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When the Republicans take over and tell us, "You'll take it and you'll like it." We get mad, vote Democrats back in on the promise of things like "Hope" and "Change." Then America forgets all the bad stuff Republicans did to us (in just two years time). We forget about their war spending, their constant affairs with corporations and their middle class destroying ways. We start thinking that maybe it is our lost moral compass and move back in with them. Why? It's not because we hate homosexuals or minorities. The real problem lies in the fact that the Democrats are too weak to get anything done.
Now that they think they are back in power, the Republicans want to "play nice" and "work with Obama." They will no longer care about their promises to stop so-called "Obamacare." They won't make abortion illegal. They won't re-negotiate NAFTA to fix their illegal immigration problem (though they may get a big fence and start shooting people).
In two years, Obama will keep the White House. Why? Because the Republicans will keep driving the economy down giving help and services to the rich 1% while the middle class the voters are forgotten. We will look again to our weaker dominate party to fix things, when they can't even agree amongst themselves.
What America needs is a real middle-to-left-leaning party. The Democrats have pushed further and further right to win conservative voters and the favor of their little brother, the Republican Party. Rather than looking out for the average guy, they too court the big corporations. Sure, they talk about us. They still have union friends (though unions seem to be just as bad as the corporations at this point). They do stick up for the minorities (until they get to the White House and won't fix "don't ask, don't tell" - likely one of the least American things the U.S. military can do).
It has been said before, but we need a middle class party before the middle class is gone. Today we have the Republicans and the Democrats, our two corporate zombie parties that just won't die. We have the Libertarians, anarchists that try to use the Constitution to stop the government from existing (yes, I'm pointing at you, Ron Paul). We have the Green Party, they are liberal but too strange for most Americans. Last we have the Constitution Party, a conservative group that pretends our government was designed to be the very theocracy our founders were trying to avoid, though sadly what most real conservative pretend the Republican Party is.
None of these parties are able to represent the average American. The big 2 have proven this time and time again. The little parties are too fringe, that's why they don't catch on. Let's face it, if the Tea Party was as powerful as they like to think themselves, more Libertarians would have been elected, not more Republicans.
While there are other parties out there, they are too out there, many times as their names suggest. I really can't imagine any red blooded American voting for a Party with "Socialist," "Communist" or "Marijuana" in the name.
If America really
wants progress, maybe it is time for a Progressive Party. While
following the Constitution, the party could focus on education,
health care, trade (jobs), green technology and other economically
sound principals. It order to be truly progressive, the 10 th
amendment could be followed (" The powers not
delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by
it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the
people." ) and moral
issues could stop being a Federal issue. Items such as whom may marry
whom and abortion could be state issues, as there is nothing about
them in the Constitution.
Lets face it, our Founding Fathers were progressive, not conservative. They wanted a president, not a king. They wanted separation of Church and State, not theocratical control. They weren't about power and control - they were about freedom and economy. They didn't want to start wars or be the world police, they wanted place where they could rase their crops and their families in peace. Sure, some aspects of their vision seem conservative now, but they were very liberal for the time.
There is no reason
why progressives can't dress up like the founders and demand
education or health care reform, as these were things our founders
would likely have stood for if they were alive today. To be fair, not
all of them would. Unlike what the Tea Party would like us to think
there were strong arguments between them. But over all, they would be
for progress and a greater America.
True progress is
both liberal and conservative. The average American is not on the
"right" or "left," but somewhere in the middle. I propose 10
changes off the bat to fix our current conditions that a truly
Progressive Party could follow:
Fix education from the ground up
America ranks below the top 20 countries in education. This is unacceptable. Without a proper education, the youth of today will not be able to ensure a better tomorrow. Our worst schools should still be the world's best schools. In addition, college education of vocational training should be affordable to all.
Give equal power back to the three branches of government.
Presidents should have no right to make fast track decisions. Proof of this is seen in our poorly made "free trade" deals. There were those in Congress that understood the dangers, but they were ignored.
Cut government debt.
