "right-winged" approach. I do believe the job of fixing national debt is not the job for a radical member of the G.O.P or a very strong liberal, but for the best candidate who can make the most people happy while doing what is best for the country with a strong approach.