Boston should sue the Tea Party for giving New England patriots a bad name. If it were not clear a year ago when the Tea Party was making its way onto the political scene, it should be now that the Tea Party not only has brought together folks with extreme tendencies toward meaness and stupidity, but it has also served to demonstrate exactly how politically and constitutionally illiterate the American public has become (or maybe it was always that way). Tea Party candidates have, so far, demonstrated lack of knowledge of the Constitution they say they are defending, most recently the first amendment; demonstrated that they never took one course in political science, confusing center-right policies of the Obama administration with Socialism; and, shown that they don't undestand the most basic principles of math; not being able to count up the debt and spending of the 8 years of the Bush administration as they criticize the Obama administration for government spending and increasing the debt. In fact, the American people should sue the Tea Party for casting doubt on the basic capacity of our people to be able to manage simple concept and to use the powers of reason to confront national problems.
The patriots who tossed the tea of English ships into the Boston Harbor would turn over in their graves to see the spectacle of uninhibited ignorance and and unintelligible political analysis that comes out of the mouths of the Tea Party candidates. And, we will soon be trying to save the country from its own grave if the Tea Party gains any significant toe hold in the legistlative branches of our national and state governments.
In fact, rather that sue, we should just throw the Tea Party overboard...but we won't, because, in fact, it may be that the Tea Party really does represent a significant portion of our population which would be proof that we have regressed in all senses since December 17, 1773 when' after the events of the day before, the Boston Harbor tasted like "earl gray."
What can I say. In a democracy you get what you vote for. Woe is Us!!!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
The Future: A Multiparty system.
The United States political system is headed toward a multi-party system. The tempest in a Tea Party dynamics of the current political year is a portent of the breakup of the two-party system and part of what has been an evolving process of the emergence of a multi-party system. Leave behind, for a moment, the utter stupidity and potentially damaging effects of the Tea Party movement. Seen from a larger perspective on the emerging politics of the nation, it is but one more bullet in the head for the two-party system which is systemic source of the gridlock in Washington.
Actually, the Obama administration, like it or not, has been quite effective in passing legislation and in solving national problems, but what appears to be a sea change in the Congress as a result of the current election period will bring us a deep gridlock that will once again paralize the nation and allow the corporate interests to continue their gradual takeover of the country (and the world for that matter).
In order for there to be real transparency in the system and real neogotiation of policies, both internal and international, we need to have parties which more clearly represent their constituents. It is clear that the Republican party is split and the Democratic party is close to that outcome.
Take myself as an example. I am a life-long Democrat. I have never voted for a Republican and will never do so on principle. The Republicans, in my view are the party of war, class warfare and recession. Why the American public wants to give the country back to the folks who just brought us unwanted and unneeded wars and recession is beyond the pale of my analytical abilities to discern.
And, I think President Obama, given the problems he inherited and the public he has to work with, is doing an outstanding job of governing. Nevertheless, in Congress I feel absolutely unrepresented. Locally, I live in a city controlled by Democrats who could be Rockefeller Republicans and I do not feel represented. So, I am looking at the Green Party as a possible vehicle for finding a place where I can express and develop my political ideas more fully.
As it is, people like myself play no role in the political debate. The Democrats will play to some of my ideas in the primary season, go to the middle in the general elections and then govern from the middle-right given the makeup of the voting public. When there are negotiations on policies, legislation, my kind of thinking will not be represented because my brand of democratic politics is not represented clearly in the Congress.
So, I feel like eventually I will change parties and go GREEN. I do not expect to be on the winning side of too many elections, but I will expect that my ideas might find expression in the political debate, a dynamic currently missing. I realize that this might damage the Democrats at election time (although not any more than the Tea Party damages the Republicans), but I don't think that it will end up changing the actual results of politics in terms of policies and legislation. But, in the longer run, I am hopeful that it will serve to make ideas like the ones I and many others have who believe in grassroots democracy, an anti-war, pro human rights foreign policy, and a Green energy policy more visible to the American public and, eventually, more acceptable as a basis for governing our nation in a way that favors our real economic, social and security needs.
If the Tea Party would form a real political party and the Greens would figure out how to launch a project that combines its good ideas with a practical electoral strategy, we will eventually have the Tea Party, Libertarians, Republicans, Democrats and Green Party represented in the legislatures of the land and have a more transparent, clear and dynamic dialogue that will produce better legislation for the country.
As it is for the moment, the Democrats are reluctant to go full blast at revealing or countering the stupidity and meanness of the Tea Party, something a Green Party could do effectively and with gusto if it had a way to become part of the national debate.
In fact, most Western democracies have multi-party systems and they get along just fine. Soon, I am sure we will too.
Actually, the Obama administration, like it or not, has been quite effective in passing legislation and in solving national problems, but what appears to be a sea change in the Congress as a result of the current election period will bring us a deep gridlock that will once again paralize the nation and allow the corporate interests to continue their gradual takeover of the country (and the world for that matter).
In order for there to be real transparency in the system and real neogotiation of policies, both internal and international, we need to have parties which more clearly represent their constituents. It is clear that the Republican party is split and the Democratic party is close to that outcome.
Take myself as an example. I am a life-long Democrat. I have never voted for a Republican and will never do so on principle. The Republicans, in my view are the party of war, class warfare and recession. Why the American public wants to give the country back to the folks who just brought us unwanted and unneeded wars and recession is beyond the pale of my analytical abilities to discern.
And, I think President Obama, given the problems he inherited and the public he has to work with, is doing an outstanding job of governing. Nevertheless, in Congress I feel absolutely unrepresented. Locally, I live in a city controlled by Democrats who could be Rockefeller Republicans and I do not feel represented. So, I am looking at the Green Party as a possible vehicle for finding a place where I can express and develop my political ideas more fully.
As it is, people like myself play no role in the political debate. The Democrats will play to some of my ideas in the primary season, go to the middle in the general elections and then govern from the middle-right given the makeup of the voting public. When there are negotiations on policies, legislation, my kind of thinking will not be represented because my brand of democratic politics is not represented clearly in the Congress.
So, I feel like eventually I will change parties and go GREEN. I do not expect to be on the winning side of too many elections, but I will expect that my ideas might find expression in the political debate, a dynamic currently missing. I realize that this might damage the Democrats at election time (although not any more than the Tea Party damages the Republicans), but I don't think that it will end up changing the actual results of politics in terms of policies and legislation. But, in the longer run, I am hopeful that it will serve to make ideas like the ones I and many others have who believe in grassroots democracy, an anti-war, pro human rights foreign policy, and a Green energy policy more visible to the American public and, eventually, more acceptable as a basis for governing our nation in a way that favors our real economic, social and security needs.
If the Tea Party would form a real political party and the Greens would figure out how to launch a project that combines its good ideas with a practical electoral strategy, we will eventually have the Tea Party, Libertarians, Republicans, Democrats and Green Party represented in the legislatures of the land and have a more transparent, clear and dynamic dialogue that will produce better legislation for the country.
As it is for the moment, the Democrats are reluctant to go full blast at revealing or countering the stupidity and meanness of the Tea Party, something a Green Party could do effectively and with gusto if it had a way to become part of the national debate.
In fact, most Western democracies have multi-party systems and they get along just fine. Soon, I am sure we will too.
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