emazur
03-02-2009, 03:27 AM
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/01/america/repubs.php
Americans identifying themselves as Democrats outnumber those who say they are Republicans by 10 percentage points, the largest gap in party identification in 24 years.
The gap has widened significantly since President George W. Bush's re-election in 2004, when it was a mere three percentage points. But by the time Bush left office in January, less than a quarter of Americans approved of his performance.
These days, 38 percent of Americans say they are Democrats, 28 percent call themselves Republicans and another 29 percent identify as independents, according to an average of national polls conducted last year by The New York Times and CBS News.
I didn't know so many voters considered themselves independents, and this poll shows they now outnumber Republicans. Only by 1%, but still. It can't be any surprise that GOP support has fallen - just look at the last 8 years. So the Democrats went up and the GOP got what Bush termed 'a thumpin' in 2006 and did a repeat in 2008. But the Democrats failed to end the Iraq War in 2006, I believe they will fail to end the Iraq War completely by 2011 and that they will get into a war with Iran and/or Pakistan by 2012 - see this thread:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=181852
But even if foreign affairs are relatively peaceful, there's still the economy, and I don't think anyone here thinks it will get better under Obama - probably much worse - and soon. In the '08 elections, candidates from both parties supported the bailouts, Obama supported the stimulus and so did McCain (just not the one presented), and there will continue to be more bailouts, wasted money, and lost jobs and I think people will finally grow fed up with both parties, and we may see a significant upswing in people who consider themselves independent. So now we have Gerald Celente's prediction of a third party rising to power. It won't be Nader - he'd be 80 a month after taking office in 2012. It won't be the Constitution Party - they are too socially conservative. It won't be the Green Party either. That leaves the Libertarian Party - America's largest and oldest third party - a party that opposed the bailouts, a party that opposes oppressive taxation (which many will soon get, as if it wasn't oppressive enough already), a party that is socially tolerant, and a party that Ron Paul is a lifetime member of. So I'm hoping the Libertarians will gain a lot of ground over the next 4 years (perhaps even make a small dent in 2010). Sure I'd love to see Ron Paul run in 2012 either as a Republican or go back to Libertarian, but unfortunately he has said he probably won't run again:
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/84426
It may seem like wishful thinking for the LP to win in 2012, but I think significant inroads will be made over the next 4 years to the point where at least a majority of Americans will know who the LP 2012 candidate is and what the LP stands for, and recognition will only get better from there.
If there is to be a rising third party revolution in America as Celente predicts, it has to be the Libertarian revolution, because unfortunately the only other viable alternative is an American Bolshevik revolution.
Americans identifying themselves as Democrats outnumber those who say they are Republicans by 10 percentage points, the largest gap in party identification in 24 years.
The gap has widened significantly since President George W. Bush's re-election in 2004, when it was a mere three percentage points. But by the time Bush left office in January, less than a quarter of Americans approved of his performance.
These days, 38 percent of Americans say they are Democrats, 28 percent call themselves Republicans and another 29 percent identify as independents, according to an average of national polls conducted last year by The New York Times and CBS News.
I didn't know so many voters considered themselves independents, and this poll shows they now outnumber Republicans. Only by 1%, but still. It can't be any surprise that GOP support has fallen - just look at the last 8 years. So the Democrats went up and the GOP got what Bush termed 'a thumpin' in 2006 and did a repeat in 2008. But the Democrats failed to end the Iraq War in 2006, I believe they will fail to end the Iraq War completely by 2011 and that they will get into a war with Iran and/or Pakistan by 2012 - see this thread:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=181852
But even if foreign affairs are relatively peaceful, there's still the economy, and I don't think anyone here thinks it will get better under Obama - probably much worse - and soon. In the '08 elections, candidates from both parties supported the bailouts, Obama supported the stimulus and so did McCain (just not the one presented), and there will continue to be more bailouts, wasted money, and lost jobs and I think people will finally grow fed up with both parties, and we may see a significant upswing in people who consider themselves independent. So now we have Gerald Celente's prediction of a third party rising to power. It won't be Nader - he'd be 80 a month after taking office in 2012. It won't be the Constitution Party - they are too socially conservative. It won't be the Green Party either. That leaves the Libertarian Party - America's largest and oldest third party - a party that opposed the bailouts, a party that opposes oppressive taxation (which many will soon get, as if it wasn't oppressive enough already), a party that is socially tolerant, and a party that Ron Paul is a lifetime member of. So I'm hoping the Libertarians will gain a lot of ground over the next 4 years (perhaps even make a small dent in 2010). Sure I'd love to see Ron Paul run in 2012 either as a Republican or go back to Libertarian, but unfortunately he has said he probably won't run again:
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/84426
It may seem like wishful thinking for the LP to win in 2012, but I think significant inroads will be made over the next 4 years to the point where at least a majority of Americans will know who the LP 2012 candidate is and what the LP stands for, and recognition will only get better from there.
If there is to be a rising third party revolution in America as Celente predicts, it has to be the Libertarian revolution, because unfortunately the only other viable alternative is an American Bolshevik revolution.