On the Two-party System

On the Two-party System

It seems to me that the vast majority of Americans are political illiterates. There is no excuse for ignorance concerning the men and women whose daily choices affect every aspect of American life. I have watched for six years as the American media kowtowed to the current administration and praised virtually every move they made. We have all seen their spin and manipulation of the masses through the media. And of late we have all become aware of this administration's propensity to infringe upon the rights of American citizens with unwarranted wiretaps, scrutiny and analyzing of Internet Web searches with all the major search engines, secret prisons, and wanton disregard for the plight of lower and middle class.

The last time that we had a situation in the political landscape of America that resembled what we have now was in 1994 when voters swung the political pendulum in a landslide vote for the other institution that has failed miserably at representing the will of the people as well. At that time it was not so much who the voters were voting for as it was who they were voting against. But what is the point and voting for the lesser of two evils? Why can't we vote for someone we like, for someone whom we believe will actually represent our concerns in the seat of power?

When the two institutions, Democrat and Republican, conspired together to exclude any and all other candidates from open debates, they effectively muted the voices of dissenting opinions and tightened their cloak of secrecy on the public. New ideas and directions became a thing of the past. With no one else on the stump raising issues, the two parties could control the information being fed to the masses.

I repeatedly find myself drifting back to the movie, "Network ", where the masses were instructed to toss their televisions out of their windows and scream, " I'm madder than hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" Ah, of the simplicity of television. Unfortunately, there is no stump from which any speaker can speak to address the masses on subjects which matter to them and bring them together in unity. Divisiveness is the greatest tool the Republicans and Democrats hold over the masses.

I hear a lot of talk about sending a clear message to Washington D.C. during this election. I am not a libertarian, however, it seems to me that if a message were indeed what needed to be sent, it would be a message to both parties by replacing them with someone else. And could anyone else do a worse job?

The last two administrations have shown us, if we look closely, that one group cares nothing about the health and welfare of its people, propagates war, and simply won't talk to people they don't like. The other group has shown us that they're lacking in morals and discretion. Of course, that could be said about both parties. And they point at each other calling each other names and making accusations. The simple fact is that they are both a-moral. Why are there so few of us that actually get that?

I perused the voting records of every senator and representative in my state and found that there is not one, no not one, that has ever voted my conscience on any issue. And they've had two decades to get it least one thing right. I venture to say that if information on incumbent voting records and attendance were made available at polling places that one of two things would happen. There would be much less incumbency or we would all throw our televisions out of the window!

So, why don't we have that kind of information available at the polling places? Could it be that the two-party system has already realized the danger in reporting their record?

Powered by Qumana