• Vessuvius
    117
    The rift which has been sown in the heart of our nation has since grown ever more pervasive, and virulent as consequence of the blind rhetoric to which many others' whether representative of government, if not otherwise, seem eager to defer. They strive to accommodate the prejudice inherent in the minds of their constituents, no matter the extent to which such beliefs as bore therein, remain unfounded, and the vitriol espoused by means of the same, misplaced. Those through whom there be exercised much authority in regard to the course of governance sought, often dismiss the truth of any matter in question, and instead remain drawn toward that with which their convictions are most aligned, independent of whether the latter have semblance to merit. One must endeavor toward preservation of balance, for the sake of ensuring that neither aisle be conferred the privilege to subsume all manner of authority beneath their own guise as it pertains to governance, whilst all the same, seek to eschew that which is wholly partisan in nature, and thus abide by the requisite for greater unity from its inception, wheresoever it arises, onward.

    The greatest damage can be incurred only insofar as we fail to expend ourselves in the hope that through action, resolve can be attained by virtue of concord. No other wish I feel to be more pertinent, nor more deserving of consideration in times such as these; rife with conflict, and blindness toward the need to transcend the divide of party-lines', for betterment of the whole.

    Our strength lies in tolerance, in the absence of which, regress becomes mere certainty, and shall erode the integrity of state to the detriment of all; lest we faulter in pursuance therewith.
  • T Clark
    13k


    The irony is that the political problems we are having right now reflect the fact that political parties have lost their authority and coherence. In the past, the party leadership's job was to unify a diverse party around a comprehensive platform. The leadership enforced party discipline to keep the wild and crazy guys, who are running things now, from taking over. Parties are almost inconsequential now. Trump would never have been the nominee of the Republican Party if the Party still had the power and authority it used to.
  • Grre
    196
    Thoreau touches on this. I've been trying to dig up more thinkers. Orwell too.

    Divide and conquer. Two "parties", inconsistent, hypocritical, regressive, and competitive-presented as an absolute dichotomy, black or white, left or right, with an ever slightly shifting "middle" or "centre" which allows for enough compromise to allow for survival and cooperation and safety-and to buffer the fringe extremists (like Trump as you were referring to). This is more generally where our governments tend to fall-shifted ever so slight to either side. This allows for mostly peace, and SOME progress-although it's kind of redundant as one party merely undoes the work of the other party-back and forth, some issues lasting decades or centuries (slavery) to resolve, even with eventual and oftentimes inevitable violence. This "two party system" makes voting, and de facto partisan politics, somewhat like a game, or "gambling with a slight moral tinge to it" as Thoreau put it, and just as ineffective, cumbersome, and corrupted.
  • BC
    13.1k
    The last time the two-party system "worked" (but not the only time) was in the late 1950s, 1960s, and into the early 1970s. Both parties had some serious liabilities: the Democrats had the southern Dixiecrats who were dead-set against civil rights progress, and the Republicans had a fairly far out right wing which included their 1964 presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater. The Republicans also had a liberal wing (the Rockefeller Republican wing) which was not quite as liberal as the Humphrey Democrats.

    But all that was back then. The last 40 years have not seen a display of great bi-partisanship.

    Politics and sausage should not be made in public, the saying goes. There is something to that. In the "Good Old Days" a lot of business was conducted in smoke-filled rooms where the leadership of the party got together and decided what was what. Issues could be debated more openly, frankly, bluntly, because it was a private meeting. Some of that stuff just shouldn't be hashed out in the open.

    In any case, both parties are entirely devoted to the capitalist system, and to the republic for which it stands, and there will be no salvation coming from either the Republicans or Democrats.
  • BC
    13.1k
    I would mark the Watergate Hearings as the last great performance of Congress and the two parties. The hearings were a distinguished investigation into the efforts of a president to subvert the constitution by engaging in "high crimes and misdemeanors". It was, because of its personalities, dignity, and seriousness, a just plain great all round political theatrical.
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