My Views on Politics
Upon his farewell address from the presidency, George Washington warned the nation about the danger of dividing into political parties. George Washington was very intuitive.
First and foremost, politics SHOULD be about helping people. The American political system should strive to help those in need, to protect citizens, to protect the rights of the innocent.
Instead, there is an obnoxious glut of arrogance and elitism among many politicians. Their attitudes have turned the American political system into a tiresome who-knows-who aristocracy of discombobulated backbiting and personal agendas, often with a gratuitous promotion of tokenistic political correctness. It's about getting re-elected, making money, and maintaining a good image by making one's opponent look bad.
I attribute this negative backfire of American politics largely to the two-party system. The Republicans and Democrats do not adequately represent the diversity of views and needs possessed by the widespread heterogeneous American population. People often tend to forget that citizens can each hold a mixture of liberal, conservative, and moderate views on various issues. But instead, we often are reduced to a stupid "either, or" game going on of either take one side or the other with no middle ground.
Personally, I'm all over the map as far as my outlook on different social and political issues. I tend to be very "liberal" on such issues as abortion, free speech, and gay marriages, but I tend to be very "conservative" on such issues as affirmative action, the death penalty, and national defense. And sometimes I tend to be quite "moderate," for instance, when it comes to such issues as gun control, federal aid, sexual harassment, and religion. Other people's views may differ to various degrees. Some individuals lean more toward either the left wing (liberal) or the right wing (conservative). Or some individuals fall smack in the middle. That's where I consider myself on the political spectrum: proudly moderate!
For this reason, the best political affiliation I can associate myself with would be the anti-Buchanan wing of the Reform Party. Like my political idol, Lenora Fulani, I believe the American political system should be drastically changed so that the Democrats and Republicans no longer exclusively control the debates. When this happens, partisan politics take over and issues turn into a nasty and annoying game of I win, you lose. Lenora and I both feel the political forum should be opened up to smaller parties who have been ignored by the largely liberal media for such a long time now. Perhaps the smaller parties may have ideas or solutions to some problems that have been overlooked? Perhaps it's frequently so hard to find beneficial solutions because the Republicans and the Democrats are constantly fighting with each other to dominate the American government!
I do not see how the two-party system creates an environment that is conducive to solving this country's problems. If anything, the Democrat versus Republican wars only hinder progress and positive change. The two-party system will continue to rule until someone finally has the courage to stand up and challenge the status quo of the American political system. And the Reform Party could very well pave the way for others of the discreet political parties to follow suit in truly participating in American politics.
With that, I say . . .
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