Comparing Ideological Diversity in Both Parties, and it's Political Implications

   I often generalize about "progressives," which I also define as the "far-left" wing of the Democratic party. These are the ones who agree with the Socialists, but don't have the guts to join that party. There are quite a few of them, it turns out. Enough that the Democratic leadership, and the Democratic president are following their lead, instead of vice versa. Many of my conservative, libertarian, or Republican friends just lump all Democrats into that "far-left" or "Socialist" category, because they vote in lockstep with the leadership. It's very rare that any of them defy the leadership, as evidenced by the uproar over Sen. Manchin and Sinema's recent opposition to the Build Back Better bill.

   Republicans, on the other hand, often have a few members of the House and Senate that seem to vote with Democrats, occasionally. These are called "RINO's" by the GOP base, meaning "Republicans in name only." The GOP "base" also consists of several clear factions: conservatives, libertarians, and "establishmentarians," to co-opt a word. Since the ascent of Pres. Trump, there is also a "populist" wing, which draws people from all of the aforementioned wings. Of course, many of these voters left the GOP years ago, and identify as independents, or the party they identify with (Libertarian and Conservative are the two largest active alternate parties to the GOP). There was no "populist" party, per se, before Trump stamped it on the GOP.

   A funny thing about Republican "populism" is that it actually preceded Trump. It was the Tea Party, and Trump capitalized on it's lack of strong leadership. It was a grass roots movement of people that were fed up with the status quo on many issues, and the GOP "establishment's" non-action on them. Immigration, taxes, and regulation were at the top of the list, but many cultural conservatives were attached to it, as well. Of course, what happened to it, without a central leadership, was similar to what is happening now to BLM: Financial scandals, nobody in charge of overseeing the party brand, and general political dissipation. 

   Trump gave those people a new focus for the same issues they were passionate about, and it showed what a huge force the Tea Party was, when he trounced all comers in the GOP primaries. What surprised everyone was how many swing voters he attracted in the general election. Of course, he had some serious roadblocks, thanks to unprecedented, and possibly illegal dirty tricks used against him. These actions brought out the worst in him, and he shared it daily on Twitter. Considering all of this, his one term had amazing success at reviving the economy, and shaking up the stagnant international "status quo" in the Middle East, among other things.

   I have seen people say that Trump would destroy the Republican party, or try to question why conservatives supported him. The fact is that Trump is just what the GOP needed, at that time, and what he did can be called destruction of the establishment wing, to a degree. What he actually did was open up the GOP to all of the different voices, and now there are candidates like Gov. Youngkin in VA, who are not Trump clones, winning races. 

   The Democrats, by comparison, conspired to keep Bernie Sanders from leading their ticket in two presidential races, while letting him set the party's agenda. This has put all of their moderate House and Senate members in a no-win situation, this election cycle. The "progressives" are mad as Hell at the Dem establishment, even as Pres. Biden is trying to pass the most progressive agenda ever. They are going to put forward some "farther-left" primary candidates, while some GOP candidates will be challenged by "pro-Trump" candidates. While Trump may not be popular with independents and some Republicans, he is not on the ballot, or in office. Right now, Democrats are losing in the generic congressional polling by a few points, 43.3 to 46.8%, thanks to Biden's promotion of the Sanders agenda. That poll always slants in Dem's favor, historically. I don't think that Trump can save them from disaster, as he did with the Georgia runoff elections.

  I know many Democrat voters personally, so I know that they are just as ideologically diverse as GOP voters. Many of them share the same values as many of my Republican friends. This is why I expect the GOP to make huge gains in the '22 midterms. The moderate Dems, if they won't vote for a Republican, will show their displeasure with the Democrats by staying home. The actual "progressives" in the Democrat party only control a handful of House seats, and even their beneficial redistricting after the 2020 census may not be enough to offset the disadvantage that the Biden/Pelosi/Schumer leadership have put them in.

   The larger point is over which party allows greater diversity of thought. The GOP is full of arguments and debate over policies, while the Democrats have a rigid "progressive" line, that if crossed, gets you cancelled. It's pretty black and white, objectively. Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer are doubling down of policies that are failing, while Republicans are promoting a variety of different policies, all of them different that what are currently in effect. Less regulation, in all aspects of life, which means more personal choice over such things as education, employment, health care, and especially freedom of speech. These are things that most Americans agree on, regardless of party affiliation. The Democrats are losing support because they are moving away from these principles of freedom, especially the right to dissent and debate issues.

   Democrats have called Republicans "intolerant, racist, bigoted, homophobic, anti-semitic, misogynist," and other degrading labels for decades. Here's a fact: those labels describe people of all parties, and all races, creeds and colors. They describe human flaws. That's why I don't like to generalize about "progressive" or "far-left" Democrats, even though I'm narrowing the group I'm talking about, with the quoted qualifications. I try to keep my generalizations to policy proposals, and not slanderous characterizations. Democrat policies have harmed all of the "groups" of people that they claim to be championing, and those individual people are waking up to it, one at a time. Time is not on their side, until and unless the GOP starts playing identity politics, and takes any "group" for granted, as well. Only time will tell if I'm right.