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In reply to the discussion: J. Sanders: If the Democratic party doesn't become progressive, there will be a third party [View all]zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)The political shifts over time don't really work like this. The closest was probably the Dixiecrats. But really, you have to go back to the Whigs and Republicans to find this kind of shift. In the modern world, there is just to much inertia in a party structure to be ignored or replaced.
As the GOP moved further right over the last 50 years, the result was candidates moving into the democratic party. Sure you had Perot make a run at things, and it led in some ways to Nader's attempt. But neither went anywhere. The two party system creates a reality where it is easier to "take over" or co-opt a party than try to replace it. It's why Sanders made his run in the democratic party to begin with.
The biggest reason for the apparent shifts that are coming is because the GOP has gone so far right, and so off the rails, that everyone is trying to figure out where to go. The democratic party is getting stretched across the political spectrum because the GOP is shrinking and becoming the crazy party. My suspicion is that ultimately the far right of the democratic party will move back to the GOP to take it back over. They'll push out the Birchers and Tea Party crowd and it will be left predominately to the fiscal conservatives with some social conservatism thrown in.