New Party not Third Party

 The two major political parties are not really in sync with and do not represent the majority of Americans today.  But a third party is not the answer; rather, we need a recalibration of the two parties that currently exist.

Through Trump and MAGA, the Republican Party has come to represent a far Right that I and many other Americans do not want to be a part of.  Meanwhile, while it may not be clear what Biden stands for, his Democrat Party seems to represent a Leftist progressive socialism of identity politics, again something which I and many Americans do not want to be a part of. 

Faced with the likelihood that these two parties will choose Trump and Biden as their candidates for 2024, we hear much talk of a third-party candidate.  But, even with two such poor major candidates, we all know that a third party will likely do nothing more than prove to be a spoiler for one of those candidates. 

So where does that leave the Americans who do not find themselves on either the Right or Left extremes, who are basically moderates leaning towards one party on some issues and the other party on others?  The growing number of people labeling themselves as Independents is not a bad thing – these are the people who will vote not simply because someone wears a Red or Blue label but because of the ability and qualifications of the candidates along with the policy agenda that they put forth. 

These Independents and others who feel in one way or another abandoned by both Democrats and Republicans, need a party.  Not a third party, not a one issue party, not a spoiler party, but a real party that has the size and resources to truly contend for the high offices of this land, including President.

If such a party could rise and replace one of the current two major parties, I believe that the remaining party, be it Democrat or Republican, would, in order to survive and be competitive, move more toward its moderate aspects, which, in both parties once was characterized by bipartisanship and negotiation rather than the current divisiveness and hate. 

I believe that two such parties would provide us with two far better candidates from which to choose.  With two such parties we could perhaps find our way as Americans to come together again as one country and to work not against each other as enemies but together as allies who hold different views but want to solve the same problems. 

Our system is not set up for three parties, but it demands that the two parties we have be representative of more than just the extremes of our society and campaign on more substance than simply that they are not their allegedly evil opponent.  This could, perhaps, be the election where we could begin to build that strong replacement party.  We already have some strong possible candidates who might represent it:  Bobby Kennedy, currently running as an Independent; Joe Manchin, not yet a candidate but a strong contender for the No Labels party; Nikki Haley, currently running for the Republican nomination but whose supporters, in reality, are the moderates of both parties as well as Independents.  I am sure there are others out there who, if it did not seem futile, might be interested. 

But no third party or third candidate has a chance if the people do not give them one. We should not assume that we have no choice but Trump or Biden: neither is yet the official nominee of his party.  With concerted effort to deny one or both the necessary delegates to become that nominee, by voting for a different candidate in the primaries, then we the people can perhaps supplant one or both candidates with someone more representative of the moderate rather than the extremes of their respective party, and in so doing take a major step in replacing at least one of the two parties with one that is more representative of more Americans.

I think this could be managed against either Trump or Biden, either the Republican or the Democrat party, though I think it is more likely at this time to work in the Republican Party.  There is anti-Trump and/or anti-MAGA sentiment from both moderate Democrats and Republicans as well as Independents, and there is a viable candidate currently running along with Trump for the party’s nomination.  Imagine if many primary voters, rather than assuming the nomination has already been wrapped up, were to vote against Trump in the primaries:  they actually might effectuate a different nominee.

If this replacement effort were in regard to Trump, realistically Haley would likely rise as the nominee.  I believe she could and would move the Party more towards the center.  But it could just as easily be some other more moderate write-in candidate who would dethrone Trump or Biden. 

Assuming it were the Republicans who replaced the presumptive nominee with a more center-focused candidate, the Party would begin moving away from the quite frightening far Right of MAGA towards a more moderate center.  I believe this would push a similar move of the Democrat Party away from its Socialist Left toward its more traditional liberal base.  We actually might end up with a two-party system that would give us the kinds of candidates we were once used to in this country:  strong and wise statesmen not out to destroy their opposition but to work with them to find ways to lead America forward.

Unlikely as this may seem, it is possible.  But the people have to stand up and do this.  If they continue to cower behind the demands of the party leaders on both sides, we get exactly what we do not want but what we will deserve:  a country full of hate that continues to destroy itself from within.

Stand By Your Man (and the country be damned), and Other Thoughts

I have not written here for some time for two main reasons.  One, I personally have been quite busy, and second and more decisive was that there is just little new to say.   The Democrats are the same angry haters obsessed with removing Trump from office.  Socialism is still socialism.  Trump is still using crude language but doing great things for the people of this country – jobs, economy, international relations, etc. etc.  So, having addressed all of this previously, it seemed redundant to rewrite.

But, now that the Democrats have seemingly chosen the instrument that they will use to attempt a win in November, and now that we have the Senate Democrat leader threatening Supreme Court justices, I do have a few thoughts which follow.

