Evolutionary Politics

If President Obama is reelected I see a clear example of specialization-elimination in effect here.

Let's say each of the GOP primary candidates represented a group of the same species of bird, all in a suddenly-secluded valley (isolated ecosystem for this example). They each compete with each other for food and mates. Because they are isolated, they begin to specialize. And so in order to win the most mates, each group employs strange tactics, either by evolving absurd plumage or by doing a dance/song/nest-building ritual. 

And let's assume that at this point they have no outside predator, so they can get away with this specialization explosion. 

Each group of birds tries to outperform the others, and they become increasingly absurd. The evolutionary term here is "unfit." The secluded environment and lack of predators allows these GOP birds to become almost caricatures of real birds.

Then Primary season ends and the General Election season starts. Or, in our example, the isolated valley suddenly is not isolated anymore. A new Democrat predator comes pouring in, and where it was a decent bird hunter before...now the GOP Birds of Paradise are easy pickings. Their flight feathers don't work well, their loud songs make them easy to spot, and their large, plumage covered legs taste delicious.

And so in the end, the specialization that occurred in the GOP birds in order to win the Primary season made them unfit to survive the General Election that occurred afterward.

On the other hand, if President Obama loses I see the exact opposite ending to the same story. The GOP Primary season yields sympatric speciation, as above. Eventually, one new species of GOP bird dominates the valley. Only this time, when the isolated environment opens up and the Democrat predator comes in, it is unfit to catch any of them.

The strength of the GOP primary process here is that it gives them time to evolve the candidate most likely to survive. Not the smartest. Not the best. The fittest to survive. Meanwhile, the Democrat predator has not coevolved, as there is no pressure on it. 

What would happen here is that the GOP had sufficiently evolved (from a plurality of 'species') a candidate that appealed to more voters than the Single Democrat Choice.

I find the first scenario more likely: isolated environments tend to weaken species. But either way there is a lot of evolution in politics.

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