My friend Liz is brilliant and always a good thinker…the following blog is written by her, and I would appreciate your discussion and comments…thanks in advance.
As the republican presidential primaries are on their way, we’re seeing candidates fighting long and hard, memorizing their talking points, constantly polling and focus-grouping in order to narrow their ideology and stance to exactly what they’re told the people (read: their party’s big contributors) want. And that’s the nature of politics in America now. There are a lot of good, qualified and varied people working their butts off to win the nomination. There are social conservatives who are fiscally liberal, there are fiscal conservatives who are socially liberal. And of course there is everything in between, in combinations you never knew existed. But when it all comes down to it, the nomination goes to the guy (or gal) with the most money, therefore the most media coverage (another topic for another day).
Then maybe this nominee wins the presidency and once they get into office the biggest and longest game of chicken you’ve ever seen commences. The guy clings, white-knuckled, to every traditional party view imaginable, the infamous “aisle” looking and feeling more like an invisible dog fence that will shock anyone who goes near it. And we the people are left with a choice: do we drink the Kool-Aid and engage in the screaming matches too, because that’s the box we checked when we were 18, like the captain of the Titanic who goes down with the ship? Or do we dare abandon our party for the other guys, who made you feel the exact same way 4 years ago? Most of the time, we stick around because the other side of the aisle is far too scary and there’s not a whole lot over there that we love either. It becomes a lesser-of-two-evils situation. But why does it have to be that way? Where did these party views come from anyway? I have hated the two-party system for exactly the same amount of time I’ve know about it. Why is it that if you’re concerned about the environment at all, you better vote democrat because republicans are living in denial but if you own a gun and would like to keep it that way, you better vote republican because the democrats want to take everything away from everyone, including firearms. And let me say too, registering as Independent, though it seems to be a stick-it-to-the-man statement, really does nothing for you because when election day comes in November, it still comes down to one guy or the other. At least if you’re registered for one of the two parties, you can vote in the primaries.
So we’re frustrated because the causes we’re passionate about get left in the dust by our guy and we have to turn our heads when our party supports something we disagree with. But, let’s just pretend for a second that we did have the opportunity to choose. Like the author of this (http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/01/12/gop-primaries-and-old-country-buffet) piece writes, pretend like we could approach politics like a buffet and actually vote for someone that we can get behind because they aren’t party-loyal to the death. What sort of candidate would you like to see? What’s important to you and what could you do without? Tell me about your ideal guy (or gal). Do you think the two-party system will ever change? Do you even think it should?