First, about Joe Biden.  I think it is clear to just about everyone that Joe seems to be in the early stages of dementia.  Whether or not you like or support Joe, that is sad.  But more importantly, it is frightening to consider that he could be the candidate for and could even be elected as president.  Anyone with any thought must be able to see the danger in that.

So, that is why I wonder why his wife stands by and supports him.  We saw her protect him by attacking a protester recently, but is she really protecting him when she encourages his continued run for an office it seems clear that his mind in its present state cannot handle?  Is she protecting him when she is helping him to be used by the Democrats who don’t really care about Joe, but only see him as a useful tool to possibly regain their power?

I don’t understand this.  But then, I don’t understand how a whole party could care more about their own power than the country.  I suspect that if the Democrats successfully use Joe to regain power, they will quickly cast him aside, so if he does get the nomination, the one voters should be scrutinizing is not Joe, but his pick for Vice President. 

But what really puzzles me is the wife.  Democrats are always saying that Republican women can’t think for themselves, but I look at Joe’s wife and I wonder what on earth she is thinking, or if she is even thinking.  Would anyone help to put someone who so obviously seemingly suffers from some sort of dementia into the powerful position of President of the United States of America?  Can she really be that selfish?  Or, is she, like all good Democrats, just falling in line and doing what she is told, even when in the long run it is more likely to hurt her husband or at least make him some sort of laughing stock, while at the same time working to create a situation that endangers the entire country.  

If someone whose mind is not 100% is given the chance to make world and life changing decisions that can affect us all, then we are all in danger.  Joe’s wife, Dr. Biden (Ed.D.) must understand that.   I know that if I were in her situation and my husband were showing signs of early dementia, regardless of party demands or personal love of power, I would do everything I could to talk him out of running.

Joe is a lovable character.  His gaffes are humorous.  Now.   There are many types of dementia, some progress quickly, others slowly.  But no matter how much you love someone, or how much you hate the current white house occupant, absolutely no one should be even considering replacing that current occupant with someone whose mental state is questionable.

But, then, when your only campaign policy is to beat Trump, I guess such things as the good of the country really are not relevant.

***

Turning now to Senator Schumer’s recent threats toward Supreme Court Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, this also is something about which every American should be outraged.  His words, while arguably hyperbolic, were clear threats intended to intimidate those justices to rule a particular way in an upcoming case.

That is nothing like giving an opinion about a case that has been decided or about comments made by a justice in a decided case or on other matters not before the court.  Yet, in its biased propaganda wisdom, the mainstream media considers such comments by Trump to be completely analogous to the threats of Schumer.  They are not.

Schumer said: “I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”  These words were spoken at an abortion rights protest in front of the Supreme Court while the court has a pending abortion case before it.  It is a threat to the justices, an attempt to cause them to rule pro-abortion in the pending case. Schumer, despite his attempted retractions, knew exactly what he was saying and what he was doing. 

Schumer’s threat is nothing like the statements by Trump in which he, in his typical straight and common verbiage (not refined politi-speak) criticizes decisions he does not like.  This is something that every president tends to do – give opinions about decisions that have been rendered.  That is very different from threatening a judge to decide a particular way in a pending case “or else.”

Even Trump’s most recent statements about Justices Sotomayor and Ginsburg were not threats to their decision making in a pending case.  He said he thought they have been unfair to him in the past and that they should recuse themselves from future cases involving him.  These are his opinions; there is no pending case involved and there is no threat that if they do not decide his way in a pending case that they will “pay the price.”

Trump’s words express his unfavorable opinions about justices and their past decisions.  Schumer’s words are a clear attempt to intimidate and influence the decision in a current case pending before those justices whom he threatened.  In this country we are allowed to express our opinions.  We do not, however, threaten judges to decide a pending case in a particular way.  To do so can be a felony or other crime.  This is because in this country we expect impartial justice.

It is dangerous when Americans, especially American leaders and politicians, believe they can intimidate the Supreme Court and force it to make decisions political rather than render unbiased, legal, and Constitutional decisions.  Dictators, socialists, other authoritarian regimes may tell their judiciary how to decide a case, but we do not do that in this country.  But, perhaps the Left, in its quest to upend our democracy and establish their own absolute power, have forgotten that.

***

And, finally, one quick comment about another Democrat primary contender – Elizabeth Warren.  Her inability to endorse Sanders, whose policies mirror those that she advocated during her campaign, just underscores what we have known since long before this campaign cycle:  that she is a total fraud.   For her, there is only one interest, and that is herself.  She used a false Native American narrative to further her career and her power; she used big money, then trashed it when it better served her campaign to do so; and, apparently she used a progressive/socialist agenda to try to further her presidential chances, but there is no evidence that she really believed in or cared about what she was saying.  She is a woman after her own power and nothing else.  I assume she will work to get the best deal she can for herself before she comes forward with an endorsement which could be for Bernie or for Joe; she really doesn’t care as long as it is good for her.  Remember that next time she runs.