Has there been a "permanent realignment" ?

[kentuck]

In other words, are the Republicans now the majority Party for the foreseeable future? Are Democrats relegated to minority status? If so, what has to happen to change that reality? My instincts keep referencing back to the 1920's, when the Repubs controlled everything and went on their tax-cutting binges. Until the market crashed in 1929 and the Democrats regained control, which they kept for almost 40 years..

[On the Road]

Short Answer: No

The country is still evenly divided. At the risk of sounding like a Pollyanna, there is no need for Democrats to become Republicans. Democrats do need to nominate people who connect better with ordinary people and have a platform which reflects that.

[Yupster]

21. Agree Ribo

51 % one time does not a permanent realignment make.

[illflem]

No

The reps will try to overreach their "mandate" and get knocked back into place.

[Radical Activist]

1. Nothing is permanent in US politics

Anything could change. What's clear is that we aren't going to win if we keep on the same path we've been on for the last 8 years.

Read What's the Matter With Kansas? by Thomas Frank if you want to understand the current shift and how to reverse it.

[Q]

2. But they could hold power for a very long time

...it doesn't have to be 'forever' for them to do irreversible damage.

[Eagle_Eye]

8. Four years has already done irreversible damage

1000+ soldiers dead, making tax cuts for the rich permanent. FOUR MORE YEARS will come down on the country like a million pound sh17 hammer. If the Supreme Court is stacked to the right wing, we might not see daylight again for 20 years.

[K to the YLE]

4. Just on my way out the door...

to pick up "What's the Matter With Kansas" at my local library when I read this post...glad to see someone has already read it and enjoyed it.

[Radical Activist]

10. You won't be dissapointed

It's a good read.

[newyawker99]

14. Hi K to the YLE!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[K to the YLE]

18. BAH!

It was checked out and due back the 27th...someone is racking up late fees...

[bemildred]

3. Anybody who thinks the present situation is "permanent" is delusional. nt

[Lerkfish]

11. yaaayup. That would be the republicans...

...delusional as per usual.

[Village Idiot]

5. American Draft in 2005...

Autocratic American Emprire in 2007...

[Meritaten1]

6. But did they have so many "glitches" counting votes in 1932?

The technology for counting and tabulating votes is changing...

Does the change affect your question?

[zbdent]

7. The funny thing is, the "massive tidal wave" of "Republican wins"

has finally got the Senate back to the 1994 "amazing victory" for the Repukes. When the Repukes got the control of the House and Senate.

From that point on, the country kept sliding back to Dems, to the point in 2000 that the Senate was 50-50 with Cheney casting the tie vote. Some "movement towards the right". I guess that, if you turn around and walk backward, you can convince people that you're walking toward your goal.

So, the country is actually fairly in the middle, unlike the "electoral map" view of the nation. A lot more varying shades of purple than clear-cut-red-and-blue.

[msgadget]

9. No.

[Mike L]

12. Is the Dems don't change and start reflecting the cultural values of

middle America, the shift will last for about 30 years, IMO.

[Perky]

16. Amen Mike n/t

[MirrorAshes]

17. So we are to compromise our values to get through to them?

When they are the ones who are wrong?

No, the answer is to find someone who can deliver our message to them in language they can relate to.

We lose more than an election if we give up what makes us different from the repubs--we lose our soul, and I for one am not willing to do that.

[KnowerOfLogic]

20. If they *do* change, there won't be much left to care about.

Sorry, but if dems have to become clannish, anti-intellectual, superstition loving phobes of all sorts in order to win, i'd just as soon they keep losing. And if they do change as you mentioned, the shift will last a lot longer than 30 years and it will literally be the end of america, because we will become like an amplification and an acceleration of the damage being done by the very worst aspects of the republican party.

[PurityOfEssence]

13. Even withTexas redistricting, they couldn't even gain 1% in the House

They've gone about as fer as they can go.

As they gain in the South, they lose in the Northeast, West and Mountain states. The major danger is not conservatism or even fundamentalism, it's unverifiable electronic voting.

We should concentrate all efforts on making voting secure and taking back the House in '06. They're vulnerable on the local level, and we should call them the poor-hating, rich-thieving, torture-loving warmonger primitives that they are. Fight hard, mean and personal, and cut the weak from the herd. EVERYTHING is their fault, and it was deliberate, not just happenstance.

[Perky]

15. Not if we get our head out of asses.

We could move Ohio, Florida, Iowa, NM and Virginia to Blue if we realign our political agenda to be more suburban friendly.

We cant simply be the party of Urban America.and Unions.. Partly because the num bers are not there vut also because uran areas lacks the people to people institutions necessary to build contagion.

I see no great evidence that unions are still providing the lockstep support neccessary to win Key states.

and the suburbs have socialization devices like churches as rallying points for communicating political ideas.

There are no social istitutions othe than Churches in Suburban middle class areas.

[KnowerOfLogic]

19. Keep in mind, we're very evenly divided; it could be a long term

shift, but we're close enough that something such as another depression could easily shift us back. But even in that case, the repukes will still be a sizable minority, and always a threat to regain control. That's why i favor blue state secession, because we are always going to be teetering on the brink of red state fascism/totalitarianism otherwise.

[Lexingtonian]

22. 'realignment' yes, minority only a short time

Republicans defined themselves as the party of the Past this election- they've ceded Democrats the present and the future.

So they're maxed out. When our side takes over is only a question of how adept we are at convincing and converting moderates who have begun leaving the Republican side exactly because it has no interests or investment in the present or future.

When we get a properly unified/renewed Party and a true majority (somewhere between 2006 and 2012) we'll run into the clear for 10-15 years at a minimum. Probably more like twice that.