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Monday 10 March 2008

2 Party System

Let me preface this posting by stating that any political-governmental system that is in place will work and be functional when and if the leaders of that system are moral, ethical and above all, in the position to serve the people they are called or elected to lead. The reverse is also true. Any political-governmental system in place with ultimately fail if the leader of that system is amoral, corrupt, and in the position for personal/political gain. Having said this, our founding fathers did their best to protect the fledgling country they were beginning by introducing a system of checks and balances. There by limiting the governing power of any one individual by splitting it up among groups of leaders. I believe that their reasoning for this was because of their belief that the majority of the people would not be corrupt or seeking personal goals.

The country as a whole outside of the world of politics, I believe, is ethical and moral. Inside the world of politics however, I see the Federal and upper levels State Governments as ruled by interest groups and plagued by those seeking personal gain. This is not to say that every individual in the upper echelons of the government are corrupt. However, I do see more and more evidence that individuals are more focused on themselves, their gains & their obligations to those that helped them rise to power; rather than the country and the good of the people for which they are elected to serve.

The country has through its life created two political parties. In essence these parties are the “conservative” Republicans and the “liberal” Democrats. Ultimately, I have personally found that the two parties boil down to two major ideas on Federal and Central Governments. The Republicans work for a smaller centralized government with more control going to the local governments. The Democrats work for a larger centralized government with smaller local governments subservient to the central government. This is nothing to say about the conservative or liberal nature to the issues with which the political parties work towards.

I think that the issues (i.e. abortion, definition of marriage, national defense, the economy, taxes, etc.) only arise from the people that participate in the party. Will the Democratic Party one day, be considered more conservative than the republicans? I think that it is a real possibility.

My reasoning comes from what I have seen happen in local and national elections and what is happening in legislative sessions both locally and nationally. Let me use the local issue of School Vouchers as an example. Local Republican officials overwhelmingly supported school vouchers. This would move the control from larger centralized governments of the state and school boards to the local person by using tax dollars to subsidize private charter schools. However, Democrats moved to oppose the school vouchers. There by keeping the tax payer’s dollars in the school districts and the public schools. Not using public tax funds for private schools and charter schools.

Now I must ask myself, where do I put me on this scale? Am I a Republican or a Democrat? The question I feel must be answered as we are only in a two party system. To have my vote and my voice really be heard I have no other choices. The question unfortunately, has very little to do with the morality of the issues, ethics or the sides of the story. Members from each party that are in control consistently find themselves on either side of the aisle. Therefore, I do not think that party affiliation has anything to do with conservatism or liberalism. I believe that it has to do with what your view of government should be, i.e. large centralized governments with smaller localized districts or smaller centralized government with larger local precincts. With this definition, I place my self in the Republican Party. This however, I must state has nothing to do with the issue I mentioned above. I was overwhelming AGAINST school vouchers! (Blog coming discussing my position on this issue possibly in the future.)

Now, where do I place myself on the Conservative-Liberal Scale? I would put myself as moderate conservative. I consider myself open minded to other people’s views. I like to look at what is presented objectively and then make a decision that way. I do not just take a look at an issue then say: “Well other’s that are in my circle say this about the issue so I will too.” When I look at most issues with an open mind and subjectively I find myself taking a conservative point of view. I am pro marriage, pro life, I see national defense as a major need, I feel privatized health care is the reason for our high health standards in this country, and I think that the economy is best self managed rather than the government taking major controlling steps industry. I am deathly afraid of socialism. I see socialism as one step to total governmental control of the people and a step in the direction of communism. I have lived in a socialistic country and found it deeply flawed. I saw people that were not industrious and dependant on the government for their livelihood. They find it easier to collect the government welfare checks rather than working to support themselves and their families. I feel that the socialist system must be avoided for this reason. Any step towards this is a step in the wrong direction.

Should we help the poor? Yes, I believe we must help them to get into a position that they can begin to help themselves. Do we need healthcare reform? Yes, we should do so in a way that the market drives down prices. Do we need to continue in Iraq? Of course, we must sort out the mess that we started and not just leave a struggling nation to the wolves of extremism. Are we the “big brother” of the world? I think to an extent we are, so long as we have sorted out ourselves we have an obligation to help others in need when we have the means to do so.


As for staying away from Socialism and governmental market control, capitalism is in essence a good system. It rewards those that work hard and does not significantly reward those that are lethargic. I must say that any economic system will be flawed in one way or another. I do not think that there is a perfect economic system out there that will completely be void of all corruption and exploitation. There will be those that can take advantage and get ahead. There will be those that struggle their entire life and not go anywhere; however, the capitalist system, as a whole, rewards effort and perseverance.


As for the two party system that the country uses, I find it flawed. I would like to see parties that are truly based on conservatism, liberalism or moderate-ism, along with the ideas of government power. I would like to have more real choice than just two parties. I would like to not be forced between the “lesser of two evils.” I feel like my voice is not heard because of my Moderate views. Who is there to voice the views of the Ultra-Conservative when a Moderate is running against a Liberal? For that matter, what happens when anyone is not represented? How do we account for that? I don’t think that there one all-reaching way that we can have every voice heard, or every point of view represented.

I simply find it frustrating when those elected are not representative of your views. It is even more frustrating when neither of those that ran for the elected office on both sides of the ticket are not representative of your views. I don’t want to seem like a poor looser of sorts, let the candidate win that gains the majority of the vote, (thereby representing the majority of the populace.) However, my cry is: “Give me a voice that can be heard!”

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