|
|||||||||||||
|
Healthy For Society? By Punkerslut
In the United States, there are two political parties: Republicans and Democrats. For the past one hundred years, our government has held a rigid two-party system. Minority parties on the left include green activists and socialists. And minority parties on the right include nationalists and conservatives. The alternatives to the Republicans and Democrats have always polled miserably low. Together, they have won every presidential election since 1852, and they have held control of congress since 1856. And counting the parties that the Democrats and Republicans came from, they've had majority power since 1792. All decisions on making and enforcing law, on economy and taxation, on war and peace, have been held exclusively in their hands.
Anyone who is interested in changing their social environment will find an interest in politics. But they'll be very discouraged at finding the dominance of the two-party system. To change society, you have option A and option B. That's it. If you choose option C, your platform and proposed bills won't become law. In very few cases, a third party has triumphed in an election -- but the offices they hold are very few. At best, they'll hold 1% to 2% of the offices compared to either the Democrats or the Republicans.
In order to get some of the power to change society, people have to make compromises. They have to set their values aside, join one of the two options, and then support their party. As a Republican, you are one out of fifty million voices. As a Democrat, you are one out of seventy million voices. With so many paddles in one direction, your oar will frantically wave about in helplessness. There is no redirecting the ship. To make it up the party ladder, you'll have to go along with things. You'll have to listen to speeches, you'll have to distribute flyers, you'll have to canvass neighborhoods. If you complain about their agenda, everyday, you'll never reach the point where you can directly influence the politicians.
And the effect of the constant propaganda will be there. You joined the political party, so that you could change society, in a way that you felt was necessary. But in the end, you become disenchanted, because it was you who has become changed by the political party. Politics is a dead end. It pacifies people by letting them think they have an option to change their world. This is the great benefit that political parties provide to politicians.
Punkerslut,
|
