I have long felt...well since the 1990's anyway, that our two main political parties need a name change. Nothing drastic, just a realignment if you will to better reflect each party platform and do away with some confusion (we all know politicians love to have us confused). One little side note here that I think is very amusing is that at one time we had a political party in this country named "Democrat-Republican Party" founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, kind of ironic huh? I wish that time travel were possible, I would love to bring many of the founding fathers forward in time and get their take on our country today. I bet their opinions would be various, but I am not sure they would like what they see. No matter the founders shortcomings' (one not abolishing slavery, and not following their ideology that all men are created equal) we have taken their experiment and thoroughly screwed it up.
The fact is that the two political party names are not set in stone, it is true the two current names have been around since the 1850's but, I think a name change is needed. The reason I believe this is because right now many people are confused about what their elected officials even stand for, and many elected officials are not understanding what their constituents want. To me nothing is more frustrating than voting for someone you think has your values foremost in their ideology, only to find out they are 180 degrees from your thinking. I do not think there is any deception afoot, I just think we need a shake up to get political ideologies put in proper perspective so "The People" understand better who and what they are voting for.
To change the two party names is easy and simple... The Progressive Party and The Conservative Party. By changing the names you would realign people to the party that bests shows who they are and what they believe. For instance, I am a Republican, and I believe (I'm sticking with just one branch of government here to keep it simple) that Senators like Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski are all far more left in their thinking than they let on or even believe themselves. Senators such as Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, and Doug Jones may very well "fit" better in a conservative or center thinking party, than what the Democratic party has become.
Progressivism has taken over the Democratic party. Progressives see our institutions and most importantly many of our founding documents as things that not only can be changed but NEED to be changed or outright done away with. I am taken back to when Ruth Bader Ginsburg made mention for Egypt in drafting a new constitution that that country not look to the U.S. Constitution as a reference for drafting a new one.....why? Well she obviously thought that portions or most of our own constitution were outdated. She spoke of have a constitution that protects basic human rights, our constitution does that. Just because our founders forgot to practice what they preached does not mean that their ideas were to be discarded. Many on the left have taken this part of RBG's interview and ran with it stating as they always have that our constitution is a living breathing document meant to be changed, ripped apart and brought into the modern age. Progressives always say they want to move us forward and that, at least to them, means drastic or major changes.
Conservatism pretty much lives within the Republican party, although some Independents and Libertarians do not think so. Conservatives believe in moving forward too, but in a way that preserves and respects our heritage and our Republic. Changes have been made to our constitution, or rather additions to. Why can't we add but still protect the rest, why do we need to start over completely? It is true that some people have demonized conservatism, many times a conservative is one who is looked at as wanting to take rights away from people. This isn't so. (yes I am being biased here). My thought is not to put down one ideology in favor of another, I just think that a lot of confusion as to what party a person should support could be lessened with a realignment.
I have heard people say "I am a conservative Democrat" or "I am a just left of center Republican", wouldn't they be more aligned with their ideologies if we shifted people including elected officials into the party that best suits them? At least we could give voters better information to make a more informed decision of which side they want to support? Let me also be clear no political party is ever going to be a "one size fits all" or a perfect party for everyone in that party, we need to find a way to stop having elected officials get elected by simply just a letter after their name and then going against their constituents wishes.
There will still be divisions, after all we are a passionate nation, but we can close that divide and get people closer than what we have now. Particularly in 2016 and 2020 I have heard more people talking about being confused as to who or what to vote for simply because the party designation of a candidate, or the author of legislation. All the tools we have to bring people together and strip away the confusion in our voting system should be used, and I say that starts with making our two main political parties realign with who they are and what they stand for.
