All Republican, All The Time
Does the Democratic defeat indicate the US people are trending even more towards the conservative right? I honestly don't think so. I believe this election result is due to disaffection with our current Two-Party System; even if the average person doesn't say as such, in so many words. Yet.
Why don't more people vote? A decade or two ago, the non-voting attitude generally went something like 'my one vote doesn't count for anything; why bother?' Implicit in this is the sentiment: 'we don't have a representative government. It's the fat cats who control everything.' These days, the non-voter response seems to have reduced down to simply 'why bother?' Now, the fat cats are seen to come from both sides of the congressional aisle. A vote for a Democrat, is the same as a vote for a Republican. There's no difference. They're all fat cats up there.
For the average liberal, the Democratic Party is at least marginally preferable to the Republicans. However as the distinction between the two has diminished over the years, the disaffected are seriously beginning to believe it's no longer worth voting Democratic simply out of fear of a Republican victory.
With a Republican, you know certain issues aren't even on the agenda; for example, meaningful environmental protection.With a Democrat, they will raise the issue, hold a debate and then...they'll negotiate. Strong legislative endorsement for a specific liberal cause simply doesn't exist any longer. Clinton was notorious at talking the talk, but walking on the other side of the street.
Not that either major party is made up of bad people. Clinton wasn't a bad man. Certainly idealists exist within both ranks. It's the Two-Party System that's to blame. We need stronger issues-based third parties. Many governments do fine as multi-party democracies. The major difference between a multi-party system and the two-party system is that in one the coalitions are formed after the election and in the other they exist beforehand. A post-election coalition allows for more meaningful issues-based dialog and legislation.
The Reform Party is dead now, but their cause was eliminating deficit spending and they were able to draw support from both Dems & Repubs. The Greens are now the most likely to rise to true significance, with a self-explanatory agenda (let's hope it stays that way and doesn't morph into the new socialists, or something). Independents are fine, but that 'movement' is usually driven by the vitality of one individual; you can't count on that, year-in/year-out.
So all I can say is, let's hope the next two years encourage The Greens and yes, even the Democrats, to truly champion issues again. Let's return to a representative form of governing and stop with all the politicing already.
Don't even get me started on campaign reform!
700 million dollars spent in this election.
Obscene. Shameful.
Does the Democratic defeat indicate the US people are trending even more towards the conservative right? I honestly don't think so. I believe this election result is due to disaffection with our current Two-Party System; even if the average person doesn't say as such, in so many words. Yet.
Why don't more people vote? A decade or two ago, the non-voting attitude generally went something like 'my one vote doesn't count for anything; why bother?' Implicit in this is the sentiment: 'we don't have a representative government. It's the fat cats who control everything.' These days, the non-voter response seems to have reduced down to simply 'why bother?' Now, the fat cats are seen to come from both sides of the congressional aisle. A vote for a Democrat, is the same as a vote for a Republican. There's no difference. They're all fat cats up there.
For the average liberal, the Democratic Party is at least marginally preferable to the Republicans. However as the distinction between the two has diminished over the years, the disaffected are seriously beginning to believe it's no longer worth voting Democratic simply out of fear of a Republican victory.
With a Republican, you know certain issues aren't even on the agenda; for example, meaningful environmental protection.With a Democrat, they will raise the issue, hold a debate and then...they'll negotiate. Strong legislative endorsement for a specific liberal cause simply doesn't exist any longer. Clinton was notorious at talking the talk, but walking on the other side of the street.
Not that either major party is made up of bad people. Clinton wasn't a bad man. Certainly idealists exist within both ranks. It's the Two-Party System that's to blame. We need stronger issues-based third parties. Many governments do fine as multi-party democracies. The major difference between a multi-party system and the two-party system is that in one the coalitions are formed after the election and in the other they exist beforehand. A post-election coalition allows for more meaningful issues-based dialog and legislation.
The Reform Party is dead now, but their cause was eliminating deficit spending and they were able to draw support from both Dems & Repubs. The Greens are now the most likely to rise to true significance, with a self-explanatory agenda (let's hope it stays that way and doesn't morph into the new socialists, or something). Independents are fine, but that 'movement' is usually driven by the vitality of one individual; you can't count on that, year-in/year-out.
So all I can say is, let's hope the next two years encourage The Greens and yes, even the Democrats, to truly champion issues again. Let's return to a representative form of governing and stop with all the politicing already.
Don't even get me started on campaign reform!
700 million dollars spent in this election.
Obscene. Shameful.
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