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- This is an article that should never have been
written, because it will make me look like a candidate for the loony bin.
Furthermore, it will have no noticeable effect whatsoever; it will be a
total waste of my time and energy, and probably net me no more friends.
But I'm writing it anyway because I don't know any better, and because
it needs to be said.
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- For what seems like an interminable length
of time I have been studying the political circuses (oops, parties) of
this country and I've concluded that the "party" system of government
we have in America is for the dodo birds.
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- Or as Pope saw it: "The madness of many
for the gain of a few."
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- For decades we have been stuck with two major
parties playing a game of partisan politics. The result is that both parties,
each in its own way, have been responsible for sapping our energy, squandering
our wealth, draining our resources, neglecting public needs, stressing
our differences instead of our similarities, stealing our freedoms, mangling
our Constitution, debasing our position in the world community, and making
a mockery of the guidelines set forth by our founding fathers when they
created this nation.
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- I can hear you now: "but we've always
had two major political parties, Republican and Democratic, with many third
parties trying to mooch in. What's wrong with that?"
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- There's a lot wrong with that.
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- First, the two parties relegate voters to an
either/or situation, or a "lesser of two evils" dilemma. You
either vote Republican or Democratic, or in a fit of righteous indignation,
you vote for a "splinter" party (I count 44) and sadly kiss your
vote goodbye.
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- Second, there have NOT always been Republicans
and Democrats. Originally, the Republican party, founded in 1794, was called
the Democratic-Republican Party. (Confusion even back then) Some 50 years
later, the "Democratic-Republicans" became known as simply "Democrats."
So it never was as simple as "just two parties", or political
philosophies.
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- Third, the crime of distorting communication
was never more apparent, and more irritating, than in the definitions (intentional
or otherwise) that attached themselves to the two major parties. To the
point where each faux definition has become a funhouse mirror of the party
itself: Republican Party---conservative or right wing. Democratic Party---
liberal or left wing. Whatever those wings are, and wherever they're supposed
to fly us, who really knows?
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- In general terms, Republicans stand for: less
government, individual freedom, free-market capitalism, strong national
security, family values, and pro-life. Whereas, Democrats stand for:
social welfare, civil rights, worker's rights, environmentalism, public
education, gun control, and reproductive and gay rights.
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- Interestingly enough, in recent years BOTH
parties have moved toward the "center" so that their philosophical
differences tend to get blurred, depending on the finger in the wind, so
to speak. This alone should tell us that there are many issues which members
of both parties can agree on: As Americans, and caring human beings, what
Democrat wouldn't want a strong government and individual freedoms; and
what Republican would reject a cleaner environment and a fair wage for
workers?
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- Fourth, the two major parties, by catering
to pressure from lobbyists, adhering to questionable parts of a platform,
sticking with the party line, and sacrificing anything necessary to get
re-elected, have copped out on the one thing that would set any party apart.
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- Namely, unequivocal dedication to, and uncompromising
defense of, the America idea--- not as merely a land mass called a nation,
but America as a spiritual idea in material form; a human version of the
Life principle, as immutable and eternal as light; a degree of freedom
and independence quite unlike anything on earth that preceded it.
- In short, America, whether the rest of the
world admits it or not, was, as our founders visualized it, the summum
bonum of the human experience on this planet; the touchstone of a civilized
society; the hallmark of freedom, self-determination, and shared values,
by which other nations might well measure their own progress.
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- That was the vision of America that must have
been in the minds of our founding fathers. But in a short 200 years, the
evils of partisanship, raw political power, greed, corruption, and neglect
of responsibility has made a Dorian Grey portrait of that vision.
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- In sum, we are fast losing what America stood
for. And it is our solemn and sacred duty to bring it back.
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- But where do we start? Right where we are.
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- How do we begin? Recognize and understand
that America needs another bold idea; an idea as bold as the America that
our founders gave us.
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- What might this bold idea be? To sweep out
the "party" system (even the word, party) and replace PARTISAN
politics with PRINCIPLED politics.
- Who would be the torchbearers for this bold
new idea? THE NEW FOUNDERS, an organization of patriotic, spirited, non-partisan
citizens who have dedicated their lives to reconstituting America's verities
and values, reasserting the Constitution's principles and mandates, evaluating
all laws and actions by the criterion of what is best for America. Not
for the politicians, the corporations, the special interests, the rich
the poor, the young the old, the white the black, the believer the non-believer,
but what is best overall for America. Period.
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- The New Founders would not be a political party
per se. On the contrary, politics as we think of, and practice it, would
play no part in The New Founders thinking, actions, or agenda. All differences
of opinion (as there will always be) should be heard and measured against
the benchmark of "what's right and good for America."
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- It is the divisive, self-interested, party-oriented,
"kill the opposition" kind of thinking that The New Founders
will root out---by replacing PARTISAN politics with PRINCIPLED politics.
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- A fellow writer sent me this and it says much.
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- "We need a cleansing of our government.
They have betrayed us at every turn in recent years, and we can allow this
no longer. We need a healing of all Americans, a reappraisal that recognizes
our common bonds are far more important than our political leanings."
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- Admittedly, the mission of The New Founders,
to replace PARTISAN politics with PRINCIPLED politics, is simple in concept
but awesome in scope. Yet it could be the very cleansing of our government
and the healing that America needs. And has been waiting for.
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