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> First, Republicans act as a largely cohesive block that requires less coalition building. Does it require less coalition building, or are they just better at

> First, Republicans act as a largely cohesive block that requires less coalition building. Does it require less coalition building, or are they just better at it? It never made much sense to me that a pro-choice/drugs/guns/prostitution libertarian from Nevada would vote for the same team as the social conservative corn farmer from Nebraska who wants to implement a Christian theocracy, yet when push comes to shove they seem to ignore each other and vote for the same party. I don't know how to explain that, other than Republicans are effective at pandering to two mutually incompatible philosophies at once.

ihumanable 6y ago
There are a number of theories that could explain this. Broadly speaking, small-c conservatism, hold the following central tenets "...tradition, organic society, hierarchy, authority, and property rights." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism, I know this is a wikipedia link, it is sourced to an actual text which doesn't appear to be online and so is not conducive to hyperlinking). It could be that their preference for hierarchy and authority extends to the legislators being willing to support the party leadership, regardless of their own personal policy preferences. Another line of thought is that there is a Venn Diagram of sorts for those two politicians, and the policies that move forward are the ones where there is already agreement. For instance, we don't see a lot of legislation legalizing drugs or prostitution coming from the Republican party, because while the Libertarians might support that, not everyone does and coalition building is difficult. We do see a fair bit of pro-Christian actions from the party, but I think that could be attributed to reframing the issue as one of Religious Liberty which allows the Libertarian to either support it or not actively oppose it. Largely though the legislation we see passed through is about areas that likely have broad support where little coalition building is required, tax reform, military spending, moves to reduce the scope of what most Republicans would agree are wasteful government programs. I doubt the Republicans have found some new method for coalition building, if they had then you would expect more fringe Libertarian ideals like drug and prostitution legalization to have some presence in the conversation. It seems like even in the rather tame Marijuana legalization discussion the Republicans are staking out an opposition stance. Although the desire to make profit from Marijuana has turned some of the most ardent opponents into vocal supporters, as is the case for John Boehner.
- liability 6y ago
  These are fair points and food for thought. It still seems to me that the DNC platform tends to be more coherent/consistent. The RNC platform seems frequently 'schizophrenic' in comparison, but their voters seem willing to overlook or ignore various things other members of their party are saying. In other words, the christian theocrats pretend the libertarians don't exist, and vice versa. Or those that want to cut government funding ignore those who want a hundred new aircraft carriers.
  - ihumanable 6y ago
    Thanks for the civil discussion, a bit of a rare gem when discussing politics :D

ihumanable 6y ago

There are a number of theories that could explain this. Broadly speaking, small-c conservatism, hold the following central tenets "...tradition, organic society, hierarchy, authority, and property rights." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism, I know this is a wikipedia link, it is sourced to an actual text which doesn't appear to be online and so is not conducive to hyperlinking). It could be that their preference for hierarchy and authority extends to the legislators being willing to support the party leadership, regardless of their own personal policy preferences. Another line of thought is that there is a Venn Diagram of sorts for those two politicians, and the policies that move forward are the ones where there is already agreement. For instance, we don't see a lot of legislation legalizing drugs or prostitution coming from the Republican party, because while the Libertarians might support that, not everyone does and coalition building is difficult. We do see a fair bit of pro-Christian actions from the party, but I think that could be attributed to reframing the issue as one of Religious Liberty which allows the Libertarian to either support it or not actively oppose it. Largely though the legislation we see passed through is about areas that likely have broad support where little coalition building is required, tax reform, military spending, moves to reduce the scope of what most Republicans would agree are wasteful government programs. I doubt the Republicans have found some new method for coalition building, if they had then you would expect more fringe Libertarian ideals like drug and prostitution legalization to have some presence in the conversation. It seems like even in the rather tame Marijuana legalization discussion the Republicans are staking out an opposition stance. Although the desire to make profit from Marijuana has turned some of the most ardent opponents into vocal supporters, as is the case for John Boehner.

liability 6y ago
These are fair points and food for thought. It still seems to me that the DNC platform tends to be more coherent/consistent. The RNC platform seems frequently 'schizophrenic' in comparison, but their voters seem willing to overlook or ignore various things other members of their party are saying. In other words, the christian theocrats pretend the libertarians don't exist, and vice versa. Or those that want to cut government funding ignore those who want a hundred new aircraft carriers.
- ihumanable 6y ago
  Thanks for the civil discussion, a bit of a rare gem when discussing politics :D