@bi4smooth said in Russia rejects European Court of Human Rights order to recognise same-sex unions:
I don't pretend to be in the mainstream of the Republican Party anymore - but I won't concede my party to a cadre of fools and idiots! I fight for the values that made the Republican Party great once - the Party of both Lincoln & Reagan, the party of BOTH Bushes!
Depending on how one defines "mainstream," it's possible that neither of us are outside of the mainstream. There's very noisy faction (e.g., Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham) who have had both their balls and their brains removed to enable ongoing genuflection to the Dear Leader. But there are also many people who support traditional conservative values who are keeping their heads down until the madness passes. Unfortunately, America is losing eminences grises of Republican sanity with the passing of Robert Dole, John McCain, George H.W. Bush, etc.
I think a key thing to watch in the Republican party (or any party, for that matter) is whether it defines itself by things it is for, as opposed to things that it is against. In economic matters (a traditional strong point of the Republican party), it might not make a lot of difference whether one is for a balanced budget or against deficit spending. But there's huge gulf between being for people being able to openly celebrate Christian holidays, and against allowing Muslims, Jews, or Hindus to celebrate theirs.
My prediction: this dark time will pass, or it will be the end of our current 2-party system - if not the end of our democratic-republic entirely!
I would like to agree with your prediction, but I'm probably less optimistic. Many historians argue that the framers of the US Constitution did not want a partisan system--they thought that the checks and balances inherent in a three-branch structure would suffice to keep things on an even keel. Until the 12th Amendment in 1804, the second-place finisher in the Electoral College would become Vice President. (Can you imagine Hillary Clinton as veep under [!] Donald Trump, or Trump as veep under Biden?) In practice, though, the American government needs a two-party system, but both parties need to have a healthy diversity within them, rather being driven by an orthodoxy creed like one has in Russia or North Korea. Most legislators in the Republican party, as well as members of the "progressive caucus" within the Democratic party, remind me of mindless robots such as one finds in many old Star Trek episodes. Americans deserve better.