On the failure of binary systems in social context

I have a dream.

No, I'm not stealing MLK Jr's thunder, unlike some self-serving, inconsiderate hypocrites recently. This is a different sort of dream.

I'm registered as an Independant voter. I have been for the last ten years, and I do not see this changing. This is because none of the American political parties -- and particularly neither of the top two, which are really the only two that have a say in ANYTHING -- represent MY values.

Hey! I'm not being represented by my own damn government! What gives, people?!

You know that Tea Party thing we have going over here? I have no time for their bigoted rubbish, it infuriates the piss out of me. But you know what I've come to realise?

They have a point.

Not in what they stand for; heaven help us, they're a cruel, cruel joke of the worst side of American culture. No, I mean they have a point in forming a movement.

Too bad that, rather than forging a new political party through it, they've entrenched themselves in the Republican party. If you thought the Republicans were as far-right as it was possible to get before, just watch what happens in the next 6 months.

I wish the more left-wing members of American society would get together and do something similar. Alas, as with all people who utilise the ability to think for oneself, most seem to feel no need to force their personal politics down others' throats. It's a double-edged sword: respecting one's own ability to think independently leads to a respect for others' ability to think independently as well... even if those people choose to squander that gift.


My dream is for an end to the American bi-partisan system.


What currently exists in the US political system is running in binary. One party says "YES!" and the other party, wishing to thoroughly discredit the other party, despite the consequences to the nation and its people, say, "NO!"

And nothing gets done, and things get worse.

This isn't politics. These people are not inspired by anything more than their bank balances. They DO NOT CARE about anything other than obtaining and keeping power and discrediting the competition through lies and deceit and mud-slinging, and if it drags the entire country back down into the Dark Ages? Hey, there were absolute rulers back then, a similar cultural setup is only to their benefit, right?

I remember a time when there were politicians who were actually worth supporting. They stuck to their guns and spoke their minds rather than repeating party lines with all the brainless skill of a trained parrot. You may not have agreed with all their policies, but you could trust them to do what they felt was right, and that made all the difference.

I wish the Tea Party people had pulled a split from the Republican party. It might have started the landslide necessary to forge the revamp of the American political system which is so badly needed right now. If all of a sudden, rather than one YES party and one NO party, there were half a dozen with differing levels of YES and NO, it could only be a good thing. There would be more compromise. More new ideas, rather than trying to fall back on the (Not-So-)Good-Old-Days. Less rose-tinted glasses and more looking at what needs to be bloody fixed.

And it might have galvanised the more openminded people to try their hand at making things happen, rather than sitting there shaking their heads and wishing there was something they could do. If I thought I could get support and backing for it, I'd try to help found a new political party.

But what does it take, when that same cohesive force doesn't exist?