Do you have what it takes to be a Republican candidate? That question will be asked of every Republican candidate across the nation as a new "purity test" of 10 conservative principles could become part of being a candidate for the party. Any candidate found in violation of two or more principles on the list of 10 could have their funding pulled and likely leaving them dead in the water for any political campaign. However, doesn't this hurt the party as a whole rather than "purifying" it? In class we learned that part of US politics is to appear towards the middle of the spectrum in political leaning (not too left and not too right). By making the party consist of only right leaning views (by weeding out moderate republicans), will the republican party lose the voting groups that lean slightly right and favor moderate candidates?
As elections go, the independent vote becomes a ever increasing voting population that campaigns must try to secure. By "purifying" the party to contain only conservatives, the party is effectively restricting their party votes and making the independent vote even more important (for republicans that is). The democrats don't seem to be limiting their candidates political leanings and will continue to enjoy their party votes without dwindling them. A bad move, in my opinion, from the republican party and something that will likely cause more trouble than good for the party.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/27/gop-purity-test-gets-mixed-grades-conservatives/
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I agree completely with your analysis. It is kind of a joke really that the Republicans may require this purity test. The Republican and Democrat parties have become more alike one another with every passing year; as you said, the reason for this is to appeal to both sides in order to gain more votes. If the Republicans do go through with this I feel we may see a longtime surge of Democrats leading the government as moderate independent voters join their side. This sounds like a proposal from the old sticklers in the party, let’s see if it catches on.
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