Thank you for your response to my comments. However, I would remind you that minor 3rd parties become major political players because the two major parties have failed to live up to the wishes of the majority of people.

A third party becomes a political force to be reckoned with only when it is popularly seen as the only viable answer to a failing political system.

I believe that a look at history will also show that all of today’s major political parties were at one time unknown. Their birth and rise to power was simply that the then existing major parties lost the faith of the majority of citizens.

When political parties become a ruling elite their existence will be challenged. If they fail to heed the warning signs they will — and should — be relegated to trash can of history. One might call this crisis politics or, perhaps, political evolution; but in any event I contend that’s the way it is.

Its the attitude of splitting to form third parties and other infighting which is exactly what is going to cost the GOP the 2008 presidency. I was quite smug when the fighting between Beazley, Latham and Rudd cost the Labor Party here the last election, I never thought that the same sort of infighting would tear the fabric of our conservative allies in America to pieces.
You can cut off your nose to spite your face and if the hardcore uncompromising conservatives in the GOP want to do that then I dont want to hear any crying about how the Democrats are screwing up the country.

Oh for the record, these “RINOs” Guiliani especially, present a clear alternative to the destructive agenda of Barrack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.

I will make this short and so will leave out many details of which I am, suffice to say, personally familiar.

The GOP has long been hijacked by politicians who have little scruples. They mouth the proper rhetoric to get elected but once in office it’s a different game. What they are is short on ideology other than a quest for personal gain. Most Democrats on the other hand have a leftist ideology along with their own personal quest for gain. So at least, politically, you know where they stand.

George Bush is duplicitous and that was apparent early in his first term. I suspect he won reelection only because many GOP voters found him to be the lesser of evils. It is a sorry commentary that too many elections are being decided on the “lesser of evils” theory. The saying, “hold your nose and vote for…” has happened too many times and the nation as a whole is suffering because of it. Unfortunately, when we look at both Democrats and Republicans what we see is a cabal of criminals and nothing more. The true situation doesn’t bode well.

A radio commentator describes our two major parties as Democans and Republicrats, meaning that they are becoming indistinguishable. Unfortunately there is more truth in that than I care to admit. I suspect if the major presidential candidates of both parties were listed on a ballot with “none of the above” as a choice, “None of the Above” would garner the most votes.

From my perspective the GOP is probably finished, and rightfully so. It has no ideology that justifies its existence. I would like to see a real conservative 3rd party in the game. But I have no doubt that were one to come along and show any potential of becoming a major party both Democrats and Republicans would band together — like Siamese Twins — to destroy it. Criminals don’t like competition!

Assuming the next presidential election pits a leftist GOP candidate against a leftist Democrat I would hope that conservatives don’t vote for the GOP party candidate but either write in a conservative GOP member or vote for a minor party candidate who they like. This may put a Democrat in the Oval Office, but so what! If conservatives don’t take a stand, nothing changes and the nation is doomed.

A quick look at the Archives reveals almost unanimous support for the Iraq War and support for George W Bush. Yet, now he’s become a “President for the past six years who does not now and never has shared their conservative principles, many have become disillusioned with the GOP”.

McCain’s disagreement with the hardcore right on a few issues does not make him a RINO, his support for Israel is as unwavering as any Paleo-conservative you care to name for one.
Guiliani is Pro-Life, but that doesnt make him a RINO either. Guiliani’s tough-on-crime stance, his immense leadership post September 11, and his support of the Republican Party regardless are hardly left wing values.
Name calling and a rigid style of inflexibility dont make a party one with principles, they just make it inflexible. I also dont buy the argument that making compromise to stave off a far worse alternative is the same as losing. Not for one second.

As far as things go I’m pretty much a conservative and I have a problem with liberals. But I have an even bigger problem with conservatives who are so blinkered that to them compromise is a loss, and Mr Pyne, you are displaying the two characteristics in the opening two sentences.

Also, let’s not blame one person for the demise of an entire political party. George W. Bush is a middle-of-the-road at best conservative, but he isn’t the GOP. He didn’t decide to spend millions of dollars ensuring that RINO republicans got into office in place of real conservatives last November, and he doesn’t vote for every Republican senator and congressman. His father 12 years earlier was no better, and in fact, probably less conservative than he is. The GOP has gone soft. George W. Bush is a symptom of that, not the cause.