http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2009/11/06/VI2009110602967.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/14/AR2009111402729.html
You must look at this to help you understand congressional preference over the years:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/gop/interactive.html
17 comments:
The current strengths of the GOP are that they control most of the House and the Senate. They were able to pass the Healthcare bill with only one Repubilican voting for it. The also have the disadvantage of having a president who is a GOP. If he doesnt pull through with anything that he has promised to say they will blaim the GOP. Or if he does something that lots of people don't like they get blaimed as much as he does.
I'll try to stay away from rant mode as much as possible. no promises though. One strength of the Republican part is they do not give in to peer pressure. They just say say no to everything, which is great when applied to drugs (which are immoral) and sex (which is immoral) and non-christian activities (also immoral). Some weaknesses that the GOP has been showing is their inability to compromise e.g. health care bill. They also like to bash without offering a valid solution. The war on drugs is also a major failure.
Now for the Dems. The Democrats, whether or not it is beneficial, have legitimately pushed for change in this country. They try to get things done and attempt bipartisanship. Something that the GOP considers immoral since it isn't heterosexual partisanship. The weaknesses of the Democrats are that they are attempting a socialist takeover of America. Ok, that is a stretch, but I really think we need more self-reliance in this country and less government influence. We are spending money we simply do not have and that is going to be a burden on generations to come.
A strength of the GOP is their resilience. They strive to remain true their moral and ideologies. Even if one disagrees with these views, this quality is respectable. Unfortunately, this is also their greatest weakness. They often define their ways of thinking too narrowly and thereby prevent any compromise or bipartisanship.
A strength of the Democrats is their desire for true social change, to adapt the country to the needs at the time. Their weakness is that although they attempt bipartisanship, they perhaps attempt change in a nature that is too sudden or too dramatic(or expensive. Their solutions often involve massive spending which can create weariness in a time of economic difficulty.
I will keep my comments brief. The strengths of the GOP include being able to second-guess the president with nothing to lose. This is the same advantage the Democrats have held for the 8 years of the Bush Administration, and it turned out well for them in the last few national elections when they have griped over the problems with the administration in office. On the other hand, the main negative for the GOP is that it can't seem to agree on its own beliefs. Some support Sarah Palin; some oppose her. Some think the party is too conservative; some think too liberal. The discrepencies it is making upon itself is releasing a sense of disagreement and lack of composure. As an umpire, I was always told that even if I make a wrong call in a game, if I act with confidence and seem to know what I'm doing, I won't be second-guessed too badly. Perhaps the GOP should consider this mentality, or it'll be 1,2,3 strikes and out for the next few presidential elections...
Democrats, I feel, have passed their pinacle of happiness. They are beginning to be second guessed, but still hold all the numbers in Congress to make changes and show that they can run the country efficiently. It is much easier for Democrats to exhibit their positives than their counterparts, the Republicans.
Where can I begin regarding GOP weaknesses? Although I consider myself to be moderately conservative I can only see a struggling party not making the right moves to accomplish what they want- if they can even be certain as to what that is.
The GOP is lacking a true representative, one that can lead the party and grab America's loyalty, their attempts with representatives like Sarah Palin- who denounced her own party member in the New York election, by snubbing a member of the GOP, has made the Republican's image even weaker. IN the linked interview with Mike Huckabee: Huckabee states that he doesn't think his party should lean toward moderate views in that it would weaken the voter's following. HOWEVER if one looks at the charts majority of the percentage of voters' ideology is moderate, and has always been moderate. Also as we have discussed in class: there is no clear agenda the Republicans have made, other than to contradict and not participate in Democrat attempts of bipartisanship. Huckabee even admits that if the Republicans had control, they wouldn't have any policy to put into motion. Quite frankly the party is a mess.
On another note they have an opportunity to turn it around as flaws with the Obama presidency are springing up with unhappiness in the over-spending the Democrats are notorious for. You can see a hope for the party in the artcle regarding Chris Riley in Indiana, where he's attempted to revive the conservative party and create a class of movers and shakers. If the Republicans can support each other within their party, get rid of crazies like Sarah Palin, and ultimately come up with some sort of policy to appeal to the people versus their elite all conservative class, - America is theirs.
Well I was watching Fox Noise just now and I heard Georgia congressman John Linder(R) say that the Democrats know that the conservative way is better, it's just that the Democrats just want to control every aspect of our lives. It's statements like that that *should* get people like him recycled out of Congress, but then again I'm under the premise that his constituents actually care about the truth. Clearly they don't. In my opinion it is a sad reflection on society and why we're so far behind every other industrialized country in our laws and how we operate. But anyways, this typical strawman argument against the dems is a *gigantic* weakness in the GOP. They're currently nothing but obstructionists using logically flawed arguments and rhetoric techniques such as ad hominum, strawmans, and demigogic diction. It's frustrating that people actually buy into all the rhetoric of "socialism is bad". I'm not sure most people even know what socialism is, that our police and firemen are socialized, and that it's actually a good thing to watch out for another.
I think the Republican Party should come to the center and appeal to all of the Conservative Democrats- that's probably their best chance at getting back power. Although we live in a center-right country we are slowly moving left as we make progress, getting smarter, and making/reforming better laws so the party needs to adjust a bit.
