Let Both Political Parties be Open to Internal Debate
Don't waste time trying to destroy each other.
Some think that being a self-identified Republican or Democrat means putting up a sign in your yard and voting.
Citizenship is about understanding what can be accomplished by government (the practical) and then within that framework working out what should be accomplished (the ethical).
Responsible partisans need to critique and evaluate their Party’s policies and promises and work to align the actions of office holders and candidates with “the public good.”
It is not just mindlessly supporting a Party’s nominated or elected candidates. It is not just determining whether you are a member of a Party that will advantage you personally in some narrow way, i.e. your personal economic interests. It is asking whether or not your political party is seeking to leave this world better than we found it, or at least keep it from abandoning some of the progress made by those that came before. We can have greater loyalties in this life than to an abstraction call “the Party.”
Perhaps this should take place in serious conversation with our fellow Republicans or our fellow Democrats.
There is a lot of advice going around that people should try to have civilized conversations with members of the other party, perhaps to narrow our differences.
I’m suggesting it may be more important that we talk among ourselves. Neither political party right now has found its way. Elected and appointed officials of both Parties have much to answer for. The ball is in the Republican’s court right now, so to speak, and we particularly should expect the Republicans to make governing their first priority. For them it is not just about arguing with Democrats, it’s about fighting for American’s future from the Command Deck—not fighting Democrats but our ancient enemies, war and all forms of human suffering. And Democrats need to be talking with each other about what they would do differently and practically.
As a Democrat I’m concerned that we have few or no new and effective policy ideas. As a Republican I’d be deeply worried about some of the policies presently being pursued by the Trump Administration. This is not the bold and public serving Democratic Party of Franklin Roosevelt or John Kennedy. This is not the cautious, but innovative party of Dwight Eisenhauer or Richard Nixon.
Neither Party in my judgment will gain much by “going after voters,” or each other. That amounts to nothing more than a con-job if it is all about slogans, vague promises, and political salesmanship, and not about new and effective ways to improve life for people.
People don’t want parades or ceremonies. They don’t want speeches and promises about the long run. They surely don’t want open corruption and self-serving in office.
Headline: Trump’s education secretary threatens to pull funding from New York over its Native American mascot ban. Is this how we improve education for our children? Is this our priority? And even if by some stretch it is, shouldn’t it be left to State and Local officials? Fund education. Improve education. Utilize new technologies to impower the next generation.
Unless I am growing deaf beyond the problems of aging, what I hear on the streets, in coffee shops and homes, are people saying that they can’t manage, can’t keep up with rising prices and stalled income. Many ask where has that wealth increase that all of us worked to achieve, gone? We are vastly richer as a country than we were and too few of us are better off. Many not as well.
Republicans you are calling the shots right now. Democrats you will have your chance in time. Work within your own parties to develop new policy alternatives, not so you can defeat each other, but so you both, no matter who is in power, can defeat the common enemy.