Speaking of third parties…
Recall the 1992 Election wherein the Fiscal Conservatives said “Read Our Ballots, No New Term” to George H. W. “Voodoo Economics” Bush. What happened after Bush lost? Fiscal Conservatives realized that the Reagan Revolution wasn’t dead and that the elitist Blue-blooded Big Government Liberal Republicans really didn’t control the voters. Grass-root Fiscal Conservatives won the House for the Republicans in 1994. No third party needed. Of course the elitist Blue-blooded Big Government Liberal Republicans in the Senate then cut the conservatives in the House off at the knees in the Impeachment hearings but that’s a story for another day.
What we’re seeing play out is a fight between the former “pro-life” Democrats, now called “social conservatives”, and the former conservative Republicans, now called “fiscal conservatives”. There’s a lot of anger directed at the “fiscals” by the “socials” because the “socials” have finally come to realize that they can’t win without the “fiscals” and the “fiscals” have come to realize that they can’t win with the “socials”. The Republicans lost the Senate and the House in 2006 not because Republican sat out the election but because the “fiscals” sat out the election. The vitriol will get worse because the reality of a 50-state landslide loss is sinking in.
FYI – I left the “National Security Conservatives” out of the discussion because their needs are satisfied regardless of which brand of conservatism wins. Currently they’re on the side of the “socials” because their primary objective is a Republican win but they’d be just a happy with a “fiscal” win. Or so I’m inclined to think.
