Can the two party system be fixed?

When I chose to leave the Republican Party it was not an action that I took lightly and here is why. It is “conventional wisdom” , that if you do not have party support (either D or R) you have no chance of winning any national election; but will that “wisdom” continue to hold with the current actions of both parties?

- Both parties are addicted to power rather than a vision for our
country
- The parties see all things through the lens of what it means to
the party rather than the country
- The parties in congress have created rules
that favor, longevity, political favors, towing the line, and committee
chairmanships that have shifted the balance of power from individual congressman
to party control and obedience.

The founders of this nation were quite concerned with the formation of “parties” and believed they were bad for the country. They believed the system would fracture the country and make it difficult to unite around a common cause, therefore undermining the common good of the infant nation. It was a foresight that took over 200 years to gel but I believe their concerns are well founded and have now become the fear they envisioned. Obviously the party system survived but what is it that has helped foster its survival? The voter’s tolerance and lack of choice of viable independent candidates and a system that punishes voters of districts that fail to tow the party line. The parties do this by controlling chairmanships of committees, and making it “impossible” for “outside” congressman to get anything done while in congress.

The people of this nation are voting for the party system with their feet. The “unaffiliated” voter is the fastest, and now the largest single category of voters in this nation. There are pockets of party strength in the country, Colorado Springs for example, is still strongly republican but it is changing. It is changing because the party has become a “who you know”, not what you can do for the country, party. It is a “good old boys& girls” club and you must put in your time to be considered a viable candidate. What the party is producing today are followers, not leaders. The people that make it through the system are willing to trade principals for money, principals for power, and principals for the chance to become a candidate for office. The candidate of the party is a product of insider trading, a lack of principal, and an indebtedness of their few supporters in the party.

Some would call this “paying your dues”. I don’t believe that as an American I have to prove myself to anyone but the voter. I want to be unencumbered by the “chains” of anyone thinking they have been responsible for getting me to office. I will get to office through my ideas and actions, not the anointment of the “power players” of the party.

The people are crying for leadership as the party candidates are promising fringe groups a seat at the table. The people that want to abort babies up to the ninth month, people that believe the moon landing was fake and 9/11 was a George Bush conspiracy, business coalitions that want cheap labor at any cost, individual lobbies that are ruining our healthcare system by supporting private insurance companies rather than the market; while the issues that need our attention are put to the side because they are hard or controversial. Our borders are open to terrorists, and gang members, our social security system and healthcare system are crumbling under government control and regulation, we are fostering generation after generation of minority poverty through support of a failed education system, and every election our party “leaders” promise that they can fix it. They can’t because they are indebted to the people that are getting them elected; Planned Parenthood, Daily KOS, Moveon.org, the open border lobbyists and big business cheap labor lobbyists, insurance company lobbyists, and AARP. We have fractured beyond repair. The only answer is to bypass the morass of the party “chains” and go straight to the voter.

The party system is broken and our country is crying out for leadership. We must break the back of blind self interest and focus on common self interest; we must break the back of the rules that favor parties over individual congressman in the halls of congress; we must engage the values that made this country great and stop cow towing to donors rather than good values and vision.

It is my belief the only way either party will reform is if good people leave and stop donating. I will build coalitions with individual congressmen that believe in America’s future. I know I’m not alone; I can feel it! I am a born leader in my mind; I just have to convince others to change theirs. No small task but if you have read my book, I like a challenge. Please join me in changing a broken system. It will be fun; that’s a promise I am willing to make. Just a thought…