Republicans have never had much in the way of an alternative that would allow them to remain the party of true conservatism and be the majority power at the same time. Socio-economic conservatives are a minority of the population, and even those labeled Prosperity Christianity who promote all those mega churches gather in only a couple of percent of the population on any given Sunday.
Current surveys show that Americans are becoming increasingly socio-economically progressive as the Democratic Party regains its majority status. In part this is a reaction to the inherent incompetence of conservative governance, but it also reflects long term trends that are producing more liberal, secular 1st world societies. All other western democracies operate big governments that – although inevitably flawed because, after all, liberals are human too – collaborate with capital to produce lower levels of juvenile and adult mortality, homicide, incarceration, STD infections, abortion and teen pregnancy, while increasing the economic stability and security of the citizenry, and improving the condition of the national infrastructure (moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html).
Economic conservatives will never abandon their American mythos of opposing the government – they would not be conservatives if they did. They will continue tapping its money spigots. After all, bashing big government is the ultimate wedge issue since it is the handy target that never stops giving. Even so, the influence and power of the right appears to be on the long term wane. The nation is moving away from the experiment of giving zealous free marketeers more power than they can handle. We could expect the same results if we turned the nation over to a bunch of hard-core socialists who would also more than likely run it into the ground.
The Democratic Party’s vision of America has never been as socialistic as the more liberal major parties of other 1st world nations. That said, big government is here to stay, and so is big business. It is the large scale cooperation between these forces that always has and always will be the real American Way. Of the two parties, it is the Democratic alternative, as opposed to the free market obsessed Republicans, -- that has long understood this balance best.
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