Tuesday

are political parties over?

Gary Hart (yes, THAT Gary Hart, whom, coincidentally, got me into several good colleges. I wrote my entrance essay on why he represented the future of the Democratic Party. This was in 1986. In 1988, I lived in DC for a while and dated his campaign manager's son, which was an interesting time to know people in that campaign, to say the least. But I digress...)...

Anyway, Gary Hart opines in Arianna Huffington's blog this week that political parties as we know them ARE NO MORE, and that the sooner candidates own that fact, the better shot they will have at winning elections.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Fascinating post. He spends too much time on his entirely correct attack on the ideological wing of the Republican Party (this post from a quasi-Republican, certainly a libertarian), and not nearly enough on the utter intellectual bankruptcy of the "No" party (more commonly known as the Democrats). He should prbably spend a few minutes scolding the Demo's for their insufferable condescending tone - telling America that they are stupid for voting Bush is hardly an effective elctoral strategy.

The psychotic polarization of the two parties is problematic, and political structures, such as the primary process, tend to bring out the very worst that both parties have to offer.