Do you think the Republican party should reform?

Republicans could expel any member who has acted in an anti-democratic way or who acts against the law or the constitution.

They could demand that potential new members sit a test on attitudes to democracy, and pass through a one year probationary period while other members get to know them.

They could demand an oath of fealty to the constitution of the US.

Do you think any of these measures would help the party recover from its current crisis?

If so, which ones and how?

If not, which ones and why not?

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PrivateHell · M

I have heard calls for this for quite awhile now. Not surpringly, it's generally from Liberal Democrats, as if they should have [i]ANY[/i] say in how their opposition operates (especially when their own party's core isn't doing so well either).

Suggesting people should be able to pass testing to enter or participate in politics sounds kind of odd from a side that screams "voter suppression" every time you turn around. What happened to "every vote counts" (though they clearly didn't in this last election)?

The very idea of demanding members pass a test before entering or participating should terrify anyone who truly knows history. If we allow this, how long before we see a repeat of the Stalin Purges happening here?

bijouxbroussard · F

@PrivateHell Republicans always prided themselves on being the “Party of Lincoln”. They’re now the Party of Trump, complete with Confederate flag holders who stormed the Capitol at the encouragement of the President of the United States. They chanted “Hang Mike Pence” and even built a makeshift [b]gallows[/b] because [b]he[/b] refused to interfere with the Constitution at Trump’s behest.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba0UR7gITrU]
So yes, we’re going to judge that, and we’re also going to judge the people who make excuses for it and are okay with it. Because it was the wrong thing to do. And those people were not “Patriots”—they were traitors who deserve to go to prison.

robingoodfellow · M

@bijouxbroussard I'm watching the news right now and looking at the Capitol surrounded by a giant fence and thick with the National Gaurd. We can't even have a normal inauguration because there are at least 3 domestic terrorist threats against it. In just 4 years our country has been denigrated to this point and there needs to be accountability. Republicans have been playing to a dark element of American society and the result is we're being held hostage by it.

PrivateHell · M

@robingoodfellow both sides have. But as usual for these times, neither side owns up to it or admits it. It's always "their" fault, but never ours.

bijouxbroussard · F

@PrivateHell You cannot “both sides” when [b]the President of the United States[/b] is involved. That’s the whole ballgame, the highest office in the land, and he has to take responsibility. [b]Trump[/b] even said so—before the job was [b]his[/b], of course.

Heartlander · 80-89, M

@PrivateHell This reminds me of the voter registration test that Democrats passed throughout the South that was designed to prevent Black Americans from voting. 100 years after the civil war, Democrats were still treating Black Americans as non-citizens, preventing them from voting, restricting where they could and couldn't live, restricting them from going to some schools and universities.

hartfire

@PrivateHell That's not a bad point.
But how does society deal with the reality that Hitler and Mussolini were democratically elected?
How to we prevent people subverting the democratic process from within parties? What's been happening in the Republican party is not the only problem.
In other countries, branch stacking has become a common practice. It's illegal and it is usually caught - but by the time it is, a lot of damage has been done.