Is the G.O.P Doomed?

This is certainly an interesting question worth pondering. There is no denying the fact that the Republicans have been punished severely in the electorate recently, dating back to 2006. The many transgressions of the Bush Administration have been well documented, and the party is now being held accountable electorally. It appears that in addition to losing the White House, as well as the House and Senate in recent years, another casualty has been the ideological compass of the party in general. While the deck was clearly stacked against them during the election, the Republicans lacked a cohesive strategy or direction, and the very soul of the party seemed haunted and conflicted. Their traditional message was not resonating, and there was resulting confusion as to what direction to follow. However, despite the preponderance of evidence suggesting the possible marginalizing and ultimate demise of the G.O.P., it is highly unlikely that this will actually come to pass.

There are countless arguments that can be used to dispute the feasibility of this theory. Since the ascendancy of the Republican Party in the wake of the Whig's collapse in the mid 19th century, there have been two major mass parties in America. While the design of parties has evolved and their significance varied over the years, the Democrats and Republicans have been the standard in American politics. This standard has been firmly established in the psyche of the electorate and is regarded as the status quo. Because of this fact, the possibility of any significant third party uprising is extremely remote, if not impossible.

In our current text, Aldrich incorporates the choice of party affiliation by a politician into the ambition theory. This theory involves the choices of political office that will ensure the longest, most successful possible career for a politician. When this theory is applied to party affiliation, we find politicians choosing parties on the basis of major party status and long term viability. From a contemporary perspective, it is unfathomable to think that any politician who desires a long and productive career in politics would choose a party other than the Democratic or the Republican. Therefore, because of ideological concerns and the chance of being elected to office, ambitious politicians will always consider the G.O.P a reasonable option. I feel that the fickle nature of the electorate and cyclical patterns in American politics ensure that the Republicans will always be viable, regardless of how muddled their agenda may become.