The No Party System

It's no secret that I think the Republican party is holding America back. Actually, think is a soft word. It's no secret that the Republican party IS holding America back.

But America has a bigger problem...the No Party System. Frankly, politics in Americas just isn't fun. There are a lot of parties on election night, but there aren't any afterwards. The two party system seems dead, it's officially been replaced by the no party system. No party system = no fun in America.

What happened to the days when politicians could cooperate? Did those days even actually exist? Was there a day when politicians placed people over poll results? If there was, it's long gone. The good of the American people is being sacrificed at the altar of politics; it's disturbing, it's bad for America, and it's just no fun.

Who deserves the blame? Even I refuse to put this squarely on the shoulders of Republicans; Democrats are just as much in the wrong. It seems that politicians from both parties wake up in the morning and read the daily polls rather than the daily papers. If they were reading the papers, they'd know that America need their help, not their posturing.

But if politicians are to blame for listening to the polls and not paying attention to the problems, don't the people who make the polls deserve much of the blame as well? For all the amazing things communications technology has given us, it has put an opinion in our living room 24/7. Regardless of whether one agrees with that opinion, it's always there...talking...talking...screaming...ranting...suggesting...provoking. Maybe it would be best if we turned the pundits off for a bit and thought about issues for ourselves. Perhaps the invasion of ideas coming through our television isn't making us smarter, it's making us less capable of thinking for ourselves. Maybe I'm partially responsible. I spend a lot of time bashing Republicans and not as much time offering solutions.

I'm going to offer one now. Turn of CNN, turn off Fox, turn off MSNBC, and turn on your brain. The more we think about our problems the more we'll see that they're going to take a lot of hard work to fix. We need to give our politicians time out of the spotlight to debate the merits of each point of view and come to a consensus. That's the whole point. Instead of giving these people time do their jobs, we're giving them a poll that tells them how much we disapprove of the job their not really doing. Why are they doing that job? Because they're too worried about the polls. It's a vicious cycle.

America is the world's greatest nation, but that doesn't exempt us from trying times. The current times are trying, and to find our way, we're going to need to give our elected officials time. We need to let them know that we expect them to legislate and lead, not posture and politic. No poll is going to make America better, but smart policies will.