Where Next?
Here is a something to think about. Most media experts have pronounced the Democratic Congressional majorities over (as of this fall’s elections). And while they are not predicting it yet, most hint that President Obama will be a one term President. The Democrats and the President will be swept from power, pundits say, because America does not trust them and believes Republicans can govern better.
Democrats, you know, are allied with unions and minorities. Both of these groups are looking for handouts or at a minimum preferential treatment. And at a time when the American bounty does not seem to be enough to go around, why should anyone vote for a party that wants to give what there is too little of, to someone else?
Fast forward. Republicans will clearly fail to produce on any of their promises. They will succeed in favoring the well to do and the rich, and then tell everyone else this is the land of opportunity and those spoils are available to them if they would only work for it. Republicans might also raise their social policy banners again which will bring two consequences for sure. One, individual Republican congress members will choose to live by a different standard than they preach for everyone else, and will be caught out of step with their words. America’s famous “Independents” will scratch their heads and say this is not what we voted for. What will they do? Where can they go?
Once again there is a unique opportunity to redefine both parties, or even better, to add one or two more. The Democratic coalition of unions and minorities is not working because Democrats cannot make life better for either group. Only a strong and growing economy and the desire by both group members to become educated (skills and book learning) to remain current will change their lot in life. Republican policies and values which feature social values that others must follow or those that claim the founding fathers hold the model of how we should live today are simply out of touch with reality. If left unchecked, Republican policies can make only an ever shrinking pool of followers happy.
The problem we see now is that both parties’ central theme are non-starters. (For example, the question is not whether some Americans should have health care and others not, it is rather how do we make quality health care affordable for everyone.) If they will not abandon them, then voters must look for a new alternative. From recent history we should expect neither party to act fiscally responsible. Neither party will pro-actively rid themselves of the ethics risk of large campaign donations.
We certainly can understand the need for a strong national security but does spending more than all other countries combined make sense? Health care is harder to understand unless it involves you. What could be wrong with health care systems available in all other modern countries that provide superior outcomes at substantially lower prices? Social security and private pension (including public sector employees) were designed to enable individuals to live in dignity in their post retirement years. What can be wrong with ensuring that funds collected during a persons productive years are invested wisely to later years?
The door is wide open for pragmatism. The door is also wide enough for parties with ideology providing they do not carry social baggage. (Gay marriage, for example, should be a non-issue since (1) the government should have no place in religious matters, and (2) the Constitution already outlaws discrimination).
Where next?
This entry was posted on September 24, 2010 at 10:56 am and is filed under Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Politics, Republican Party. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: congress, Conservatives, gay marriage, health care, health care costs, pragmatism, third party
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