Ideologically I may disagree, but the Tea Party’s popularity underscores the viability of a third party in the U.S.
I promise this entire piece will be a positive reflection on the Tea Party movement. I promise to refrain from any partisan or ideological attacks on the Tea Party.
The most important thing to me as I move forward in politics is to break the stranglehold on the political system that the two parties, Republicans and Democrats, have on our political system and our country. Whether you agree or not with most of their platforms it is troubling to our democracy that we do only have two primary political parties. It is unhealthy for real dialogue that produces long-term and sustainable solutions. When you have a one versus one situation it is inevitable that relationship will often be divisive. When things are divisive, discussions are frequently unproductive.
I believe the majority of people in this country year for alternatives to the Democrat and Republican parties. The Tea Party is not the alternative for many but I enjoy it BECAUSE it is AN alternative. The Green party hovers around, and the moderate party has arisen in Rhode Island, but very few parties have made the sort of headway the Tea Party. Some people are scared by some of the messages coming out of from some Partiers. Much of the Tea Party worldview is not shared by the general public.
I have been told time and time again that the Democrats need to unify and I am cornered as a liberal leaning reasonable thinker to unify with the Democratic Party. I think that rhetoric is silly but it also sells my intellect short. That is to not be arrogant for that is to say that falling in line when it comes to key social and political decisions is not a valid and sound exercise of one’s mind. The fact of the matter is I have and will continue to vote for Democrats, as well as Republicans, and as well as independents and moderates. You will never ever catch me blindly supporting a particular party.
I hope the Tea Party has staying power. I hope it galvanizes many other people to stand up and create their own parties. I hope to see a day within the next decade or two that we had at least five viable parties. For the sake of our republic and democracy a two party system is not sustainable. To best represent the interests of all Americans I believe we need more parties. I believe the more opinions that you have at the table the more a group is motivated to work together and compromise. But if just two individuals or groups sit at the table it is very difficult to come to an agreeable resolution. But when you have 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 individuals or groups sitting at a table growing impatient of the discord you will witness reasonable compromises and tangible results.
Tea Party, I take my foolish American Revolutionary cap and tip it to you and I say keep up the good work of being a viable third party. But try to tone down some of the rhetoric that is often vile and hateful by SOME in your midst. I enjoy and appreciate your presence in our political system and I believe that you can be the beginning of a new and better America. An America that brings more opinions and more parties to the political roundtable.
6 killed in shooting north of Mexico City – AP http://bit.ly/bTlN3G
