I'm confused about the American Republican party

[Bolty]

You got bored on the lounge right? A few weeks without a rough discussion?

We almost went three entire weeks without a post in a messy political thread.

That could be a record.

Anyway, for Deebye, the American 2-party system is self-aligning in that both parties will intrinsically steer towards positions that garner them roughly 50% of the voting base. Republicans pander to religious extremists because it grants them a strong following among the "Moral Majority" types. Democrats pander to minority groups because it gives them a strong following in African American and Latino communities.

I too am fascinated though at the alignment of ideologies in the parties; there's no particular reason why Republicans have to shoot for fiscal conservatism (which they don't actually implement in practice) AND social conservatism (which they happily implement in practice). It's the latter that prevents me from voting for them in general, as I'm against the curtailing of personal social freedoms just because someone in power doesn't like them.

Of course, Democrats love gun control, which is also an infringement of personal freedoms. Again, it's the 50% rule in force here; if any party started to slip too far under 50% of the vote, it would alter its alignment to get back there again with great haste.

As with all presidential elections, the end result is decided by the small 1-4% of independent voters who will swing one way or the other based on particular issues. This is the sort of thing you get with 2-party systems - everything gets diluted down to the 50% level.