I keep hearing how "we need a viable conservative party." Why? What for?

[thucythucy]

37. I don't agree it's the same thing at all.

No one is legislating the GOP out of existence or imprisoning its leaders--unless they're going around murdering police and trying to overthrow the government.

The national GOP is self destructing -- driving out anyone who isn't blatantly racist, sexist, homophobic or a conspiracy loon. That's hardly the same as us disappearing them into political prisons.

And if no conservative party arrives to take its place in the near future, we might actually be able to start to tackle issues like wealth disparity, climate change, and the pathetic state of our public health and infrastructure, and the appalling disparity in racial justice.

For all intents and purposes the US was a one party state--on the national level anyway--from 1934 to 1948--when Democrats were able to pass Social Security, the GI Bill of Rights, and all the rest of the New Deal reforms. And when Democrats had overwhelming majorities in both chambers of Congress and the White House we passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Not to mention confirming Thurgood Marshall as Supreme Court justice.

What might happen is the Democratic Party, with no organized (or sane) national conservative opposition, might split into a Center Party and a Progressive Left Party.

I think the GOP will survive on a state level in the red states, where it will continue to degrade the lives of people there, relying as always on the federal government and subsidies from the blue states to bail them out as needed.

But the GOP as a national party may well sink into irrelevance, taking the conservative movement with it. And not a moment too soon.