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This space intentionally left blank Writings of various natures on various topicsThe Fallacy of The Notional National Two Party SystemThe greatest misapprehension held by the American body politic is that there exists any significant *practical* difference between the politicians who wear the label "Republican" and those who wear the label "Democrat". The overall course has been fundamentally unaltered since the Hoover administration - unchecked,unfettered growth in the size,power,pervasiveness and intrusiveness of the Federal governement. It matters not a whit if the man in the Oval Office calls himself a Republican or a Democrat; it matters not a whit which of the two major parties controls the House and/or Senate. The trend was set 80 years ago and continues apace to this day. The major parties are but the two faces of the Janus of unlimited government,existing with the sole purpose *to* exist and to grow. Show me a single administration since Hoover's that reduced the outstanding Federal debt,or even much reduced the rate of the increase thereof. Can't do it,can you? Show me a single administration since Hoover's that curbed Federal spending,eliminated unnecessary bureaucracies,reduced regulatory burdens on businesses and/or individuals,sought ways to interfere less in the day to day conduct of peoples' lives and businesses. Can't do that either,can you? And to those of you who decry my lumping together of the Elephants and Donkeys in one big circus tent,trotting out the old battle cries of FDR's New Deal and LBJ's Great Society,as others have pointed out in this thread,two of the greatest Federal spenders and expanders of bureaucracies were R. Reagan and G.W. Bush,nominal Republicans. The only difference between an FDR and an LBJ,and a Reagan or Bush the Younger,is that the formers' spending had catchy names attached. Oh,and let us not forget the role that the news media,mainstream or otherwise,plays in perpetuating the political power of the major parties. Case in point - in the most recent Presidential election,there were what,6,7,maybe more candidates for President,many of them printed right there on the ballots,not just "please write me in" marginal efforts. Yet all of the talking heads,all of the televised debates,all of the learned opinionating in print,treated the entire race as being nothing more than "which Republican will lose to Senator Obama in November?" Where was the objectivity? Where was the "fair and balanced"? So long as the American people continue to buy into the massive shared illusion rammed down their throats that there are only two parties that matter and that there really are differences between them,and that picking one of them over the other will have a substantive effect on the major trends in government and politics,then the situation will remain unchanged,much to the delight of the Janus in power and his yappy little lapdog the press. Back to Writings |