Busting the Two Party Monopoly

Last Friday eighty Arizonians could find nothing better to do than head down to the Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, and watch Ralph Nader “light a fire in the belly of voters.”

Since there was a Green Acres marathon running on one of the local channels, I was not one of them, but I wish the irrelevant relic of the sixties the very best. I really do—the one thing that might get this country going is if the legal monopoly and tyranny of the Republican and Democratic parties could be busted.

There are some people who get real whooped up about being a member of one of the parties, but for the most part they are either politicians , hacks or hopeless vapor heads. The majority of people don't really identify with either of these rather offensive organizations, though they may tend to vote one way or the other.

Nowadays, the majority of us think for ourselves, and do not take the cue from Howard Dean, or his Republican counterpart, and automatically vote some straight party ticket.

And after years of excruciating partisan divisiveness, we have had enough. That is a big part of the appeal of both Obama and McCain—who profess a willingness to reach across the aisle.

On any given issue some Democrats and some Republicans could reach agreement on issues other than the preservation of the congressional prerogative to distribute pork, but no progress can ever be made, because the congressional lemmings take their marching orders from the party leadership.

Part of the problem is that , despite the carp of Ralph Nader, both parties are not the same. In fact, the brands have become so different, they have shut out the majority of Americans—who are neither godless appeasers nor Bible banging war mongers.

The best way to change this would be to give America some real choices. The two party system is so anachronistic. Back in the fifties and sixties our TV viewing was confined to three lame networks. Now there is a plethora of channels ,and choices of entertainment and news—and I don't think anyone thinks that is a bad thing.

If the grip of the two parties was replaced with a few different parties, with some real strength.....

or heaven forbid candidates from no party at all...

a lot of the political idiocy could be broken.

For example if there was a Libertarian and a new Evangelical Party, they would agree on the importance of vigorous protection of the First Amendment. With assistance of the Democrats this would be achieved against Republican opposition, who nowadays tend to be authoritarians, and don't really care about that aspect of the constitution.

The Evangelical Party might spearhead a program, which libertarians would be skeptical of—but who can really object too strenuously to massive aid for Africa to fight AIDS and desperate hunger--and the importance of human rights.

On the other hand when it came to economics, the Evangelicals might be more inclined to hook up with the Democrats, and the Green Party on some parts of their benevolent welfare state—while Libertarians would usually find themselves in bed with the Republicans, but they would want to end the corporate welfare and slim down the Pentagon. Everyone would get something, but not everything—which would be a true reflection of the consensus of the American people.

When the issue of whether gays should continue to be treated as second class citizens came up, the Libertarians would be of the same mind as Democrats. The Evangelical Party might join with the Grand Old Party. However, if the god fearing bunch split off from the GOP—that party might no longer be concerned about bedroom habits, and get back to the stuff which traditionally defined the Republican Party.

The effect would be to empower the various schools of thought and concerns in the Republic, and each one of us would actually get some, but not all, of things we hold dear —unlike the stalemate of weak Democratic rule , or the Republican Congress which jammed a lot of stuff down our throats which was profoundly offensive to many of us, especially since the things we felt important were just ignored.

The party hacks are not going to go easily. Besides the pork privilege, the one thing they can always agree on is keeping their monopoly, and it has been enshrined in federal law and the statues of all fifty states.

If the majority of Americans who consider themselves independents, or feel there is no place for them in the two major parties, were to rise up and toss out these pathetic vestiges of the past, it really would be a second American Revolution.