It is said we have a two-party political system. Actually, we have a multitude of parties.
One, of course, is the GOP, so cohesive that members seem to put the party ahead of the country. The Republicans in the Senate seem to have forgotten the definition of republic. “A state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch.”
Let’s look at the evidence:
Mitch McConnell blocks Senate voting on bills that his president dislikes in spite of general support on both sides. He changes long-established tradition of prompt review citing the imaginary Biden-amendment to block the Obama appointee and highly-qualified Merrick Garland from the Supreme Court. Bends over backwards to expedite approval of marginal candidates, such as Bret Kavanaugh, who barely squeaks through under relaxed rules. Only 51 votes instead of traditional 60.
Historically, justices were esteemed and confirmed unanimously. Lindsay Graham blocked a bill that won the House 420 to 0 from coming to a vote in the Senate. The bill would make public the Mueller Report but might further compromise his president.
Registered Republicans represent only 30% of all registered voters but Republicans win more than half the elected seats. They do this by various questionable tactics. Gerrymandering. They take the process of rigging election district boundaries to new heights. While Trump was yelling rigged, Republicans did rig some elections so blatantly that courts have thrown out the results and required a revote, not just a recount!
Not to say the Democrats are clean, but they are not so brazen or effective. They are not good at it because they’re Democrats and not, as Will Rogers told us, an organized political party.
In North Carolina, the GOP “helped” people with their mail-in ballots then altered or discarded the ones for a Democrat. In Georgia, the GOP candidate was also the secretary of state, essentially counting the ballots in his own race.
Maybe Republicans live by this archaic definition: “A group with a certain equality between its members. The community of scholars and the republic of learning.” That is, we’re all equal, but Republicans are more equal than y’all. Eisenhower may have been the last Republican to live up to their stated values. He sent the 101st Airborne to help U.S. Marshalls carry out the Supreme Court edict to integrate Little Rock High School, warned us about the military industrial complex and finished his term with a budget surplus.
We have a confederation of 50 state democratic (liberal) parties. Liberals, by definition, are free to think for themselves, though they may not. We also have two other barely significant parties Green, and Libertarian.
The Democratic Party is not cohesive like the GOP. Democrats are the party of diversity of opinion and ethnicity. Some members support unrealistic policies called socialism, but socialism itself is poorly defined, it ranges from Soviet-style (state capitalism) where the government controls everything, even the media, to Scandinavian where high taxes provide extensive benefits but the government encourages a competitive economy that provides a high standard of living.
There are 50 state democratic parties with different priorities. Then there are regional coalitions that may unite on an issue that is unimportant to other parts of the country.
Lyndon Johnson went against the very powerful Southern Democrats and signed the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. This sent the segregationist over to the GOP. Each state party may have a more socialistic faction and a more conservative faction called moderate. Pro-life and pro-choice. They unite on some issues and disagree on others.
Nevertheless, occasionally they form a coalition, like Europe’s diverse parties do within their legislatures, to choose an executive team and policies we mostly feel proud of. There are 24 or so candidates for president so far with a range of priorities. The people will decide. That’s called democracy.
Ken Obesnki is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona who writes a biweekly column for West Hawaii Today. Send feedback to obenskik@gmail.com.