Scott Sumner neatly summarizes the American political scene:
As the core of the GOP moves south, it becomes more like a European-style conservative party—pro-big government, pro-cartels and regs that favor affluent people, and culturally conservative. Unfortunately our political system has no place for pro-free market and socially liberal people. The kind that read The Economist magazine. So they end up as independents.
Or, if they live in Chicago, they’re Democrats.
The provisos I’d put on Dr. Sumner’s assessment is that European-style conservative parties aren’t rightwing parties at least as we reckon things and they cover a much broader political spectrum than the Republican Party does. The German Christian Democratic Union, for example, is a conservative, center-right party.
However, there’s my conventional caveat: comparing politics across national boundaries is approximate at best. By some reckonings the U. S. Democratic Party is a European-style conservative party.
Are you sure that’s the right link?
Yes. He makes an off-hand comment in a group of links to other posts. I’ve quoted most of the relevant part.
Pretty much sums up why I’m a man without a party.
I hooked into that part of the excerpt you posted, as it kind of describes where I’m at politically —> pro-market, fiscal conservative, and moderate to libertarian in my social views.
Ironically, the other day, I even downloaded a new voter registration form, changing my party status from democrat to independent. My reasoning is that the democratic party is too saturated with social progressive ideas and policies, while the republican party is too rigid in many of it’s social stances. Consequently, I have become a DINO on one side of the political spectrum, while being a RINO on the other side. There is increasing evidence of others like me, taking the same step, who are not comfortable being philosophically housed or bound within either of these ideological extremes, which is why the independent party is rapidly becoming more of a default 3rd party in the voting arena.