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The 2010 election and i2 podeological purity

danarhea

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A lot of people have talked about pragmatism vs. ideological purity this year, and in this election, ideological purity has won out. Here is my take on what happened.

1) The GOP went hard right, which is OK. The party is now more Conservative than it was before Tuesday.

2) What has been unsaid until now also needs to be said. The Democratic party has become more Liberal than it was before Tuesday. Most of the Democratic losses were from the so-called Blue Dogs, who preached Conservatism, but for the most part, did not show it in their votes. They have been replaced by Conservative Republicans.

We now have 2 political parties moving away from the center in 2 different directions. And you know what? That is fine by me. In the next election, voters in general will have a better idea of the ideology that they are voting for, because there will be far fewer candidates to claim one ideology, while voting on bills that favor the other ideology.

Now let the battle for the direction that America should take continue, and let it continue honestly.
 
Depending on if you buy into the Medium Voter Theorem the shifts won't matter because candidates will still have to shift to the center in order to get a winning majority.
 
A lot of people have talked about pragmatism vs. ideological purity this year, and in this election, ideological purity has won out. Here is my take on what happened.

1) The GOP went hard right, which is OK. The party is now more Conservative than it was before Tuesday.

2) What has been unsaid until now also needs to be said. The Democratic party has become more Liberal than it was before Tuesday. Most of the Democratic losses were from the so-called Blue Dogs, who preached Conservatism, but for the most part, did not show it in their votes. They have been replaced by Conservative Republicans.

We now have 2 political parties moving away from the center in 2 different directions. And you know what? That is fine by me. In the next election, voters in general will have a better idea of the ideology that they are voting for, because there will be far fewer candidates to claim one ideology, while voting on bills that favor the other ideology.

Now let the battle for the direction that America should take continue, and let it continue honestly.

on what issues are the current GOP members more right wing than say the Reagan Platform?

I agree lots of RINOS were replaced

But the Dems are far far more leftwing than say Clinton or Carter, JIm Wright, George Mitchell or Hubert Humphrey
 
Ideological purity didn't win out. The middle of American politics has always been much larger than the fringes, and still is. The fact that most American political battles are fought between the 40-yard lines is a GOOD thing.

Republicans are more conservative because they could get away with being more conservative in a wave year.
Blue Dogs were more likely to be picked off than liberal Democrats because their districts were usually more conservative to begin with.

This is hardly an indication that the voters want more ideology and more gridlock, as opposed to bipartisan compromise.
 
Depending on if you buy into the Medium Voter Theorem the shifts won't matter because candidates will still have to shift to the center in order to get a winning majority.

Nate Silver actually analyzed that theory from a statistical standpoint a while back. He concluded that candidates who are near the ideological center of their constituencies do indeed fare better than those who aren't.
 
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Nate Silver actually analyzed that theory from a statistical standpoint a while back. He concluded that candidates who are near the ideological center of their constituencies do indeed fare better than those who aren't.

Well that maybe true, and I also read the article, but the theorem assumes that everyone votes. That certainly isn't the case and it just isn't very convincing in my opinion.
 
Well that maybe true, and I also read the article, but the theorem assumes that everyone votes. That certainly isn't the case and it just isn't very convincing in my opinion.

The theory doesn't necessarily apply to specific candidates in specific elections. It's more of an average. So, for example, a candidate who was much more conservative than his district might beat a centrist in 2010, if conservatives are much more likely to turn out than liberals. But on average, the candidate near the ideological center of his constituents will do better at the polls.

For specific elections, I guess you could amend that theory: The candidate closer to the ideological center of likely voters in his district will do better, on average.
 
2) What has been unsaid until now also needs to be said. The Democratic party has become more Liberal than it was before Tuesday. Most of the Democratic losses were from the so-called Blue Dogs, who preached Conservatism, but for the most part, did not show it in their votes. They have been replaced by Conservative Republicans.

How is this "unsaid"? It's been talked about for months.
 
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