re: #127 experiencedtraveller

Well, that is an honest answer. Thank you for that.

I agree everyone in the middle should fight the fringes to get them to shut up. But local tactics often overrule wisdom (See: Somme). American democracy is a ‘zero sum game’ with a time clock. An odd creature for sure.

So each side has a very serious vested interest in keeping their fringe voting in their direction while trying to maintain some distance for plausible deniability.

It is what it is.

The idiocy of it is, the Dems could easily abandon the fringe and seek the middle. The far Left will no more vote R than the far Right will ever vote D, and they stand to solidify the I’s and crossover disgruntled R’s from the Bush years. Republicans, on the other hand practically have less and less left other than their fringe. Abandoning them would be a bigger short term hit ( but then again - who would they vote for?), but they stand to gain much more from the middle if they do.

Since neither thing is going to happen, I still think a new centrist/rationalist party could change the game within 2 decades. It would require some big names and big money to lay it on the line for the long haul, though.