The duopoly is old, let it die a natural death.

 

As a true pro life believer which means I believe in the sanctity and respect of life from conception to natural death, I feel it is time for the duopoly to pass.

And I know it is hard to determine if I am consistent and probably takes reading ten thousand posts to see any consistencies. I have never said I am against the two party system. I am not. I say the Democrats and Republicans are no longer useful. Their partisanship finger pointing, hate speak towards each other, ineffective public policy that is only good for their partisan echo chambers yet not effective for our country represent some of the examples of why I say both parties are dying and them as the two party system is a failure.

If we create two new parties, that would be great. If we create more, then we create more. I know historically I said we need new parties and probably led people to believe that I wanted more than two. If we create more than two fine, but I am not married to it. I write we need new parties as if addition of two parties is the solution. It might be, but it is not a complete repudiation of a two party system.

The Democrats and Republicans are no longer useful as they stand now. They have overstayed their welcome and their usefulness. They rely on the system they have built to stay in power. Yet it is this same system that is destroying the country. When I originally started thinking about this topic I thought they are a cancer eating at our innards. Unfortunately Joe Biden announced his real cancer this past weekend so I had to sit on my analogy for a moment. And of course we pray for a recovery for the previous President. I really do think cancer is not a natural death because it appears to be caused by agents we create that infect or contaminate our cells.

Yet the Democrats and Republicans are a cancer that eats away at our values, our morals, our ability to thrive as a people in our country. The noise coming out of their mouths is just unholy noise now. It is not productive for anyone.

There are real solutions to our problems. We need to implement them yesterday. Time is running out, but with work we can turn the hourglass over and buy a bit more time or we can rebuild it and allow new sand to enter to increase our lifespan as humans on this planet.

It is up to us. And real change begins with us realizing that certain mechanisms get old, become useless and must be put out to pasture to die and become fertilizer for the new.

The duopoly is old, really old. It is time to move on.

New Podcast live

 My Representative from the House held a phone-in Townhall. This is a clipped and edited version from me. 

Please also read the show notes on Youtube and thanks for listening.

https://youtu.be/9LV5vFQJEG8

Why the two party system works best when treated like the temperature of your shower

 Most people do not turn their shower onto the hottest or coldest possible setting. Some do and they are quite happy. Others may like a hot or cold shower, but they moderate the temperature some. The allow for factors such as how they feel, what the outside temperature may be, if they need to conserve hot water for others.

In our current body politic the two parties only pander to the people who only want the hottest or coldest temperature. The majority of the country doesn’t want these extremes.

It is like the Federal Reserve Bank, sometimes to cool off inflation they raise interest rates. Other times to promote growth they lower rates. They have to adjust the knob of how much water is coming out of the shower to affect the price of goods.

Our system works better when the two parties realize a litany of items effect what is best for the country. One party may need to put more pressure on their legislative agenda because that is what the people need at the moment. Over time though things change so should the turn of the knob to the hotter or colder temperature.

Time, outside influences, internal and external needs affect what needs to be done. This play is why when done right a two party system can be effective. A more conservative party can push for budget restraint, value orientation, or a pro business model if growth is needed. A more liberal party can push the boundaries when the economy is doing well, when people are flush with expansiveness and charity, taking education to the next level. Yet in either case you cannot do both simultaneously because the resources won’t allow it. The times may not allow it.

So the people by choosing which party they want in power for two, four, six or eight years are turning the knob to make the water hotter or colder. This way all the people can take a comfortable shower over time.

If you let the parties become so extreme that they only want the hottest or coldest temperature they leave the vast majority of us out of the shower which hurts all the people. No one group has all the answers, so no one group should have control of the shower knobs.

The two party system fails us when the extremes are in control. Right now the extremes on both sides are in control and you can tell this by the vitriol, denigration, hate aimed at each other. Neither is thinking about the country only what they believe is right. Now they may say all the right words to convince their base they are in the right, but in reality year over year, primary after primary, certain party elites control the system, turning the knob hard in their direction and making the rest of us uncomfortable to be in the shower. This has been going on for so long, no one remembers what a moderate temperature feels like and now the right has turned on the let’s say cold water so hard they are freezing the vast majority of the country out. Add in Trump and his crew are just screwing us royally things are ice cold to this country. We didn’t get here because one party turned the knob all the way, both have, we are here just because one party turned the knob harder and working hard to make sure it cannot be turned back.

