On Apr 2, 2012, at 7:49 PM, Michael Smith wrote:
> It's a little confusing, this material.
It's really not hard to understand. The two parties used to have liberal and conservative wings. They don't anymore. The Reps are very conservative, with no centrists or liberals, and the Dems vary from centrist to liberal, and almost no conservatives. The most conservative Dem still votes to the left of the most liberal Rep. I know this violates your foundational assumptions, but it really seems to be true. Which is not to say for a second that the Dems don't suck, but it is to say that the two parties are not identical.
Doug