Q&A Friday #19: Are We Heading Towards A One Party System?

by John Hawkins | July 15, 2005 4:08 am

Question: “Given that the Right keeps gaining strength in the House, Senate and of course has the White House and now with a Supreme Court vacancy probably being filled by a strong conservative, do you feel we are heading to a one party system?” — libliever

Answer: Although everything is tilting towards the GOP right now, the Democrats have actually been much more dominant at times than the GOP is today. Consider 1936 for example, when FDR beat the Republican candidate (Landon) 523-8 in electoral votes and the Democrats had 69 Senate seats and 322 seats in the House of Representatives.

Moreover, even if the GOP were to increase its dominance by winning again in 2008, getting to the point where we have 6 originalist justices on the Supreme Court, 60 GOP Senators and continued firm control of the House, the Democratic Party wouldn’t just fade away.

In fact, and I know you’re not going to want to hear this, but it would be good for the Democratic Party. That may seem counterintuitive, but the Democratic Party is in a rut and they need to be hammered right in the ground at the ballot box if they’re going to finally realize it.

Were the Democrats to distance themselves from the flaming liberalism and knee jerk oppositionalism they’re known for today and move back to more of a JFK-like posture, they could still do very well. On a gut level, I think a lot of Democrats realize that, but they just aren’t motivated enough yet to deal with Ted Kennedy, MoveOn, Michael Moore, and the other people and groups that are slowly killing the Democratic Party with their embarrassing behavior and radical views.

But, even if the Democratic Party went into a spiral and never recovered, either a new party would spring up to take their place or the GOP would split into two factions. With the huge ideological split in this country, there just isn’t a way for one Party to pitch a tent wide enough to suit everyone. So, what the parties stand for may change over time, but there will always be at least two parties…

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