Why I think the Democrats are doomed

While I despise almost all of what the modern Republican Party stands for, (Authoritarianism, Crony Capitalism, big government, and rule by fear and moral panic), and its near total domination by the Christian religious right, I still hate the Republicans slightly less than the Democrats. This means that I will choke back my disgust, put a big smile on face and campaign for McCain. While I think that the Republican party is also doomed to collapse, this collapse is quite visible and anyone with the brains of a five year old can see it coming, and people like me get to watch in wide eyed helpless horror as the party  implodes. (if the Republicans lose big this year (as in both the White House and a loss of a large number of house and senate seats) look for the party to get more extreme and to pander even more to the religious right)

In my opinion, there are three main groups that make up todays Democratic party. The first group is the  traditional Democrats, who are people like Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. These Democrats are generally center right, and while they pretend to support such causes as freedom and the restoration of the Constitution, they are willing to sell these values down the river for a little (even nonexistent) political gain. (Or to enrich their own pockets) These Democrats tend to pass most of the blame for these sellouts on the next branch of the Democratic party, the Blue Dog Democrats. The Blue Dog Democrats are Democrats that support most of the Republicans positions (The traditional  Democrats support about 60% of the Republican positions) except for generally economic ones, in which they prefer the economic policies of the traditional Democrats.  (Which are just a smidgen to the left of the Republicans) The third branch of the Democratic party is the far left. The far left, after years of being ignored under such banners as the Green Party, or the YIPPIES has finally decided to bid to take some control of the Democratic Party. The Far Left generally believes in socialism, radical environmentalism, and Taxes. (lots and lots of Taxes) The far left is even so far to the left that it bends around to the right and  supports such Religious right causes such as alcohol prohibition. (Of course, for different reasons, instead of doing it for Jeebus, the far left support prohibition because they feel that people can’t resist the evil corporate siren song of advertising, and <dailykos> OMG, the corporations want to enslave us all </dailykos>) The far left provides Obama’s core and most vocal supporters. (The people who many media figures have called cult like) While, the far left is anti capitalist, they are the only political group that still seems to believe in the constitution, and that feels the war in Iraq is a disaster, so they are not that bad. (Because their most radical policies are less likely to win support than the most radical policies of the radical wing of the Republican party, they are probably less dangerous, but thats just hair splitting)

This brings you to the problem facing the Democratic party. They are strongly reliant on groups that have been either switched parties recently (and could switch back under the right influence), or are likely to not support their policies (The Blue Dogs) and a group that has both declared war on another wing of the party, and who the Traditional Democrats feel is making them look too radical. (and thus causing them to compensate by moving right) (The Far Left) The extreme fringes of the Far Left is already starting to move away from Obama, for instance here is Naomi Klein whose propaganda I had the distinct displeasure of being exposed to during an English Class (fifty minutes of the video version of no logo really puts a dent in one’s sanity)  complaining about Obama having a economist from the University of Chicago on his staff. (and even Obama’s association with the University of Chicago itself)
Another thing that the Far Left Wing seems to be attacking Obama on is the fact that his foreign policy proclamations are becoming more militant (to avoid claims by the Republicans that he is weak on terror,  and on Israel. (He has gone as far as to suggest giving the Israelis complete control of Jerusalem) (Unlike most people, I feel that Obama and McCain are equally likely to stay in Iraq indefinitely, and to invade Iran) This bodes very badly for the Democrats, as the Far Left could easily break away and support a third party, thus splitting the Democrats.

Despite the current Democratic majority in the House, most of the democrats added in 2006 are Blue Dogs. The Blue Dogs are also a bad thing for the party, as they are likely to participate in Republican Propaganda on issues such as national security, and social issues. This causes the Blue Dogs to come under attack from the far left, who strategy to gain more control of the party appears to be to challenge the Blue Dogs in primaries. This leads to internal party anger, and has the potential to either weaken the incumbent, or if the incumbent loses, the potential for the incumbent to pull a Lieberman.

In my opinion, this and the problems facing the Republican party, and the increasing amount of Americans who identify with the religious right will make the next twenty to thirty years a chaotic time in American politics, featuring plenty of Discord, Disharmony, and Disaster.