Party Abominations: Who Are You

Party Abominations: Who Are You
May 1st, 2006

It's May 2006...do you know who your party is? Not that easy to tell
anymore, is it?

After all, if you're a Republican, your representatives have
increased federal spending by an amazing 45 percent in the past five
years - something you might support for its Keynesian stimulus, or
just tacitly accept - while enacting the largest increase to an
entitlement program in almost four decades - something you may have
supported to help your president's re-election chances even though
entitlement programs are against everything your party stands for.

Of course, if you're a Democrat, your faithful voted for a war
resolution against a country that didn't attack America - something
you were for at the time, but, like most of your elected officials, now
fervently avow you were duped! - while voting against enacting one of
the largest increases to an entitlement program in almost four decades
- something you were against at the time even though entitlement
programs are the bread and butter of your party and one of the reasons
you've remained a Democrat all these years.

"And the beards have all grown longer overnight!"

Welcome to America's major political parties in the new millennium:
neither stands for what they did two decades ago; both stand for
virtually nothing you can hang your hat on today. At the very least,
you'd think all this political cross-dressing would have resulted in
a newfound unity breaking out all over. You'd be wrong.

Instead, the polls show an overwhelming majority of Americans are
disappointed with the president's performance, while a virtually
identical percentage believes the nation is on the wrong track. And,
there's an even greater disrespect for legislators than the president
regardless of which side of the aisle they sit.

"There's nothing in the streets, looks any different to me."

Assessing blame for this political disharmony is also divided along
party lines. If you're a Democrat, you believe the culprit is George
W. Bush. After all, he campaigned on being a uniter, not a
divider...or, was that a decider? I forget.

Whatever, this presupposes that we were all getting along so well
before Bush was elected, and conveniently ignores the contentious late
'90s that included an impeachment proceeding and the public
evisceration and subsequent resignations of two House Speakers.

Ah...the good old days.

Yet, if you're a Republican, you perceive the catalyst for all this
disunity is Democrats that have made it a goal to obstruct all
legislation and obfuscate policy discussions with the help of their
mainstream media minions while blaming the world's problems real or
imagined on Republicans in the cynical hope that the electorate is
gullible enough to buy it and vote Democrats back into power some time
before Armageddon.

"We'll be fighting in the streets, with our children at our
feet."

Unfortunately, most Americans on both sides of the aisle don't
realize that the answer is significantly more complicated than this,
and that they've been duped into participating in a political cold
war in which they are the pawns in a game of chess that they can't
win.

After all, this current caustic condition is by no means an accident.
Irrespective of polls indicating voter distaste for negative
campaigning, the fact remains that the more mud you sling at your
opponent that sticks, the more likely you are to attain, retain or
regain power depending on what position you're currently in.

"And the men who spurred us on sit in judgment of all wrong."

To attempt to sate their hopelessly insatiable lust for power, both
sides have figured out an extraordinarily diabolical scheme for
political success: victory by addition and subtraction.

Here's how it works: in any given precinct, each party knows
approximately what percentage of registered voters will likely cast
favorable ballots for both parties. In order to increase their own
percentages, each party needs to raise the number of folks that hate
the other party so much that they can predictably add to their base.
And, each party also hopes to evoke enough hatred as to convert some of
the other party's faithful into frustrated nonparticipants thereby
reducing its base.

"Take a bow for the new revolution."

Now, to make this all work, both sides need the assistance of their
media minions. So, on a daily basis, the liberal and conservative media
go out armed with their talking points to besmirch their political
opponents. And, the public, pining for information that supports their
dogma, believe virtually every ad hominem attack they hear.

"Though I know that the hypnotized never lie."

Which leaves America figuratively closer to a civil war than Iraq, and
conceivably on the precipice of total political collapse. After all,
recent events dictate that major problems facing our nation can't be
solved by our federal government if both sides let politics
consistently trump policy.

Take for example Social Security reform in 2005: regardless of the
solutions proposed by the right, any person in America that can
successfully add one plus one has to understand that the calculus of
this program fails as the baby boomers retire. Anybody asserting the
contrary is not mathematically qualified to govern or vote.

Yet, the left in 2005, armed with their misinforming media minions,
convinced a large enough percentage of the gullible that one plus one
equals three, and that there is, therefore, no looming crisis. As a
result, the right was forced to take this problem off of the table, and
any serious discussion on this issue has been shelved for many years
thereby reducing our options when it finally resurfaces.

"I'll tip my hat to the new constitution."

Similar political hamstringing occurred this year over Dubai Ports
World and illegal immigration resulting in further examples of a
failing political system. Today, this same policy paralysis is evident
as April ushered in a wave of finger-pointing over rising energy
prices, and the media followed their political leaders into the
battlefield.

In a predictable circle the wagons motif, the left and the drive by
media have been shamefully blaming the president for today's gas
prices even though this problem started in 1973, and no president or
Congress - be it Republican or Democrat - has effectively dealt
with it since.

However, the conservative media hasn't been innocent either. As
gasoline prices spiral upward, too many seek to hang blame on failed
policies by Democrats and environmentalists, which may be true, but
which doesn't move us closer to a solution. Political gamesmanship
that does not advance a policy to solve a problem is exactly our
problem.

"And the world looks just the same, and history ain't changed."

Welcome to politics in the new millennium: both parties, their media
representatives, and their constituents are singularly focused on
attaining, regaining, or retaining power with total disregard for
solving America's problems - even the ones that government itself
has caused.

And, yes, we Americans are part of the problem, too.

When registered Democrats support candidates - including presidential
candidates - who blame Congressional votes in favor of a war
resolution on somebody else because it helps said candidates'
political futures, they have become part of the problem.

When registered Republicans support an increase in Medicare spending
because they think it will help their president get re-elected, they
have become part of the problem.

As such, the electorate is now acting like what it finds abhorrent:
supporting policies that go counter to ideology for the benefit of
party.

This begets a condition whereby it is quite unlikely that significant
policies will be enacted to address the problems facing our nation
today such as Iran, Iraq, illegal immigration, and rising energy
prices.

Even more troubling, it appears totally inconceivable that the current
political structure will be capable of solving the looming crises of
Social Security, Medicare, and any other problems that come down the
pike.

"Then I'll get on my knees and pray...We don't get fooled
again."

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