The Yin & Yang of Politics

The Yin and Yang of the current US political system can be found within the following two Questions and Answers:

Question 1: What are the definitions of a Democrat and a Republican?

Answer 1: A Democrat is one who criticizes and assigns blame to everything a Republican does. A Republican is one who criticizes and assigns blame to everything a Democrat does.

Question 2: What are the aspirations of elected Politicians and elite Businessmen?

Answer 2: Elected Politicians aspire to use their power to gain the wealth of elite Businessmen. Elite Businessmen aspire to use their wealth to gain the power of a Politician.

Let me enlighten you on how all this fits together.





Q&A 1: The Republican and Democratic parties, as institutions, own a monopoly over the political process. For this reason, they have no real desire to promote honest and intelligent discourse on the issues. You see, honest discourse and cooperation promotes innovation in political thought. Innovation in political thought gives rise to new political platforms. If a new political platform were to gain momentum, a new political party could possibly emerge; a threat to the two parties stronghold on political power.

The thought that the entire realm of political representation can be contained within two diametrically opposing concepts is ridiculous. But the Republicans and Democrats have succeeded in doing this very thing. They have done this by constantly assaulting the other party's laws and ideas, no matter their substance. By always being at odds, the Democrats and Republicans have created a dichotomy of ideology, a love/hate relationship, an us vs. them philosophy, that defines each as the opposite of the other and renders the need for any other competing parties as irrelevant.

To sum things up, through their monopoly of the political system, the two parties have reduced intelligent political debate into frantic yelling matches and simultaneously crowded out constructive competitors.

Which brings us to Q&A 2: The Democrats and Republicans, despite their polar ideologies, are, at their core, identical in nature. They exploit your ideologies to gain votes and get elected. Then, they transfer the power that comes with the office to an elite class of Businessmen in exchange for wealth. The entire political system is static. Wealth and Power stays in the hands of a few at the expense of the masses.

I'm not trying to downplay the fact that people have conflicting conservative and liberal ideals. But what does it matter when your elected politicians are willing to sell these ideals for wealth. In essence, if you are an ardent supporter of either party, you are being screwed. You may think that you're electing someone who shares your vision. And in some cases, maybe they do. But that support will not translate into policy that directly benefits you in a significant way. Rather, it will just ensure the preservation and consolidation of wealth amongst the handful of elite that really run this country.

But DLaz, don't give us the hows and whys of our political system. Tell us what we can do; what we can do to prevent the corruption of our elected officials, see the execution of the will of the people and provide a system that encourages the introduction of constructive thoughts. At the risk of sounding naïve and unaware of how the world works, here it is:

1. If you want to devote your life to public service and the common good of your constituents, prove it. All elected officials, throughout their lives, should only be able to maintain a certain predetermined level of wealth. You are free to earn as much as you can in your lifetime, but everything beyond this predetermined level will be liquidated and distributed, according to the will of the politician's constituency, to various charities and public projects. The level of wealth a politician can obtain should be based on a formula that takes into account spouses and children. The level of wealth should be in significant excess of the average family's wealth, but nothing too extravagant. If one's wealth is beyond this level upon entering politics, they will be able to maintain up to that higher level.
   
2. Politicians should have to run on their own ideas, not on the denunciation of others. They should be forbidden from negative campaigning and attacks on opposing parties. I can see a three-strike system here. First strike is a warning. Second strike is a fine. And third strike will result in losing your office. If you are worried about legitimate criticism of bad ideas, don't worry. There are plenty of talking heads out there to do that.


3. Only individual citizens should be able to donate towards a campaign or party (with a reasonable maximum contribution). If corporations want to buy legislation and power, so be it. But they shouldn't be able to do this through lining the pockets of politicians and parties. They should do it by gaining good will with the voters through donations to charities and public projects.


4. Term limits for Congress. No single individual should be in power more than a decade. We can go through the pros and cons of this, but my argument comes down to the saying/quote: power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.


5. The political parties should be subject to anti-trust laws.
   

I'm a realist, not an idealist. For the transformation discussed above to take place, you would need a revolution of our political system. But every revolution needs to start somewhere.