Reply #21: The Republican Party is a coalition of conservatives not moderates.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

They now hold sway because the DP offers little except a "not as bad" alternative that isn't a real alternative at all. The "middle", "center", "moderates", as the DLC claims, are actually pretty conservative at this time. They respond to the Right Wing rhetoric of "patriotism", "lower taxes", "individual liberty", etc, and the joys of materialism. To try and appeal to them, the DP has used the ploy of moving right in an obviously superficial way that patronize them. Thus we get "Pro-Choice" candidates who decry "Partial Birth Abortions"; "Pro-gay" candidates who oppose gay marriage; "Gun control" candidates who praise guns; "Anti-corporatist" candidates who accept money from the corporations; etc, etc.

I agree with you entirely on the two party system and the desire of both parties to keep it intact. It will only be broken when enough people rebel against what amounts to a one-party system that represents the monied and powerful.

Will it happen? Yes. The trouble being that "the people" who will bring down the system don't live here. America is a dying empire flailing about trying to keep control of it's "vital interests" (it's colonies) through brute force. It's failing in that, as indicated in Iraq where the "world's most powerful military" can't even control a third world country.

The question of conservative Republicans vs moderate Democrats is one of how fast the empire crumbles. We're overextended and going broke. A phenomenon experienced by almost all previous empires. It's the downside of being "Number One".