I’m Tired of Political Parties
It really shouldn’t matter to most of us which political party has the majority in the Congress.
Have we reached the point where we, as voters, put our blinders on when we enter the voting booth and simply vote for all candidates of one political party or the other?
If we have, the political parties have accomplished their goals. They have broken the electorate into what they think are homogeneous groups. Minority voters are expected to vote for the Democratic Party. The more well to do are expected to vote Republican. Any change from that expectation is considered a boon for one, a catastrophe for the other.
It’s time we start acting, and voting, like we know what we’re doing, namely, voting for the candidate that reflects our values and ideas and who we believe will truly represent us if elected, regardless of Party affiliation.
Each party has national committees. That fact is not new. What’s new is the power and the money that each national committee now enjoys – they make those of past years look like neophytes. It’s normal now for national committees, with their win-at-all-costs attitudes and their teeming war chests to spend money on candidates from any state who they have determined need more mullah to run ads in districts or statewide campaigns to either unseat an incumbent from the other party and/or ensure the election of their party’s candidate. Polls tell them which races are tightest – and which ones provide the best chance for their party’s candidate to win.
Why all this maneuvering and money? Because it’s all about “Party.” Wealthy individuals and corporations – sometimes directly, other times though PACs or lobbyists – give these national committees loads of money. Why? Because those donors want something – whether for personal benefit or their ideology.
For the individual candidates its many times is too tempting to take the money. But at what price?
Candidates who are strongly aligned with their Party and accept money from the Party for their election campaign, are beholden to that Party. They also know, or learn quickly, that if they are a Party player, they vote on legislation the way the Party wants them to. They also learn quickly that being assigned to their preferred committees in Congress is dependent on their playing the game and toeing the Party line.
With the mainstream media loving the national political implications of their narratives, they make differences in Party the story – whether it’s true or not. They love partisanship because they can then report conflict and ‘unreconcilable differences.’ If one or two members of one Party align with the other on a certain policy or pending legislation, it becomes a bi-partisan piece. This type of coverage encourages the Parties to act like they’re supposed to – according to the media.
The question of why the representative got elected in the first place, namely, to represent their constituencies – plays 2nd fiddle to the Party – to the national committees and the Party line.
We now have candidates who openly state they don’t want the vote of anyone who might disagree with them and their planks. This type of attitude and behavior used to be unheard of – and only adds to the divisiveness so prevalent now on many fronts.
Political Parties have way too much power. In addition to choosing the candidates on the ballot, in most states primary voting is part of the process, so political Parties have set up primary elections which limit the voting to those aligned with a particular party. They do this by requiring people to designate the political party they would align with when registering to vote. Voters registered with one political Party or the other receive a primary election ballot with only candidates of that Party. Voters can register as ‘Independent’ – but in those cases they are not allowed to vote in primary elections at all. So, when it comes to the general election, those registered as Independent have normally have two choices, both picked by those aligned by one Party or the other. I suggest ‘Open Primaries” allowing all registered voters to vote and see what happens – which two candidates have the most support.
Fact is, there are now more Independents registered as such than there are registered as preferring either Party. In some locales, there’s more Independents than those registered with both political Parties combined. Yet the Parties maintain control of the election process regardless of the candidates who might face off in the general election. By not allowing Independents to vote, they have no say regarding about which candidates are on the ballot.
Those founding fathers’ taking part of the 1st Constitutional Convention in 1787 abhorred the thought of political parties. They entirely omitted political parties from the new nation’s founding document. That was no accident. The framers of the new Constitution desperately wanted to avoid the divisions political parties might create among the representatives and the populace. How right they were.
I am tired of the propaganda, favoritism, and corruption now a way of life for our political parties and too much a part of our three branches of government, our bureaucracies, and media. I postulate we’d be a lot better off and new ideas would flow without the pressure to ‘group think.’
Imagine what our national media outlets would look like and report on if there were no political Parties
I try to limit myself by saying I’m tired of it because I really don’t want to get mad.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were no entrenched political Parties? What a different, more representative, democratic country and government we would have.
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Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
SPIDER Bites
Trivia question of the week: Which blood type is known as universal?
Tyson Foods joined the exodus of big corporation presence in and around Chicago last week.
The Biden administration is weighing putting a ban on foreign sales of US oil and gas. The objective would be to increase the supply of gas in the US and soften prices. If it wants to increase the supply of gasoline and natural gas in the US, why keep the freeze on leasing land and sea for exploration and production? Dah.
Meanwhile, OPEC announced it was cutting oil production by 2 million barrels/day to increase prices. That was followed by the WH announcing it was releasing another 10 million barrels from our Strategic Oil Reserve. That’ll show ‘em!
Are we supposed to believe Russia blew up its own pipeline used to pump natural gas to Germany and the rest of Europe, Nord Stream, because…..? We actually have members of both political parties that would have us believe the irrational, lucidity of that assertion.
Here’s a report that really makes me frustrated with this administration. In March, apparently Turkey had brokered a deal between Russia and Ukraine to end the war. When that happened, the West, including the US, put pressure on Zelensky to stop negotiating and reject the tentative agreement. The terms of that settlement would have been for Russia to withdraw to the positions it held before launching the invasion on February 24. In exchange, Ukraine would promise not to seek NATO membership. It was just that simple, but scuddled by the US. Adding to that scenario is the fact that NATO never wanted Ukraine and its corrupt government in the alliance to start with, and it makes it even more exasperating. This isn’t about democracy or sovereignty. It’s about egos “playing with Russian/nuclear fire.”
Elon Musk is buying Twitter after all. In addition to its being a stroke for free speech, I hope he makes another buck on the deal. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to/by Twitter employees and their ‘fact-checking’ algorithms with the ownership change.
If you think like me on this one, I’m hoping at least one legislative chamber is controlled by Republicans after the November elections. I agree with many investors and economists who predict federal gridlock would result in some solid economic growth and roll over to a positive stock market. At least it would open the prospects of fewer economic growth encumbrances coming out of Washington and help partially recover some of people’s retirement nest eggs
