Monday, April 25, 2011

We need a third political party.

At first glance, it would seem that a third political party would be a bad idea.  After all, we have two right now, at least two major political parties.  Countries with three, or eighteen, or fifty-two, don't seem to be doing much better in the politics department than we are.  Or maybe they're even worse.  Hmm.  Have to think about that one.

But again, it's something that needs to be approached with thought and careful planning. 

We need moderates.

I know I can't be the only one who is tired of watching both parties gravitate towards the extreme, leaving those moderate enough to talk to each other in a severe minority, ridiculed by their own parties.  Nothing worthwhile is going on in Washington DC.  Every bill creates a reaction against it, and one side continually vilifies the other. We can't get a national health care plan passed because the two parties won't consider being flexible to the concerns of the other side.

What if there were a fair amount of moderates in our government?  Ah.  Then the two big parties would need to be willing to talk with these moderates, because if there were enough of them, neither big party could be sure of getting enough votes for their side.

They would have to talk to the moderates.  And they would be forced, by moderates, to talk to each other, and even *gasp* work with each other.

Maybe the federal government isn't the best thing to run a health coverage program.  All right, let's talk about what the federal government can and can't do well, and what individual states can and can't do well.  Can we split the costs and the arrangements out between them?  Can we at least talk about this?

One of these days, I'm going to talk about lobbyists.  But not today.  Today, just consider moderates in all their common-sense glory.

-Spottedcat

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