The goal here is to do a taxonomy of the different political grouping in the US.
I'll offer my preliminary thoughts, but I hope you'll join me, and together we can work out a more accurate picture.
Republican Party
1. Libertarians - e.g. Rand Paul
--non-interventionist
--laissez faire
--anti-police-state
--liberal social policies (except abortion, on which they're split)
--split on free trade and immigration
2. Neocons (aka national socialists) - e.g. Peter King
--extremely aggressive foreign policy
--socialistic economic policies
--extremely pro-police-state
--conservative social policy
--nationalists on free trade and immigration
3. Populist Conservatives (aka tea party) - e.g. Ted Cruz
--aggressive foreign policy
--conservative economic policies
--split on police state
--conservative social policy
--nationalists on free trade and immigration
4. Establishment Conservatives - e.g. Mitt Romney
--moderately aggressive foreign policy
--moderately conservative economic policies
--moderately pro-police-state
--mixed to moderately conservative social policy
--generally for free trade and free immigration
Democratic Party
1. Neoliberals (aka international socialists) - e.g. Hillary Clinton
--extremely aggressive foreign policy
--socialistic economic policies
--extremely pro-police-state
--cultural marxism
--economic protectionism but free immigration
2. Progressives - e.g. Elizabeth Warren
--less aggressive foreign policy
--socialistic economic policies
--moderately anti-police-state
--cultural marxism
--economic protectionism but free immigration
EDIT: notes in the margin...
Democrats - Neolibs 90%, Progressives 10%
--This is noteworthy because there's no visible group of voters in the Democratic Party who actually prefer more war and police state oppression, so why do the neolibs so utterly dominate the progressives? I would speculate that it's because the overwhelming majority of Democrats (~90%) care most about economic and/or social issues, and vote for the candidates who they think are most electable - which is always the neolib candidate, since they have the money behind them. Only the Democrats who care overwhelmingly about war and the police state (~10%) vote for the progressives in Democratic primaries. There's no indication this is going to change any time soon.
Republicans - Libertarians 15%, Pop-Cons 35%, Est-Cons 50%, Neocons ~0%
--The neocons have never really had their own candidates - they've always used behind the scenes maneuvering to influence other candidates. Prior to 2008, the libertarians were in the wilderness (and there were fewer of them than now), so they also had no visible role. So the primaries always ended up being a battle between the Pop-Cons and the Est-Cons. Now with the emergence of the libertarian faction, it's a three way race, and things are going to be interesting. There are three possible winning coalitions: libertarians and pop-cons, and libertarians and est-cons, and pop-cons and est-cons. But it is unlikely that the first or third coalitions are possible, because the social views of the pop-cons are simply unacceptable to the majority of libertarians and est-cons, not to mention the general electorate. The libertarians chance for victory lies in edging out the est-con candidate early on, so that it appears to be a two man race between a libertarian and a pop-con, which might prompt the est-cons to hold their nose and throw their support behind the lesser of two evils: the libertarian. In other words, if the choice were between Rand and Santorum, Romney voters would choose Rand. Basically, I predict that all future GOP primaries will result in a coalition between est-cons and libertarians, with pop-cons increasingly squeezed out - the only question is who heads these coalitions, the est-cons or the libertarians. The est-cons have the natural advantage in votes and money, but the libertarians have vastly better grassroots organization.
Site Information
About Us
- RonPaulForums.com is an independent grassroots outfit not officially connected to Ron Paul but dedicated to his mission. For more information see our Mission Statement.
Connect With Us