“There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.”
-John Adams, 1789
I am sick and tired of turning on the TV, or picking up the paper, or getting online and seeing article after article and talk show after talk show discus how nothing ever gets done in our governmental system.
The two party system that we “enjoy” today arose through natural causes. The founding fathers never enacted a two party system, or called for it. They even warned against it. Warnings or not, it just happened.
Lots of things “just happen” in life: your favorite sports team loses a game to Texas Tech to take them out of the national title race, you lose a loved one in an accident, or your dog runs away and never returns. We cannot directly effect the outcomes of these situations or situations like these, but they still make us angry to think about.
This is not one of those cases. We, the American people, cannot sit back and watch as the two lumbering behemoths, better known as the Democrats and the Republicans, become the iceberg waiting to sink the Titanic that is the United States of America.
Due to the polarizing partisan nature of our political systems it currently seems as if everything in our national policy making bodies has come to the final stalemate. The unstoppable force has met the unmovable object. Two political parties holding all the chips in the most powerful country in history, each wanting absolute power in a balanced democracy that will NEVER grant it to them.
So what do they do? They use all the power that they do posses in the three branches of government to block the power the other party posses within the three branches of government. It is a vicious cycle, and the repeat button has been jammed to the floor.
We are in a debt crisis, a jobs crisis, an education crisis and a healthcare crisis. Sounds fairly similar to every other civilized democracy in the world, so what’s the big deal you say?
We Americans took what the Athenians did when they created democracy: what worked and what didn’t, and formed the best and most imitated balanced democracy in the history of government. We need to continue being the trend setters for the good.
The question remains though; what would be better than what we already have, and how could we do it?
Listen to this debate on NPR (if you have the time) and then continue reading.
The parties simply have to go. Our government has turned into Democrats and Republicans trying to get a leg up on one another, when what they should really be doing is focusing on making our country a better place to live. One might think that it is the politicians fault, but I don’t believe it is.
Politicians often begin as good people that are in politics for the right reasons, but are forced by our system to act in ways that they wouldn’t normally act, or risk losing party support (a.k.a. funding from lobbyists and corporations). In order to toe the party line and keep their campaigns funded, they are forced to change many of their beliefs and policies, or make them more extreme than they initially were.
What we need is a system of non-party primaries, where candidates are chosen on their personal merit, and not simply from the GOP and Democratic circles. Right now Americans are only allowed to look at the north and south poles. Let’s open up the rest of the world for business. Lets elect leaders based off of their campaigns rather than their mascots.
According to the NPR debaters 37% of registered to vote Americans are registered as independents. People don't feel represented by the parties anymore.
The people are choosing to take matters into their own hands by engaging in civic action activities instead of completing their civic duty of voting, because frankly they feel like they aren’t represented even if they do vote because of our current system.
“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they’ve tried everything else.”
-Winston Churchill
We have tried it all in the current system, and it just doesn't work. We should view ourselves as Americans above all. Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, we all need to fight for our freedom to be represented by people that will lead our country instead of their party. Let’s choose to do what’s best for the country that gives us such great freedom to succeed and fail.
I was thinking about this the other day. Yes I know, I'm a political nerd, don't ask. But the political system that we have today is most likely the most partisan and rancorous that it's ever been.
ReplyDeleteSaying that, I can tell you that things were never good, even without parties. When it was the federalist vs the anti-federalists, things were equally contemptuous. When the first republican took office, the country essentially dissolved for 4 years. (Civil War) Our political system has always been a battlefield. Indeed during the Gilded age we had two presidents murdered by (literal) bomb throwing anarchists. I mean, for me to say that it's the worst there has ever been is to ignore vast swaths of historic strife and change and battles. All of which are interesting.
What I think our party system is lacking is wisdom. Now hear me out. We don't have a system that produces many wise and knowing presidents. There are great examples from either party, but for the most part, they don't exist. When I listen to the people on the GOP debate stages, I think really? This is the best that our country can do? Those gentle up there lack the wisdom of any one of this country's founding fathers. I love your Adams quote up there, but he is a prime example of the type of intellectual heft that existed in the system. Adams. Jefferson. Washington. Jay. Hamilton. These were all amazingly gifted minds. We don't have individuals like that running our country. There are some exceptions to that of course, but they are few and far between.
So a wise leader. A Jefferson, or an Eisenhower, or a FDR fought their own political battles for sure, but they were able to transcend because of their amazing feats of wisdom. The problem is, that our current system weeds out the wisest among us. It's my theory that a Jefferson or a Hamilton wouldn't even get elected to a local school board, nevertheless the presidency. What we have now, are gentlemen, and gentlewomen who are good at campaigning. They aren't the wisest, or the most brilliant. They are the best at campaigning, and they have defeated enough people in that arena to reach these high levels of public office. Nothing more.
We are in desperate need of wise leadership on both sides. Your take?
I absolutely agree that we need wisdom, but it is impossible for wisdom in our system to rise to the top. In our current system and culture people do not desire wisdom. The wise challenge the culture that we live in, and are killed for it (either metaphorically or literally). I don't know what we can do, but something needs to change. FAST.
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