Political parties are stupid. The father of the country shares my opinion.
OK, so George Washington did not exactly say that verbatim. He actually had harsher words for political parties: “However (much) they may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
When we buy into our two-party system, we allow political intrigues to interfere with actual legislation. Governing the people becomes a scramble for votes, not an intelligent dialogue on what is best for the country. Democratic republics elect officials to represent the people, not simply the ideas of two parties.
The problem with political parties is they polarize the population more than is necessary. These politicians do not represent the people any more. They simply represent the opposition to the current administration. Both parties act to thwart each other, and they bring their supporters with them. We, as a voting block, sometimes have ceded our ability to think in favor of partisan politics.
One example of how this occurs is seen is so-called Bushisms. Former President George W. Bush was not the most eloquent politician ever, and he definitely let his Texas drawl shine through. One of my favorites is, “I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family.” For the last 10 years, the nation has giggled at the ridiculous statements of president number 43, thinking he is somehow stupid because he is not an eloquent speaker.
Interestingly enough, I have not heard from those same Bush hecklers much about Obama-isms. After all, President Barack Obama is the politician who taught me there are 57 states in the United States, the navy has corpse-men and breathalyzers help with asthma.
Why do we hold a double standard? The same thing has happened with results of the administrations. Bush was blamed for the economy, the wars and even Hurricane Katrina (as though he can control weather like Storm from the X-Men). However, when Obama fails to deliver on health care, economic recovery or preventing terrorist attacks, we somehow excuse him, saying it really is not his fault. Either both presidents are responsible for the misfortunes of their administrations, or they are not. We cannot have our cake and eat it too.
To be fair, the same thing occurred with Bush. We blame Obama for expanding the state and increasing government, when Bush started giving out TARP money and made many new government bureaus. Truth be told, I blame Congress for all of the laws, with which I am disappointed. After all, presidents are only supposed to execute the laws, they are not to legislate.
What is the solution? Most people with whom I have discussed this issue agree having only two major parties is bad for the country. However, just adding in another party will not fix the problem. Observing the experiences of parliamentary systems of Europe and Canada shows this clearly. Instead of taking extreme stances for votes, the parties scheme together to form opposition and pro-government coalitions, in which candidates effectively form two parties for the course of one administration.
This is even worse than the American system because it causes parties to abandon issues and commit ideological treason regularly based off of circumstance.
Some may argue we should completely outlaw parties and vote for candidates who are all independent. Although this would force voters to think and research issues, hopefully voting for praiseworthy individuals, this may initiate a quest for absolute consensus which cannot exist. Do we really want a president who earns the presidency with a grand total of 3 percent of the vote, merely because more people agreed with him than all other candidates?
Truth be told, I have no clue what a good solution to this problem would be. What do you think? Whatever the solution may be, we need to move away from straight-ticket voting. We should vote for those who reflect our beliefs on good governance, regardless of party.
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