Political Parties And Angry Men
By Thomas D. Segel
February 20, 2008
Those of the political elite just don't get it. They all think they can play the same old games, wave the banner of party loyalty...and everyone will fall in line. They fail to realize large bodies of those who vote in our national elections are just plain fed up with the political party game.
In the name of party loyalty, those in leadership positions demand that we champion the candidates they endorse as suitable to carry either the Elephant or Donkey banners. What they fail to make note of is people are becoming increasingly more aware of the traditional party prattle. The signs of this awareness are clear in the march of Democrats to the new Obama drumbeat. The signs are even more telling in the reluctance of Republican voters to accept the conservative credentials of McCain. Many from both camps are questioning the reasons why they should continue to follow the recommendations of political party leaders.
Even in the days of our Founding Fathers there were voices that spoke out against our attraction to political parties. George Washington had serious concerns as he remarked that political parties..."may now and then answer popular ends." However, he said ..."they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which lifted them to unjust domination."
Washington, in that far distant past, was able to gaze into the future and see our monster in the making. He warned us against other potential hazards, issuing a strong warning about the dangers of regionally oriented political parties. "I have already intimated to you the danger of Parties by State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations." But, we failed to pay heed to his wisdom and now have a country filled with what everyone calls the Red and Blue states.
He spoke of the "Spirit of the Party" a term he used with complete disdain. Washington claimed that political parties serve..."always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration." A Party, he continues, "agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one person against another, and foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another." These words we have all seen become a reality two centuries after the Father of Our Country went to his final rest.
To follow up on this theme of wariness when it comes to political parties, a well known author and friend Charles Henderson recently sent out copies of an editorial from the Aspen Times. Written by Gary Hubbell, and published on February 9th, it is titled "In Election 2008, Don't Forget Angry White Men." Henderson comments the title should really read "Angry Working Men".
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