From the right, yes, but not from the AWOL US left. I backed Obama over Hillary because I wanted a genuine liberal rather than a moderate in liberal clothing but, despite both he and the GOP portraying him as a radical, all I got was a less experienced and capable version of Hillary. Even the "socialist" candidate gave us nothing but more taxpayer handouts to multinationals whose corruption and incompetence caused a decade-long recession. That includes Robamacare, which does nothing to expand health insurance coverage, but did implement The Heritage Foundations public mandate to buy insurance, just as Romney did in MA.

When Republicans talk about abolishing Social Security and Medicare I believe them, because that has been their stated goal nearly as long as the Dems have advocated universal public healthcare, and because they have been pushing the envelope of how far they can roll back the New Deal ever since Reagan started the process. So change is plausible from those pledged to make America yet more conservative, but their opponents neither offer nor deliver anything more than a holding action against that impulse. Ironically, the Dems are now the status quo party, because Republicans want to change America by eliminating both the welfare state and most of the federal government, and Dems are reduced to simply trying to stop them rather than implementing any new policy.


Yeah, pretty much. I had the misfortune to be born a New Deal Democrat a few weeks after Nixon resigned and was succeeded by Ford. One would have thought that would have been the end of the GOP, but Republicans succeeded in blaming Carter for the economic devastation they wrought and the intelligence community still loyal to his predecessors sabotaged his efforts to free US hostages in Iran, so Reagan was elected on the platform that "government is the problem." Republicans hail that as a great success because he raised taxes on the poor and cut them for everyone else, so most will tell you he delivered. Of course, he also tripled US federal debt and began the practice of slashing taxes AND increasing spending that is to blame for a federal debt now FIFTEEN TIMES what it was in 1980. We got more of the same from Bush 43, so folks who voted Republican for tax cuts got what they were promised. Those of us who voted for Clinton and Obama expecting them to save the New Deal that saved America got nothing but broken promises.


I vote policies rather than candidate or party, much good it does me. Since I am registered in a very red state, I usually vote Green in hopes of pushing them to the 5% share of the national popular vote they need to get campaign funds from the Federal Election Commission and a seat at the presidential debates. The only discernible difference between the two major parties is that Republicans are at least (relatively) honest about serving no one but their corporate owners, but if push comes to shove I will take a Dem who at least will not actively work to harm me over a Republican dedicated to doing so.


Far worse, because they either stand for nothing but whatever the latest focus group or opinion poll told them was popular, or stand for plutocracy, theocracy and/or fascism. The combination of Lee Atwaters addition by subtraction and Clintons government by focus group has done nothing but many bad things for US politics.


No problem, though I doubt it helped much. It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world, and, as a New Dealer in the modern US two party system I am left a choice between a far right or center right party, neither of which represents me.