Have any of you guys thought about getting involved in the Republican Party and working on changing things for the better?

I can't speak for all states, but I can speak for North Carolina. Up until the early 1980's NC Democrats (the vast majority of NC Voters) were fiscally conservative and socially libertarian (didn't care what you did as long as you did not try to push it on them). Republicans were seen as fat, country club, look down their noses at common folk and only cared about money.

Today, NC Republicans are the democrats of old. Today, NC Democrats are pure communists, to the left of Stalin.

To illustrate my point, Jesse Helms was a staunch Democrat for many years. He did not change his views when he became a Republican. He just realized earlier than many Democrats that the party had left him.

NC began to change when Jim Hunt was elected in 1976. He was never an NC democrat. He was always a national democrat and a liberal POS.

Today's NC Republicans are yesterday's NC Democrats.

Rather than talk about Democrats vs Republicans, it would be better to talk about Conservatives vs Liberals. (Acutally, the left are not true liberals, they are more communist.)

It chaps my hide when the media call the left "Progressive."

If what the democrats are pushing today is "Progress" then they can leave me behind.

Any real change is going to have to happen outside the parameters of the 2-party system we have now.

I would generally agree, with some representatives ( both parties but mostly republicans) more closely attuned to the constituency than others.

It really comes down to answering the question
Which lying cheating greedy bastard is more likely to support your opinions/desires/beliefs?

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Any real change is going to have to happen outside the parameters of the 2-party system we have now.

Trump is evidence otherwise.

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Originally posted by a1abdj:

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Any real change is going to have to happen outside the parameters of the 2-party system we have now.

Trump is evidence otherwise.

Yes and no. It could be argued that he's working outside the system.

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Originally posted by a1abdj:

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Any real change is going to have to happen outside the parameters of the 2-party system we have now.

Trump is evidence otherwise.

Trump puts the country and the people first more than any politician since Regan. Problem is we don't pass laws anymore. We live under executive order fiat. Much of what Trump has done can and will be reversed by the stroke of the next holder of the executive order pen. The next set of EO's will stop or reverse the progress Trump's EO's made. How many hundreds of Biden's executive orders were reversed in Trumps first 90 days?

So we live in a constant state of four or eight year herky jerky with a perpetual downward trend.

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Problem is we

Indeed. WE are often the problem because WE sit around and complain when WE should be getting involved and working on changing things WE feel need to be changed.

Trump saw a problem and stepped up to the plate to do what he could. What have YOU done?

Have you spoken/called/written to elected representation?

Have you attended any events they attend to speak with them in person?

Have you participated in any groups which work towards these goals?

Have you run for office?

There are all sorts of things one could do to address the problems we have as a country, but there's only one thing that is guaranteed not to have any chance of changing anything, and that's sitting back and complaining.

The thing with me is that the definition for the term "RINO" seems to get fuzzier as time goes by. Obvious RINOs for many conservatives include Murkowski, Collins, Romney, but sometimes I will hear someone in TX attack Ted Cruz or Greg Abbott as a RINO by simply doing something they didn't like.

To be fair, the ones that are labeled "RINO" do have some conservative attributes, but are labeled as such because of their tendency to side with those across the aisle on very partisan legislation, McCain's thumbs down on Obamacare is a classic example. Or those who did not vote for Trump or threw their support behind Hillary. But I still feel there is a clear political demarcation between the modern Democrat Party and the Republican Party, and even though Republicans have their fair share of corruption, it seems the Democrats have more of an appetite for it. And certainly, many of us would rather have Romney in the WH than Obama.

Trump certainly threw a wrench into the Republican machine, mainly because he is not a classic Reagan Republican or a Rockefeller Republican (basically an earlier version of the modern RINO). Politicians have a first line duty to themselves, this paradigm has stood the test of time for centuries, but Trump may very well be the first to defy this; politicians desire money, power and fame, exactly what Trump had since his 30s.

Senator Mike Lee isn’t a Rino. A few good men do go into politics. Most are transformed eventually into swamp creatures. So far, Lee seems good.

Anyone who gets to the White House via the traditional party ladder must be compromised, and thus a Rino.

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Originally posted by lastmanstanding:
Problem is we don't pass laws anymore. We live under executive order fiat.

Because there is currently no other way to govern given that Congress will not do its job. Just one more thing that the Democrats have ruined. They vote in lock-step on everything because they know that if they don't they will be removed from committee assignments or otherwise punished by their leadership. They haven't even passed a budget in thirty years. Thirty years.

I think it all comes down to a simple reality that all politicians understand: that being that the only job you have after you are elected is to get reelected. This makes every principle and position they hold subordinate to that requirement. So we get compromise, and vacillation in all matters that come before them. If their integrity is not already compromised, it soon becomes so. Substituting party for personal objectives hardly does anything at all.

Even though I always vote Republican, I don't consider myself one. Rather a Conservative that uses the Republican Party as a mechanism to achieve conservative goals. I imagine the "modern Republican" is that in recent, conservative policies have been either compromised or ignored as to satisfy their immediate vicinity constitutes and remain in existence. Not really a new phenomena in politics but one that tends sport the label RINO. Does that cove it?

The Conservative Review's Liberty Score is one tool to help decide who is/isn't a RINO, but you have to decide where the line is.

All politicians are politicians. The ones who aren't either become one or get out.

All the made up shit and millions of dollars spent by the democrats attacking Trump through made up hearings and investigations, yet we have clear evidence of lying to congress by numerous pieces of shits and nothing done by republicans but talking points.