Are "Republicans" and "Democrats" useless distinctions?

[Jara sang]

And the country is merely controlled by corporations who volley political power back and forth to keep the masses happy? All the while enriching themselves and maintaining power by distracting the citizens with "bread & circuses"? Cause it sure seems that way, especially when the electoral processes and "representative democracy" is so completely dysfunctional.

[MichiganVote]

1. That about sums it up

[mmonk]

2. No, but we're heading that way like a runaway train.

[Chulanowa]

3. Quite meaningless. Even Republicans know it.

This is why you see so very much discussion of "Liberal vs. Conservative" instead of "Democrat vs. Republican", from both sides.

They know Republicans are on the take. We know Democrats are on the take. So we both just look for who best fits out respective visions, and run with them.

It's just too bad that the modern Conservative vision is more like a malarial fever dream.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

4. This Crap Is So Old And Tiresome Already. Same Ole Dem Bashing.

It's an election year, and less than 100 days to go. Maybe you would be serving our community and ideals a bit better if you spent more time looking for reasons to ENCOURAGE people to get to the fucking polls in November and RALLY them to vote for a Democrat, since ya know, taking back control of congress is a pretty important fucking item on our agenda right now.

Threads like this, especially during a monumentally important election year, make me absolutely sick. Try and help our cause, not hurt it. Encourage people to go to the polls, don't work to demotivate them from going at all. That's just so completely the opposite of what we need to be doing right now. Sheesh.

[mmonk]

8. Can't be ignored.

this country is way different than it was just a decade ago much less than when I was a younger man. Progressive ideas have not just lost a little ground, but plummeted. This country has become way too a right lean or conservative to be coincidence.

[Demit]

9. That's an either-or fallacy. You can ask the question AND get out the vote

Your crap of calling it Dem bashing is what's tiresome. Implying that raising the issue is "hurting the cause" is just a variation on "you're either with us or against us". If I recall correctly, that's a Republican tactic that we as Dems abhor.

[Demit]

5. Elected officials? Call them "The Ruling Party" or "The Incumbency Party".

It certainly seems--with a few notable exceptions--that members of Congress collude on pleasing corporations at the people's expense and are indistinguishable from one another. But the exceptions give us hope. The challengers to incumbents who are drunk on their sense of entitlement & privilege give us hope.

[MannyGoldstein]

6. Dwight Eisenhower, Flaming Liberal

On the one hand, we have the party of the Far Right. On the other hand, we have, and the party of the Fringe Right. See? There is a difference.

I long for the good old days when both parties were far, far to the left of where they are now. When even Dwight Eisenhower was a flaming liberal by today's standards (yes, my blog - shameless plug).

[blm]

7. Not logical - if they were the same, the GOPs wouldn't have spent the last

twenty years buying control of most broadcast and print media and control of most voting machines to keep Democrats out of power. They'd put on a better show of equity if it actually WAS all for show.

Why do so many big corporations fight like hell to keep most Dems out of office?

You really need to explore the logic of your claims.

[Jara sang]

12. I have investigated it.

I've read Quigley among others, who said that the country is controlled by "Round Table Groups", if you look at people like John Bolton this would certainly seem to be true. Bolton worms his way into every Republican administration. The man has never been elected to any office yet he wields a lot of power.

[blm]

13. And it is Democrats who oppose him.

Had John Kerry's investigations of IranContra and BCCI gotten more support from media and fellow Dems, there would be no John Bolton or any Bush even allowed in DC, yet alone the WH.

A few corporate Dems don't make the whole party bad.

[GAPeace]

10. At some point, yes

Gore Vidal said the Parties are two heads of the Business Party. That is true in many respects, although we mostly agree across the spectrum that it's better to have Democrats who are the lesser of the two evils (and some Democrats like those in the Progressive Caucus are actually good and refuse Corporate money and lobbying).

[kentuck]

11. More or less...

it is true.