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It's one thing to be born in a ditch in India. It is another to live in one in America. So it is with a two party political system that has us careening from one trench to another, election after election, in a futile search for sincere leadership. Out of that discouragement comes a desperate call for a third party with the potential to get the mumbling majority back on the road to the American Dream.
Stepping Away from Being Stepped On
Independents are America's fastest growing political group. This faction is comprised largely of previously affiliated voters who have lost faith in their respective party. There is a broad identification with Ronald Reagan's l960's decision to end his long standing political affiliation with the comment, "I didn't leave my party, it left me."
It doesn't take a Ph.D. in political science to know that for years we've been played as chumps by both political parties. Liberals have been no less disappointed than conservatives with the mismatch between promise and action following political victory by candidates of either party. Although political pundits market the illusion that public office cultivates moderation, the less noble truth falls simply on the word 'power'. Politicians like it and will pay most any price to keep it - including stepping on believers who got them in the game.
For One Team the Game is Over
The 'stand for everything Democrat Party' has lost all connection to principle through a persisting dedication to power over all other considerations. That corruption is most clearly illuminated in promising anything to those willing to exchange the responsibility of votes and values for the seductions of comfort and entitlement.
The Democrat party power structure has spent decades building a base of support that will accept nothing less than the continued promise of something for nothing. When one leaps off a tall building, the forces of gravity are automatically engaged with a predetermined outcome. Once incubated, attitudes of dependency and entitlement are no less forceful or inevitably destructive.
Republicans Remain Firmly Dedicated to Nothing
The insincerity of the Republican power structure was tattooed on America's soul during the Bush years. The extraordinary opportunity found in holding sway in all three branches of government was squandered on fantasy conservatism of the Republican power structure. So, too, did Republicans lose any semblance of authenticity as the party supposedly dedicated to preserving our liberties and resources.
Any political party willing to exchange its principles for power, popularity, or payment is not so much a party as an organized group of culture vultures preying on the unwitting. Mafia family members would recognize the model.
Although the established principles of the Republican Party are readily available, they are rarely applied. Those principles are solid, realistic, and much in keeping with the views of the average American. Like diamonds, principles are of no value until they are dug up and put to use.
A Third Party Would Likely Become another Fantasy
Political parties, like any organized body, are naturally devoted to self-preservation. It is a force of nature that leads to the inevitable corruption of any entity not persistently challenged and renewed. Even if a third party was established, it would likely begin the mission of self-service almost immediately.
Besides, if we can't salvage a floundering party founded on mainstream principles, there is little reason to believe we have the organization and enthusiasm to build a new one that will prevail. There is a difference in entertaining distraction and productive action.
On this basis, we are decidedly better off trying to fix what we have. It is a fight already underway.
Salvaging the Republican Party
Independent patriots must choose their priorities wisely. Firm dedication to the party's core principles will help us avoid the corruptions of power, popularity, and payment that has heretofore seduced so many well intended but misguided party stalwarts.
We also have to embrace the decidedly un-American concept that winning isn't everything. By now the limitations of winning have been proven decisively, but party power brokers still say things like, "You have to get there to make a difference there." They forget that how you get there determines how you serve there.
Finally, we have to organize our enthusiasm. The American Revolution succeeded because disjointed groups like the Tea Party movement, 9-12 group, Freedom Works, and the like united behind a common mission. The model of earlier revolutionaries has modern applications.
We all understand the exciting potentials of a new party of the same reasons we like new cars. In today's reality, however, it makes more sense to repair what we have.
Though betrayed by their deeds, in mumbled word and written principles the Republican Party still believes in being careful with other people's money and liberty. With the help of a large and engaged group of rededicated independents, we can assure a renewed match between word and action. That's a party worth joining....
Dr. Carl Mumpower
The Candid Conservative
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