I think the Liberal Democrats are doing a great job at making America a great place to live by trying to pass affordable healthcare for all Americans. They have to be careful of the national debt though, that's really their only hole that I can see.
I agree that they are mostly control of the the Hose and senate
Wow Brandon, you really know how to deliver a fluent, elegant, and powerful message. Truly Captivating! The GOP's weakness lies in the fact that in an economically unsound time, history has shown that people have generally favored Democrats in those election years. Their strengths come in the facts theat one, America still holds true its conservative values, and two, the GOP now has the chance to regroup and emerge from this down period with a clear, concise message. They have potential. The Democrats really only have one thing going for them, and that is that the economy let them have a cakewalk into power in the past elections, and they now hold a substantial majority of power. Aside from that, they really are quite good at screwing stuff up. They have no party unity. Everyone's their own rebel, whether they be a blue-dog or an eco-crazy-treehugging-peta-member-green-loving-savetheearth activist. They have terrible leaders(cough-cough Obama, Pelosi, Biden) who have just been foolish in trying to accomplish anything, and they are quickly throwing away one of the largest majorities in modern US history after only a few years in power. Both parties got a lot of stuff to work out. Lucky for the GOP, they got rid of half of their trash last November.
Yes my response was lame jake. I had to make the deadline. To expand on my previous thoughts, i believe that a strength of the Republican party is their desire to get what they want and nothing else. They do not give in to what the Democrats push for. A weakness for the Democrats is that they try to make dramatic changes too quick and do not allow time to develop a truly fundamentally strong layout of a plan.
I believe one of the strengths of the GOP are there morals. In a changing world, with changing values, they have stayed faithful and proud of there beliefs. I think one of the weaknesses of the GOP is the fact that they need better representation. Former President Bush, in my opinion, did not put on a good front for the GOPs and followed by that; Sarah Palin was not well liked by many. Non-Republicans started to associate the GOP with Palin and that is used in a negative conotation. Now, for the Democrats; I believe, whether you agree with it or not, they have tried to get the Republicans and Democrats to work together and come to a joint decision on issues. I do admire their drive for change, but they are doing it to drastically. The Democrats need to start smaller, with local issues and move their way up to national problems.
One advantage that the GOP currently has is that their popularity is on the rise, because the problems the Democrats promised to fix aren't getting fixed. A disadvantage is that they still remain the minority and things can still get passed without their support. The Democrats, still have a strong grip on Congress and the Presidency, but face criticism from the public for not getting as much done and was expected when Obama took office.
Strengths of the current Republican party is that it is not in power, so it no longer has to focus on what will keep the democrats from taking the majority and they can actually look in to what the people want. With more free time, except for Riley and his cookies, they can create a better stance to take for upcoming elections. As for Republican weakness, its symbol, the elephant,tells it all. The party is old, slow moving and lumbering like the elephant. It can not radically change to fit the enviroment because it stays true to its doctrines through hard times. Though this may seem a good trait to a Republican, I as an individual find it more valuable to adapt to changing times, because society is a wave pool. It morphs to its container and goes from high to low when it hits the wall.
Strength of the Democrats: Besides having the incumbent President Obama and majority in the legislative branch, it is flexible towards the people. It has room to expand and room to right wrongs from past administrations, healthcare, war etc... They are trying to be bipartisan even though they should be capitalizing on their current. Weakness: They are always on the edge of having a split in their party because they embody so many groups as the "government help the people" party. They also need to watch their step because they are still relatively the new kid on the block in regards to the last 40 yrs. They have to watch their activities and ideas so that their vulture friends don't try to feed off of them.
The strengths of the GOP is that they all stick to their beliefs and their morals. A weakness of the GOP is that they are unwilling to compromise on the issues that need to be addressed which leads to not much of anything getting done.
The current strengths of the GOP are that they control most of the House and the Senate. One strength of the Republican part is they do not give in to peer pressure. They just say say no to everything, which is great when applied to drugs (which are immoral) and sex (which is immoral) and non-christian activities (also immoral).
i belioeve the strengths of the republicans is their determination to get what they no matter what circumstance. the strengths of the democrats are that they are pushing for a great amount of change in the country , which is what we need.
I completely agree with anyone that said the a huge strength lies with the party who is not in office. The reason Democrats are so popular now is because they moaned about Bush for two years, and got everyone pumped up for "change". The weakness of the GOP(who are the Republicans, contrary to the first post) is that they have to deal with Bush's mistakes through the next couple of years. As we saw in the presidential campaign, McCain was compared to Bush many times. Democrats have the weakness of pressure. You say you can make "change", then prove it! It is understandable that people are getting upset when there is not a whole lot happening. I wasn't expecting a whole lot to happen, and I am surprisingly agreeing with some of Obama's decisions.
p.s. Mr B.,
I have a horrible case of MONO. I'm miserable and it was a huge task to mosey my way over to the computer and actually type. I really wish I could be in class, but I am going to get everything made up ASAP pending my return. I am going to go to a self induced NyQuil coma now to hopefully get some sleep.
Jon...when you wake up again...know that I say...get well soon.
btw: GOP = Republican Party
Candidate Obama pledged to end the Iraq war and "win" in Afghanistan (the "good" war).
Post a Comment