Does the two party system work in America?
In all the recent polls, the number of people who prefer the Tea Party Movement to either the Democrats or Republicans is astounding. Americans aren't facing simply an economic crisis, they are facing a crisis of confidence. Political Independents, for the first time in history, now outnumber Republicans and Democrats. The sad fact is that we don't just lack confidence in our financial system, the stock market, and politicians, we have come to lack confidence in ourselves.
President Ronald Reagan saw America as a "shining city on a hill" that raised the hopes of everyone. He did not ask us to trust him, he asked us to trust ourselves. The current administration and Congress' vision of America is that of an all-powerful, socialistic, welfare state where government is the answer to everything. Government is not, and never has been, the solution to anything. Our elected representatives seem to care less about what their constituents think or want. Government is the problem!
Independents generally tend to be mostly fiscal conservative and social moderates. The neither adhere to the rigid conservatism of the far-right nor the ultra-liberal agenda of the far-left. They generally remain in the center-right of the political spectrum, as does the majority of Americans. Those who identify themselves as Republicans or Democrats have both moved to the left of center.
Independents generally believe in the Jeffersonian principles of a Federal Republic, united among the several States, in the principles espoused in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Any power the federal government possesses is derived from the consent of the people and is limited to those powers specifically enumerated in the Constitution, and nothing more. They abhor the seizure of power away from the States and the people by the administration, the Congress, the federal bureaucracy, and the federal courts. The principles on which this country was founded, laid down by the Founding Fathers, and the intent of the people who ratified the Constitution, are still revered by those with the best interests of our country.
The United States was founded on the constitutional principles of freedom and liberty, limited government, low taxes, religious freedom, and personal responsibility. These principles were also the foundation of the Conservative movement, though those who call themselves Conservatives have strayed away. They have supported some expansions of power by the federal government, restricting freedom and liberty, resulting in increased tax burdens on the people. Not only Conservatives, but a great number have abandoned the concept of personal responsibility.
The Democratic Party is a broken party that has been co-opted by the Progressive movement. They have no principles, have aligned themselves with criminal enterprises such as ACORN and SEIU. The stand for nothing more than big government, big spending, and massive intrusion into the freedoms of the individual. Their prospects for future success, other than in bastions of liberal thinking, is limited by their own actions.
The Republican Party came into being around the time of Abraham Lincoln, though he surely did not adopt all conservative principles. Their ideology could be summarized as follows:
To protect and abide by the Constitution.
To maintain a strong national defense and secure our borders.
To keep taxes low and reduce the size of government.
To balance the budget and be fiscally responsible.
To advocate individual freedom, responsibility, and privacy.
To advocate free enterprise and property rights.
To promote social issues and traditional values.
To freely educate the citizens about their heritage.
To protect the unborn.
Instead of promoting these principles today, many have supported the expansion of federal power into many aspects of American life, education, energy, abortion, compassion for criminals - including illegal aliens, unconstitutional use of public money, and other measures in compromise with the political left to help them in their reelection bids.
It would appear that the Washington Republicans, judging from numerous comments on the election of Senator Scott Brown in Massachusetts, have still not learned their lesson. They seem to interpret Mr. Brown's election as a victory for the Republican Party. Nothing could be farther than the truth. Scott Brown aligned himself strongly with Independent voters. He ran under the Republican banner because of the broken two-party system we have today. His ideology and the way he ran his campaign are reminiscent of the tea party movement, which the Republican Party, it seems, would rather ignore than embrace as allies.
Former Republican leader Dick Armey, chairman of FreedomWorks, a national grass-roots organization dedicated to lower taxes, less government, and more freedom, in a column in the Washington Times, said, "If the Republican Party wants to find its way out of the wilderness this year, it will need to live up to its promises of limited government, embrace the tea party movement and allow the movement to set the agenda." In referring back to the Republican takeover in 1994, he surmised, "two of the three components from the '94 Republican Revolution are in place. President Obama is a disappointment to his base and independents. They were looking for change, not new government programs for every problem. Democrats have also failed on policy and own the calamitous stimulus packages and trillion-dollar deficits. Democratic leadership has no credibility on fiscal issues - and the hostile government takeover of health care has been rejected by the electorate."
In a related story in The Washington Times, "Leading figures in the burgeoning 'tea party' movement complain they are being ignored by the Republican National Committee, despite having already shown their clout in taking down moderate Republicans in a New York special House race and the Florida Republican Party hierarchy." Dale Robertson, head of TeaParty.org, which has upwards of 7 million members, said, "I have called the RNC many times, and they still haven't called me back. I've called them, lots of times. I called them this morning. I called them yesterday. It's like they ignore you as they try to figure out a strategy on how to defeat you."
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told The Washington Times, "It's important for Republicans to recognize they can only be a majority if they find a way to absorb the tea party movement and absorb the anger against Washington and against big government. That's the only way Republicans can prosper in the next few years.
Tea Party leaders say they want more than just talk. They want conservative candidates who oppose big government, higher taxes, illegal immigration, and massive deficit spending. These are the reasons Scott Brown won in Massachusetts. Mr. Robertson said, "We're not going to join them. They need to join us."
Eric Odom, founder of the political action committee, Liberty First PAC, and helped in organizing the first tea party protest declared, "It's time to take control." Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks said, "We should take over the GOP."
If the Republican Party does not get off its high-horse and join with the tea party movement, there is a real possibility that a third party will emerge, larger than either the Republicans or Democrats, and that might not be a bad thing. Both existing parties are disfunctional and, if they don't fix themselves, they will be replaced.