This question strikes me as both too mindkill-y, and as unimportant in light of the fact that you don’t get to vote for political parties, only for individual candidates in individual races. What do you think would be the important change in your behavior if you were convinced, in general, that Republicans were “better” than Democrats or vice versa, and how do you think that would impact the political process?
What do you think would be the important change in your behavior if you were convinced, in general, that Republicans were “better” than Democrats or vice versa, and how do you think that would impact the political process?
The political discussion moves the parties around. Economics discussion resulted in significant deregulation which has since been pretty broadly adopted by both parties. A discussion of what features make one party better than the other will, if it bears up, tend to contribute to making both parties more like the better position.
Since politics is a team sport, if it turned out that one team is doing better at what you want (assuming it is prosperity, hardly the only metric possible), then you would be well advised to support that team in some ways.
These are two practical implications for this discussion.
I hear the deregulation thing touted a lot and I don’t buy it. Do you have any links or sources? It seems like “deregulation” usually refers to less explicit rules in favor of a closer alliance between government and the major players of the industry in question.
Reagan further removed controls on oil and gas, cable television and long-distance phone service, as well as interstate bus service and ocean shipping.
This question strikes me as both too mindkill-y, and as unimportant in light of the fact that you don’t get to vote for political parties, only for individual candidates in individual races. What do you think would be the important change in your behavior if you were convinced, in general, that Republicans were “better” than Democrats or vice versa, and how do you think that would impact the political process?
The political discussion moves the parties around. Economics discussion resulted in significant deregulation which has since been pretty broadly adopted by both parties. A discussion of what features make one party better than the other will, if it bears up, tend to contribute to making both parties more like the better position.
Since politics is a team sport, if it turned out that one team is doing better at what you want (assuming it is prosperity, hardly the only metric possible), then you would be well advised to support that team in some ways.
These are two practical implications for this discussion.
I hear the deregulation thing touted a lot and I don’t buy it. Do you have any links or sources? It seems like “deregulation” usually refers to less explicit rules in favor of a closer alliance between government and the major players of the industry in question.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deregulation#Deregulation_1970-2000
Reagan was not the only president who reduced regulation, but he was one of them.