We need new parties to fight through the impasse that was created in the past that left us with a completely corrupt regime. And these two new parties will need to fight hard to get control of the temperature again, but definitely worth the fight once our country starts seeing a moderate well oiled knob directing the flow of temperature again to the people of this country. And yes at times it will need to be somewhat warmer or cooler to address the circumstances of the times.

Still no cheers, the times are a killin’ us

The 21st century “Kitchen Cabinet”

 

People may vaguely remember the term kitchen cabinet from history class. It may bring up some discontent among people who remember the Andrew Jackson presidency so they may not view hearing the term as a positive, yet let’s look at a new kitchen cabinet.

As a quick reminder the term came up when Andrew Jackson would sometimes meet with various outside interests to discuss policy. The term is still in use, but for today’s purpose let’s focus on an actual Presidential Cabinet made up of people who handle issues most Americans talk about around the kitchen table.

So many times you hear about the White House hosting meetings and events for investment groups, business leaders, CEOs, bankers, think tanks etc…, yet when does the American family get a seat at the table. Sure all these groups say if we know what is going on we can support better business decisions, growth of the economy, yet these policies still benefit the wealthy more than the American family.

People complain to me about me saying we need new political parties. Depending if they are Democrat or Republican they will tout the successes of their party. What neither side discusses is where they failed or fell flat. And more often than not they fall flat. The same promises are made by each party each election cycle because they never did what they promised in the first place. Sure at times they pass legislation that meets their parties campaign promises, but in reality it only benefits a small group of people. Republicans cut taxes mainly for the wealthy and Democrats pass more and more benefits for the poor. There ends up being a large group in the middle that gets squeezed and I know that is not the first time you have heard that along with feeling it every day.

I now promote a new center right party for this new kitchen cabinet. Lately on social media I still hammer away with the need for new parties, yet I am specifically stating we need a new center right party. You can create a new Democrat Party or remake it and same for the Republicans. Yet if you really want to get something done that benefits the majority of this country especially families, you need someone representing their interests. And since most Americans are generally center to slightly center right in their mindsets, this new party can focus on their needs.

And I know one reason the two parties do not want to hear this is because they know they are campaigning to their bases and extremes in their primaries and a center right party would pull everyone who might vote just in the general election away from them. The more you talk about change they more they dig in and try to prevent another party being successful. It is all about getting re-elected nowadays and not about representing you.

What does a new Kitchen Cabinet look like? Well it would need some people not from Wall Street, not from think tanks, not from either political party to align policy with the needs of most Americans. One great aspect of our Constitutional Republic is supposed to be rule by the majority with minorities protected. Sure an oversimplified statement, yet that is the gist of how our government should operate.

I don’t know if you could just pull a random person from the street to be on the cabinet. There is still need for expertise, yet you probably can find throughout the country well educated people who have a more bedrock understanding of basic household issues starting with healthcare, education, family support, retirement specifically social security and Medicare. Many Democrats will say we already do this and I say then why do we still need major help in these areas? More issues include tax reform and cuts, better 401k rules, small business help, job promotion and Republicans will say we already do these and I say then why is the wealth gap growing and why can’t tax cuts be for the people not the wealthy.

Most economists know, but won’t say in Republican circles that if you strengthen the middle and working class then businesses will do well. Yet they rely on tax cuts and other government incentives (handouts) to increase their profits. That is not strengthening businesses it is only exacerbating the wealth gap divide. If businesses relied on actual commerce to make money they would know to pay their employees, cut less during recessions and other factors that may cut into their profits some, yet would maintain a strong economic outlook going forward. As long as Wall Street calls the shots for businesses then the middle and working class will struggle since Wall Street lobbies for all the government tax cuts and other incentives that only benefit them.

For too long Republicans and Democrats rely on the same mindset and people they always have and act like something is different when the name of the President changes. To effect real change we need a change of people from entirely different groups and organizations than the ones that permeate Washington year after year.

We need a Kitchen Cabinet that understands what people talk about in their kitchens at night.